☕️ Abandoning Russia

Why the US is against a no-fly zone in Ukraine... March 07, 2022 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( | [Shop]( [Morning Brew]( TOGETHER WITH [Facet Wealth]( Good morning. A few weeks ago we introduced Money With Katie’s newsletter covering all things personal finance. Well, she also has a podcast to go deeper on those same topics—spending habits, smart investing, tax strategies—that’s relaunching on Wednesday. [Listen to the previous episodes here]( and make sure to tune in later this week. With tax season in full swing, Katie is a super helpful guide through all the complexities. —Neal Freyman MARKETS: YEAR-TO-DATE Nasdaq 13,313.44 -14.90% S&P 4,328.87 -9.18% Dow 33,614.80 -7.49% 10-Year 1.732% +21.8 bps Bitcoin $38,405.66 -17.06% Oil $127.62 +69.68% *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 7:00pm ET. [Here's what these numbers mean.]( - Markets: Oil prices [spiked]( to their highest level since 2008 last night after the US said it was discussing a potential ban on Russian supplies with its European allies. - Ukraine latest: Multiple attempts to evacuate civilians from Ukrainian cities have [stalled]( following Russian attacks on humanitarian corridors. Meanwhile, more than 3,000 Russian people were arrested in anti-war protests that erupted across dozens of cities. GEOPOLITICS [The battle for the skies]( [Ukrainian Air force MiG 29 fighter planes take part in practical flights during an exercise at the Air Force military base in Vasylkiv](Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images Following Russian missile strikes on the city of Vinnytsia yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky [repeated his call]( for NATO to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine to slow the Russian bombardment. He’s unlikely to get his wish. First, what is a no-fly zone? Don’t think too hard—it’s an area where certain aircraft are not allowed to fly. They were popularized in the Persian Gulf War but have been used in a variety of other contexts, including during the Olympics. - Airplanes have even been restricted from the skies above Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in Anaheim since 2003. The problem for the US and NATO is that no-fly zones need to be enforced by militaries. If Russian planes were to enter banned airspace, then Western forces would need to respond, putting them in direct conflict with Russia. They are desperate to avoid head-on confrontation, since that could result in World War III. “What we’re trying to do is end this war in Ukraine, not start a larger one,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Meet the Press yesterday. Enter the MiG-29 While they’ve rebuffed Zelensky’s call for a no-fly zone, the US and Europe said they’re willing to help Ukraine’s air force in a different way: by supplying Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets, which are desperately needed to keep the Russians from achieving air superiority. It’s a [three-way deal]( that would make an NBA GM proud. Poland currently has MiG-29s that Ukrainian pilots are familiar with, but it won’t let Ukraine borrow airplanes without replacements. So the Biden administration has suggested it could backfill Poland’s air force with US-made jets if Poland transferred its planes to Ukraine. This plan seems to have legs. “Can’t speak to a timeline, but I can just say we’re looking at it very, very actively,” Blinken said on Saturday. Big picture: Allocating fighter jets to Ukraine would be the most significant arms transfer during the war thus far, but an astonishing number of Western nations have already been propping up the Ukrainian military. About 20 countries are [bolstering]( Ukraine with weapons including anti-tank missiles, Stinger surface-to-air missiles, machine guns, and ammunition, per the NYT. �  �  �  mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20Morning%20Brew%21&body=The%20battle%20for%20the%20skies%3A%20utm_campaign%3Dmb%26utm_medium%3Dnewsletter%26utm_source%3Dmorning_brew%0A%0AWant%20more%20great%20content%3F%20Subscribe%20to%20Daily%20Brew%20%E2%80%94%20Delivering%20the%20latest%20business%20news%20from%20Wall%20St.%20to%20Silicon%20Valley%2C%20daily.%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.morningbrew.com%2Fdaily%2Fr%2F%3Fkid%3D4904f90a%26utm_source%3Demail_share%0A WORLD [Tour de headlines]( [A meme showing US companies shutting down Russian operations](Imgflip Media giants pause services in Russia. TikTok said it’s [suspending]( new content uploads and livestreams to the platform due to the country’s new “fake news” law that could put offenders behind bars for up to 15 years. Netflix also said it’s stopping its service in Russia “given the circumstances on the ground.” Payments companies ditch Russia. Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal are [suspending]( their services in Russia, while American Express said its globally issued credit cards will no longer work in Russia and Belarus. While these moves further Russia’s financial isolation from the West, it may also push the country closer to Beijing: Some Russian banks are looking into using China’s UnionPay system as an alternative. Shell explains why it bought Russian oil. The energy company [defended]( its decision to buy heavily discounted Russian oil on Friday after taking heat from Ukraine’s foreign minister for funding Putin’s war machine. Shell said it had “no alternative” other than to buy the oil to keep supplies flowing to Europe. It highlights the Catch-22 facing Western powers contemplating an embargo on Russian oil. �  �  �  mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20Morning%20Brew%21&body=Tour%20de%20headlines%3A%20utm_campaign%3Dmb%26utm_medium%3Dnewsletter%26utm_source%3Dmorning_brew%0A%0AWant%20more%20great%20content%3F%20Subscribe%20to%20Daily%20Brew%20%E2%80%94%20Delivering%20the%20latest%20business%20news%20from%20Wall%20St.%20to%20Silicon%20Valley%2C%20daily.%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.morningbrew.com%2Fdaily%2Fr%2F%3Fkid%3D4904f90a%26utm_source%3Demail_share%0A FOOD [American companies still slinging burgers in Russia]( [People wait outside of an McDonald's store in Moscow](Pelagiya Tihonova/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images In Russia, you can no longer buy an Ikea dresser or an Hermès Birkin bag, but you can [still buy]( a Big Mac. As Western multinationals pause their operations in Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, most US fast food chains and food companies are keeping their Russian businesses open, the NYT reports. - That list includes McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Papa John’s, Starbucks, and Mondelez International (the maker of Oreos). There’s a catch: Because many fast-food retailers use the franchise model for their stores, they don’t actually own them, and thus have less power to shut them down in response to political developments, per the NYT. But McDonald’s does own the majority of its locations in Russia, and it has not yet made a public statement about the war in Ukraine. McD’s is a big deal over there: Russia accounts for 9% of its total revenue. And when the Soviet Union began to disintegrate, the first McDonald’s restaurant in Moscow was viewed as a watershed moment for the country’s embrace of Western products. More than 30,000 people lined up the day it opened in 1990. For a full rundown: Yale Management Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is keeping an [updated list]( of companies that have curtailed their Russian operations (and the ones that have not). More than 200 companies have withdrawn from Russia so far. �  �  �  mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20Morning%20Brew%21&body=American%20companies%20still%20slinging%20burgers%20in%20Russia%3A%20utm_campaign%3Dmb%26utm_medium%3Dnewsletter%26utm_source%3Dmorning_brew%0A%0AWant%20more%20great%20content%3F%20Subscribe%20to%20Daily%20Brew%20%E2%80%94%20Delivering%20the%20latest%20business%20news%20from%20Wall%20St.%20to%20Silicon%20Valley%2C%20daily.%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.morningbrew.com%2Fdaily%2Fr%2F%3Fkid%3D4904f90a%26utm_source%3Demail_share%0A TOGETHER WITH FACET WEALTH [Future you is gonna love this](#) Let’s be real: We all leave problems for future us. Laundry? Do it tomorrow. Groceries? Get them on the weekend. But financial planning? That’s something you should take care of now. [Facet Wealth]( is exactly who you need to help you upgrade the way you live now and plan for your future. They’re the missing piece of the financial planning industry: an unbiased, human-plus-tech approach that considers your entire financial life—investments, career changes, assets, and all. They connect you with a [CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™]( professional for one-on-one financial advising with a personal touch, so you can create a plan for your money that will take you to the next level. Sign up before 3/31/22 and [get 2 months free with Facet Wealth](. CALENDAR [The week ahead]( [Promo for Apple's spring event](Apple Inflation: The most important economic report of the month arrives on Thursday—the consumer price index. If inflation at 40-year highs wasn’t worrying enough, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could land another nasty shock by driving energy prices higher. Over the weekend, the average price of gas in the US topped $4 a gallon for the first time since 2008. Apple event: The tech giant is expected to [unveil]( new versions of the iPhone SE, iPad, and Mac computer at its event on Tuesday. Spring forward: Saturday night we’ll all lose one hour of sleep, but for a good cause: Daylight saving time begins and it’ll finally be light out when we stop working for the day. Everything else: - International Women’s Day is on Tuesday. - Friday marks two years since the WHO declared Covid-19 a global pandemic. - Sunday is “Selection Sunday” for the March Madness basketball tournament. �  �  �  mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20Morning%20Brew%21&body=The%20week%20ahead%3A%20utm_campaign%3Dmb%26utm_medium%3Dnewsletter%26utm_source%3Dmorning_brew%0A%0AWant%20more%20great%20content%3F%20Subscribe%20to%20Daily%20Brew%20%E2%80%94%20Delivering%20the%20latest%20business%20news%20from%20Wall%20St.%20to%20Silicon%20Valley%2C%20daily.%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.morningbrew.com%2Fdaily%2Fr%2F%3Fkid%3D4904f90a%26utm_source%3Demail_share%0A GRAB BAG [Key performance indicators]( [A babysitter talking to a child](Halloween Kills/Universal Pictures via Giphy Stat: For parents of little ones, a night away from the kids has gotten a lot more expensive. Babysitters in the US earned an average of $20.57 an hour in 2021, an [11% gain]( from the previous year, according to Axios. Compare that to the 7% rate of inflation across all sectors. Quote: “The risk of Armageddon has risen dramatically. Stay bullish on stocks over a 12-month horizon.” Investment research company BCA Research [wrote]( that despite the increased risk of civilization-ending nuclear war, you should still load up on stocks this year. The logic? “If an ICBM is heading your way, the size and composition of your portfolio becomes irrelevant. Thus, from a purely financial perspective, you should largely ignore existential risk, even if you do care about it greatly from a personal perspective.” Watch: The failed logistics of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. ([Wendover Productions]() �  �  �  mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20Morning%20Brew%21&body=Key%20performance%20indicators%3A%20utm_campaign%3Dmb%26utm_medium%3Dnewsletter%26utm_source%3Dmorning_brew%0A%0AWant%20more%20great%20content%3F%20Subscribe%20to%20Daily%20Brew%20%E2%80%94%20Delivering%20the%20latest%20business%20news%20from%20Wall%20St.%20to%20Silicon%20Valley%2C%20daily.%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.morningbrew.com%2Fdaily%2Fr%2F%3Fkid%3D4904f90a%26utm_source%3Demail_share%0A WHAT ELSE IS BREWING - [The hacker group Anonymous]( claimed it hacked Russian streaming services and live TV channels to broadcast footage of the war in Ukraine. - [The Batman]( scored the second-best opening of the pandemic era, bringing in $128.5 million at the domestic box office this weekend. - [Ukrainians]( are finding that their Russian relatives don’t believe a war is going on. - [WNBA star Brittney Griner]( was detained in Russia after authorities found hashish oil in vape cartridges in her luggage. BREW'S BETS Money. Romance. Tragedy. Deception. Hulu’s limited series The Dropout tells the story of Elizabeth Holmes (Amanda Seyfried) and Theranos—an unbelievable tale of ambition, fame, and fortune gone terribly wrong. [New episodes air Thursdays, only on Hulu](.* Crypto + stocks, but make it social: With [eToro](, you can create your own virtual investment portfolio with $100K in “play money” and see which stocks + cryptocurrencies your friends are investing in at the same time. Join today and [get $10 for depositing $100 on eToro](.* What is the greatest brand of all time? We’re about to find out. In the lead-up to basketball’s March Madness, Morning Brew readers will have the opportunity to select the greatest brand of all time through a knockout bracket. Make sure to follow our [Twitter]( to vote beginning at 9am ET today. Dive back into the week: - Shallow dive: [Light]( in a time of darkness - Medium dive: [Random awesomeness generator]( - Deep dive: Fatherhood, cancer, and [what matters most]( - Cannonball: Why renewables became [so cheap so fast]( *This is sponsored advertising content. GAMES [The puzzle section](#) Turntable: Mondays are for catching up on emails and Turntable. [Play the word game here](. Finish the lyrics We’ll give you an artist and a lyric from a song they’ve performed. You have to complete the phrase. - The Beatles: “It’s been a hard day’s night, and I’ve been working like a dog. It’s been a hard day’s night…” - Taylor Swift: “I knew you wеre trouble when you walked in, so shame on me now…” - Outkast: “You think you’ve got it. Oh, you think you’ve got it. But got it…” - Kesha: “Don’t stop, make it pop…” - Idina Menzel: “The snow glows white on the mountain tonight, not a footprint to be seen. A kingdom of isolation…” SHARE THE BREW We think you should [share the Brew.]( Not only is it a smart thing to do for your friends, it’s also the smartest way to get showered in free Brew swag. Your referral count: 0 [Click to Share]( Or copy & paste your referral link to others: [morningbrew.com/daily/r/?kid=4904f90a]( ANSWER 1. I should be sleeping like a log 2. Flew me to places I'd never been 3. Just don’t get it when there’s nothin’ at all 4. DJ, blow my speakers up 5. And it looks like I’m the queen ✢ A Note From Facet Wealth Disclosures: Facet Wealth is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. This is not an offer to sell securities or the solicitation of an offer to purchase securities. This is not investment, financial, legal, or tax advice. *Two months free offer is only valid for an annual fee paid at the time of signing. ✤ A Note From eToro Securities trading through eToro USA Securities, Inc. Member of FINRA and SIPC. Crypto Trading through eToro USA LLC, not FDIC insured. � � � � � Written by [Neal Freyman]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. WANT MORE BREW? Industry news, with a sense of humor → - [Emerging Tech Brew](: AI, crypto, space, autonomous vehicles, and more - [HR Brew](: analysis of the employee-employer relationship - [Marketing Brew](: the buzziest happenings in marketing and advertising - [Retail Brew](: retail trends from DTC to "buy now, pay later" Accelerate Your Career → - [MB/A](: virtual 8-week program designed to broaden your skill set [ADVERTISE]( // [CAREERS]( // [SHOP]( // [FAQ]( Update your email preferences or unsubscribe [here](. View our privacy policy [here](. Copyright © 2022 Morning Brew. All rights reserved. 22 W 19th St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10011