Putin’s war was never just about Ukraine

This is the Weekend Edition of Bloomberg Opinion Today, a roundup of the most popular stories Bloomberg Opinion publishes each week based on [Bloomberg]( This is the Weekend Edition of Bloomberg Opinion Today, a roundup of the most popular stories Bloomberg Opinion publishes each week based on web readership. [Ukraine Is Now a World War. And Putin Is Gaining Friends.]( — Hal Brands Foreign policy experts have worried for decades about a second Korean War. No one ever imagined it would happen in Ukraine. Photographer: Mikhail Metzel/Pool/AFP/Getty Images Today, Seoul and Pyongyang are waging their decades-long struggle on Ukrainian battlefields. It is a microcosm of the world proxy war underway. Since 2022, the two Koreas have made themselves central to a raging war in Europe. South Korea has [indirectlyÂ](given Ukraine a small mountain of artillery ammunition — solid gold in a protracted ground war. North Korea has served as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s armory, supplying ballistic missiles [usedÂ](to ravage Ukraine’s cities and artillery shells used to pound its troops. Both countries, moreover, are part of clashing coalitions that have turned the fight between Ukraine and Russia into a grander, more encompassing test of strength. Ukraine has the support of democracies spanning North America, Europe and the Indo-Pacific — countries committed to sustaining Kyiv’s independence and punishing Putin severely in the process. Yet that support is being matched and blunted by a cohort of Eurasian autocracies lending vital aid to Moscow and making life more difficult for the West. Two vast alliances are squaring off, albeit indirectly, on European battlegrounds. The fight in Ukraine has become the first global conflict of a new cold war. Read the [whole thing](. [The Problem With Molly Baz’s Cookie Ad Isn't the Breasts — It’s the Cookies]( — Sarah Green Carmichael [Why Mercedes’ $100,000 Electric Jellybean Flopped]( — Chris Bryant [GameStop Is Back!?]( — Matt Levine [Google’s New Search Engine Is Bad News for the Web Economy]( — Dave Lee [Why Are Americans So Angry While the Chinese Are Calm?]( — Shuli Ren [Tariffs and Timidity Are Driving US Carmakers Into a Ditch]( — David Fickling [You Won’t Like Trumponomics 2.0]( — Bloomberg’s editorial board [Brazil’s Floods Expose Latin America’s Vulnerabilities]( — JP Spinetto [Europe's New Power Map, From ASML to the Arctic]( — Lionel Laurent More From Bloomberg Opinion Here’s what we’ve been listening to and watching this week. - The economy is so much bigger than Biden or Trump. Nir Kaissar [does the math](. - OpenAI created an [AI girlfriend]( with the latest version of ChatGPT. And it’s … weird, Parmy Olson says. - Tourists were flocking to a tiny convenience store for its [views of Japan’s Mount Fuji](. The end result: Now no one gets to enjoy the view. Gearoid Reidy explains. Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](