Putin’s terror-bombing campaign won't work either

Plus: Endless inflation. [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a whale carcass of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Bombs [won’t help Putin]( win in Ukraine. - [Inflation]( keeps getting worse. - Adidas’s [Kanye West problem]( keeps getting worse. - [TSMC]( is not going to save us. Putin’s Deadly Folly This newsletter often makes fun of Vladimir Putin’s general [weirdness]( and [incompetence](, but to be honest we’re just whistling past the graveyard. Yes, Putin has all the charisma of a lamprey eating a whale carcass and all the military acumen of [Carl Spackler](. But he also has many weapons, some of them nuclear, and a complete lack of human decency. It’s a deadly combination. It was certainly enough to “win” the civil war in Syria, where mass civilian slaughter by Russia turned the tide in favor of Putin’s comrade-in-monstrosity Bashar al-Assad. Now Putin’s faltering invasion of Ukraine is being overseen by one of Syria’s worst butchers, General [Sergey Surovikin](, who helped level [Aleppo]( with a merciless bombing campaign, obliterating such hardened military targets as schools and hospitals. Surovikin’s bloody fingerprints are all over Russia’s latest spasm of violence in Ukraine, which again features wanton attacks on civilians. It is meant to weaken the resolve of Ukraine and its allies, to force them to sue for peace on Putin’s terms. [But it won’t work this time](, James Stavridis argues. For one thing, bombs can’t hold territory, or else Adolf Hitler would have seized [Britain]( in 1940. For another thing, as with Britain in 1940, ruthless attacks on civilians only make those civilians less interested in making peace with their attackers. They will certainly make Ukraine’s allies ever more willing to send fresh weapons. Then again, many of those same allies are [still buying up Russia’s liquefied natural gas](, as Javier Blas notes, helping bankroll Putin’s massacres. Putin remains doomed to failure, but he can also take a lot of people out with him. We Have Always Lived in the Inflation We got the September [CPI report]( today, and it was a pleasant surprise, giving economists and markets hope the Fed will soon stop trying to murder the economy quite so hard. Haha, no. [No. No. No. No. Nononononono](. CPI was worse than expected. Of course. Of course it was. It always is. And perhaps it always will be forevermore. Some of us have lately argued/hoped that maybe inflation is being skewed by lagging housing data, which the CPI struggles to measure. But Jonathan Levin points out [inflation seems to have taken root]( throughout the rest of the core. Richard Cookson argues [interest rates are still far, far too low]( to contain inflation, and on days like these it’s hard to argue. Bonus Inflation Reading: Just in case you were [thinking of blaming Ben Bernanke](, don’t. — Tyler Cowen Ye Olde Adidas If a corporation were really a family, as the corporations are always telling us, then Adidas would simply give its corporate family member Kanye West (now known as Ye) some time to get the professional help he apparently needs rather than kick him to the curb — especially considering how much money love Ye has brought the family over the years. But this is the real world, one in which Ye’s anti-Semitic rants and other problematic behavior reflect badly on Adidas, regardless of their motivation. Though the two have made a lot of money for each other over the years, the relationship has been deteriorating for a while, writes Andrea Felsted. The shoemaker might soon find [the cost of keeping Ye around outweighs]( the cost of cutting ties. Telltale Charts Chipmaker [TSMC just gave its spending forecast]( an ugly haircut as demand weakens, writes Tim Culpan. If even a giant like TSMC is getting skittish, then maybe we all should. Further Reading The World Bank and other development banks must take the risks others won’t to [finance energy transitions and climate adaptation]( in developing countries. — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres The Jan. 6 hearings made clear Donald [Trump must be held accountable](. — Tim O’Brien [Chinese dictators]( historically make disastrous mistakes in their second decades in power. — Minxin Pei The [fight over ESG]( has turned investing into a political weapon. — John Authers Now more than ever we need to either [curb benefits or raise taxes]( to save Social Security.  — Allison Schrager President Joe [Biden’s approval ratings]( have risen, but he’s still hurting Dems’ midterm chances. — Jonathan Bernstein [ARMs are a relatively new]( invention and were never popular for long. Don’t expect a comeback now. — Stephen Mihm ICYMI The Jan. 6 panel will [subpoena Trump](. The [Supreme Court rejected Trump’s]( classified-records argument. Many, many [new Covid variants]( just dropped. [Signs of dementia]( might turn up nine years before a diagnosis. Kickers Using a “thumbs up” emoji [makes you look old and hostile](, apparently. (h/t Scott Kominers) The Economist wants to [legalize cocaine](. TikTok takes most of the money]( Syrian refugees raise on the app. [Zoom meetings are not good]( for creative idea generation, a study has shown. Notes:  Please send thumbs-up emojis and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. 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](. 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