February 28, 2022 The Morning Sixpack

Russian war in Ukraine rages on; talks begin; Russian central bank under sanctions, raises rates from 9.5 percent to 20 percent over night.

WHELP, it was bound to happen: Countries against Russa (i.e., all of them besides Belarus) decided to ban certain big banks in Russia from participating in SWIFT. (Read explainer here.)

This is causing massive damage to Russia's economy, doubling interest rates to 20 percent overnight and causing the ruble to crash. Sanctions are causing some heartburn at home, too, as stock markets around the world are jittery, down, and volatile.

Such could be expected. What does Putin do now? Tuck tail and retreat? Take over the two giant swaths of land controlled by the separatists for the past 8 years, keep going, take a nuke to an EU ally (or allies), or does he go "whole hog" and just send a rainbow bouquet of nukes to all of NATO, the EU, and the US?

I dunno. Stay tuned. Definitely trying & troubling times. The fight for democracy has never been more important, and not just in our country (the US). That much is clear.

Get the rest of the Sixpack here.

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Make it a great day! (You'll have to try really hard to do that today.)

Bill

🍺 PS - Buy me a beer to keep the Daily Grind News open for business!

💣 PPS - My biggest fear right now is that Russia and Belarus cooperate to assassinate Ukraine's President Zelenskyy while he's in talks with Russia at the Ukraine-Belarus border. I wouldn't be surprised if he's poisoned.

THEN WHAT?