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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has forced countries to quickly recalibrate their reliance on Russian energy. The European Union will receive an infusion of natural gas from the U.S. to speed its move away from Russian supplies. India, however, has stepped up purchases of Russian crude. The relationship between Beijing and Moscow has become more complicated, but experts doubt there will be a rupture in the flow of oil and coal. Energy is just one example of how Russia’s war on Ukraine “could mark a lasting change in the way the world economy works,” John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge write in Bloomberg Opinion, unless the West is wise enough to remake the global order.
The war has hammered the Russian economy, which may lose 15 years of gains. The Kremlin’s offensiveremains stalled one month into the conflict, and the U.S. and NATO say they are preparing for the possibility that Vladimir Putin will use biological, chemical or nuclear weapons to break the stalemate. He is “capable of anything,” Andreas Kluth writes in Bloomberg Opinion. “NATO, and especially the U.S., must now prepare for harrowing decisions after a Russian first strike.” Global supply chains, upended by the coronavirus, are facing another round of complications. The container ship backlog at U.S. West Coast ports has started clearing, but logjams triggered by lockdowns in China will delay goods heading to the U.S. Now add Russia’s war on Ukraine: More than one million containers set to make a 6,000-mile journey on a railway linking Western Europe to eastern China via Russia must now find new routes by sea or air.  The Port of Long Beach in California Photographer: Allison Zaucha/Bloomberg China’s stringent efforts to squash every outbreak of Covid-19 threaten to derail its ambitious growth target of about 5.5% this year. Hong Kong, hit by one of the deadliest outbreaks of the pandemic, is facing a decline in business confidence amid the world’s toughest travel and quarantine restrictions. The U.S. meanwhile continues to roll back restrictions as the risk of a new infection wave grows, and airline executives have called on President Joe Biden to end pandemic travel precautions, including the federal mask mandate. Ketanji Brown Jackson fended off accusations by Republican senators that she was soft on crime during four days of often aggressive questioning during Supreme Court confirmation hearings. But her place as the first Black woman on the nation’s high court looks almost certain after West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat who has regularly sided with the chamber’s 50 Republicans to block Biden’s agenda, said on Friday Jackson had his vote. Mortgage rates are still racing ahead—so much that Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said he’s having trouble finding a home to buy in Washington. Homes aren’t the only investment to rise in value during the pandemic. Swiss watches are having a resurgence, with some timepieces selling for millions of dollars.  Swatch Group AG, owner of brands like Tissot (above), has seen its U.S. sales double in the past two years. Photographer: Chan Long Hei/Bloomberg Tackling the climate crisis has mostly focused on countries that got rich spewing greenhouse gasses and now getting them to cut their emissions. But new evidence suggests that personal wealth does more than national wealth to explain the sources of emissions. That’s because the rich and poor pollute differently, regardless of where they live. Like getting Weekend Reading? Subscribe to Bloomberg.com for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and gain expert analysis from exclusive subscriber-only newsletters. Download the Bloomberg app: It’s available for iOS and Android. 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. | 
