☕️ Xi and Putin

What China thinks of the war in Ukraine... March 14, 2022 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( | [Shop]( [Morning Brew]( TOGETHER WITH [The Motley Fool]( Good morning. There are many things to celebrate today: Pi Day, Sunset at 7:01pm Day, and the Brew’s seventh birthday. No need to get us a present, but we certainly wouldn’t mind if you checked out our Career Accelerator programs, which are designed to…accelerate your career. The application deadline is this Friday, so pick a course and apply today. - [MB/A for business learners: March 21–May 13]( - [MB/Q for data and finance: April 4–May 20]( —Neal Freyman MARKETS: YEAR-TO-DATE Nasdaq 12,843.81 -17.90% S&P 4,204.31 -11.79% Dow 32,944.19 -9.34% 10-Year 2.044% +53.0 bps Bitcoin $37,752.16 -18.47% Oil $107.65 +43.14% *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 8:00pm ET. [Here's what these numbers mean.]( - Markets: Investors see danger everywhere they look, from surging commodity prices to an upcoming interest rate hike by the Fed. One piece of good news is that gas prices [declined]( over the weekend after hitting record highs last week. - Ukraine: Russia struck a military base in western Ukraine, killing 35 people. It amps up concerns because the base is located less than 10 miles from the border of Poland—a NATO member. Following the attack, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan [said]( that the US will “defend every inch of NATO territory.” CHINA [The view from Beijing]( [Putin and Xi Jinping](Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images As Russia’s confrontation with the West reaches a boiling point, it’s important to ask: What does China, the great superpower of the East, think about all this? The US certainly wants more clarity. Today it’s sending its national security adviser to Rome to [meet]( with a top Chinese diplomat in the first IRL, high-level talks between the two countries since Russia’s invasion began. Do we know what side China is on? Let’s just say it’s not lighting up the Great Wall with the colors of Ukraine’s flag. China has acknowledged the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine but has only criticized the US, not Russia, for provoking the war. - When 141 countries of the UN General Assembly voted to pass a measure that urged Russia to immediately stop its “aggression,” China was one of 35 to abstain (and five voted against). There are a few signs China has been proactively helping out Putin. For example, Chinese state-run media and government officials are parroting Russia’s false claim that the US was supporting biological weapons labs in Ukraine. The US believes this propaganda will be used as a pretext for Russian forces to use chemical weapons. And there’s no denying the fact that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are good pals—they told us so themselves. Before the Olympics, the autocratic leaders issued a 5,000-word statement saying there were “no limits” to their friendship. Still, that friendship might have some limits While both China and Russia have similar goals (a less-powerful US), China is far more intertwined with the global economy than Russia is. It can’t be happy that Putin has both destabilized the economic order and energized the West by invading Ukraine. Big picture: With Russian military losses piling up, some Chinese scholars are [urging Xi]( to use his leverage with Putin and mediate an end to the war. Putin, they argue, is a flailing leader not worth Xi’s unequivocal support, and by helping negotiate peace in Ukraine, China could win brownie points with the rest of the world for being a “responsible” global power. For now, it’s unclear whether Xi will throw his buddy Putin a bone, or under the bus. �  �  �  mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20Morning%20Brew%21&body=The%20view%20from%20Beijing%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%3Da905682a%26utm_source%3Demail_share%0A WORLD [Tour de headlines]( [Tom Brady playing golf](Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images for The Match Apparently his golf game isn’t there yet. Just six weeks after announcing his retirement from pro football, QB Tom Brady said yesterday that he will [return]( to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next season. “These past two months I've realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands,” Brady wrote on Twitter, disappointing the majority of NFL fans and the person who paid $518,628 for Brady’s “last NFL touchdown ball” Saturday night. Here we go again. Shenzhen, the Chinese tech hub home to 17.5 million people, has been [locked down]( for at least a week due to a spike in Covid cases. This could only exacerbate the supply shortages that have fueled inflation. Case in point: Apple supplier Foxconn is temporarily shutting down its Shenzhen operations to comply with the restrictions. Ubers are getting more expensive. And you can blame the rise in gas prices. Uber is rolling out a [temporary surcharge]( on Uber trips and Uber Eats delivery orders on Wednesday in order to offset the higher cost of gas for its drivers. The surcharge for trips will be either 45 cents or 55 cents per ride (depending on where you live), and will last at least 60 days. �  �  �  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%3Da905682a%26utm_source%3Demail_share%0A GEOPOLITICS [What is ‘The West’?]( [Chris Farley saying no idea](Tommy Boy/Paramount Pictures via Giphy When reading about the war in Ukraine, you’ve probably come across the term “the West” to describe the coalition of governments opposing Putin’s invasion. But what does the West actually mean? For an answer, let’s get an assist from the brilliant Russia scholar Stephen Kotkin. In an [interview]( with the New Yorker published this weekend, Kotkin gave his definition of the West, and it’s certainly better than anything we could come up with: “The West is a series of institutions and values. The West is not a geographical place. Russia is European, but not Western. Japan is Western, but not European. ‘Western’ means rule of law, democracy, private property, open markets, respect for the individual, diversity, pluralism of opinion, and all the other freedoms that we enjoy, which we sometimes take for granted. We sometimes forget where they came from. But that’s what the West is. And that West, which we expanded in the nineties, in my view properly, through the expansion of the European Union and NATO, is revived now, and it has stood up to Vladimir Putin in a way that neither he nor Xi Jinping expected.” The [entire interview]( is packed with insights on the current situation. �  �  �  mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20this%20story%20from%20Morning%20Brew%21&body=What%20is%20%E2%80%98The%20West%E2%80%99%3F%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%3Da905682a%26utm_source%3Demail_share%0A TOGETHER WITH THE MOTLEY FOOL [Ever see a shooting star in stock form?](#) [The Motley Fool]( No need to whip out the ol’ telescope. The experts at [The Motley Fool]( are here to magnify these potential rarities before they’re too far gone for the ensuing oohs and aahs. And every so often, their team spots a stock so potentially strong, they have to double down on it. Hence, their “[All In](” signal … which is flashing riiiight now. So, what’s caught The Motley Fool’s trained eye? An under-the-radar company sitting smack-dab in the middle of a market that’s 10X bigger than the online streaming industry. Oh, and the average return of stocks selected with this “All In” buy signal? A cool 499%. [Find this Stock Advisor rec here and get a 30-day, 100% membership-fee-back guarantee](. CALENDAR [The week ahead]( [The Chicago River is dyed green for St. Patrick's Day](Scott Olson/Getty Images Rate hikes for coming: The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates for the first time since late 2018 this week. It comes at a precarious moment: Inflation is soaring at 40-year highs, but the war in Ukraine threatens to slow economic growth. Fed Chair Jerome Powell will need to thread the needle of cooling down prices without inducing a recession. Prepare your liver: St. Paddy’s Day is Thursday. Chicago kicked off the festivities this weekend with its annual tradition of dyeing the Chicago River green. (Pro tip for your work emails: It’s St. Paddy’s Day and not St. Patty’s Day. We made that mistake a few years ago and will never be fully healed from the replies.) SXSW: If it seems like all of your cool friends are in Austin, TX, this week, it’s because the South by Southwest festival—a media/tech/film extravaganza—is in full swing. Everything else: - More celebrations: Purim starts Wednesday night and Holi is on Friday. - The Formula 1 season begins with the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday. - Spring officially arrives on Sunday. �  �  �  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%3Da905682a%26utm_source%3Demail_share%0A GRAB BAG [Key performance indicators]( [Northwestern fan angry](CBS Sports via Giphy Stat: March Madness is here, but the real madness is believing you have a chance at filling out a perfect bracket. The odds of a perfect bracket are [1 in 9.2 quintillion]( if you were to pick each of the 63 games via coin flip. If you know something about basketball, the odds improve to 1 in 120.2 billion. Btw, here are the [men’s]( and [women’s]( brackets for this year’s tournament. Quote: “I want to thank @Meta and other platforms that have an active position that help and stand side by side with the Ukrainians.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky became the rare world leader to [praise]( Mark Zuckerberg’s company for taking action to limit the spread of Russian propaganda on its platforms. As of today, Meta’s Instagram and Facebook are blocked in Russia. Read: Deep learning is hitting a wall. ([Nautilus]() Ask: In honor of Pi Day, we need to find out which kind of pie our readers prefer. Vote by clicking below. [Sweet]( [Savory]( �  �  �  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%3Da905682a%26utm_source%3Demail_share%0A WHAT ELSE IS BREWING - [Brent Renaud](, an award-winning filmmaker, was killed in the city of Irpin while reporting on Ukrainian refugees. He’s believed to be the first foreign journalist killed in the conflict. - [The Russian stock market](, closed since February 25, won’t reopen this week. - [Saudi Arabia]( executed 81 men in a single day on charges of terrorism and other crimes. It’s the kingdom’s biggest mass execution in decades. - [Tennis star Naomi Osaka]( was brought to tears by a heckler at the Indian Wells Masters tennis tournament. Osaka said she got emotional because that’s the tournament where Venus and Serena Williams were heckled in 2001. TOGETHER WITH BETTERMENT [Betterment ]( It takes minutes to open an IRA, but the impact can last a lifetime. Betterment makes saving for retirement easy by helping you invest in an IRA to grow your savings (and maybe retire a little early). What’s more, you still have until April 18 to max out contributions to an IRA for 2021. [Start saving better today](. BREW'S BETS But what actually is Pi? This is the [simplest visual]( we’ve seen. Brew Madness: In our competition to determine the Greatest Brand of All Time, only 16 remain. Head to our [Twitter page]( to vote for the Elite Eight today. The matchup to watch: Costco vs. Trader Joe’s. Dive back into the week: - Shallow dive: What the [world map]( sounds like - Medium dive: [Google Maps features]( you didn’t know about - Deep dive: Planning for the [end of your career]( - Cannonball: The [story]( of what happened with dubstep GAMES [The puzzle section](#) Turntable: Our Monday puzzle asks you to pluck words from a nonsensical jumble of letters. [Play today’s Turntable here](. Pie trivia Here’s a grab bag of questions about pie. - True/false: Pumpkin pie was very popular in ancient Egypt. - In what musical are people killed and baked into meat pies? - Buko pie, a traditional Filipino pie, uses which fruit? - What pie was designated as Florida’s official state pie in 2006? - The TV show Twin Peaks is most associated with which type of pie? FROM THE CREW [No one has it all figured out]( [A blue and orange background with the silhouette of a head on top. "Morning Brew" is written across the top and the word "imposters" in bold is written across the silhouette.]( Have you ever felt in over your head at work? Like any day your boss will find out you Google 95% of the things you’re supposed to know? Well, so has everyone—even the people you look up to the most. In order to show that nobody has it all figured out, Morning Brew launched a new podcast, Imposters, where the Brew’s executive chairman, Alex Lieberman, sits down with the most respected names in business, sports, and entertainment to talk about how they overcame their personal challenges. [Check out Imposters here](. ANSWER - False. The pumpkin is native to North America. - Sweeney Todd - Coconut - Key lime pie - Cherry pie ✳︎ A Note From Betterment Investing involves risk. Performance not guaranteed. � � � � � Written by [Neal Freyman]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. WANT MORE BREW? 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