OUR PICKS: UKRAINE WAR Ukraine War's Fallout | Turning Off Russia’s Tap | Putin’s Other Big Miscalculation, and more

White House Disavows Senator’s Call for Assassination of Putin  (VOA News)
The Biden administration is not advocating for regime change in Russia, the White House said Friday, after a U.S. senator called for Russians to assassinate President Vladimir Putin.
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, suggested in a televised interview Thursday evening that “somebody in Russia” should assassinate Putin. He repeated his statement Friday in another televised appearance on Fox News Channel.

Sweden, Finland Vow Greater Security Cooperation in Shadow of Ukraine War  (RFERL)
The Swedish and Finnish prime ministers have told a joint press conference in Helsinki that they will further buttress their security cooperation, amid a surge in diplomatic activity in both those non-NATO countries since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine late last month.

The Impossible Suddenly Became Possible (Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic)
When Russia invaded Ukraine, the West’s assumptions about the world became unsustainable.

Europe’s Sleeping Giant Awakens  (Noah Barkin, The Atlantic)
Politics in Berlin has undergone a cataclysm that no one saw coming.

Explaining the Ukraine War’s Fallout  (PS editors)
By seeking to redraw international borders with the force of tanks and heavy artillery, Russian President Vladimir Putin has dragged the world into a dangerous new phase. Though the long-term effects remain to be seen, it is already clear that the war in Ukraine is a historic watershed.

Would the U.S. Nuclear Umbrella Have Protected Ukraine from Putin?  (Joseph S. Nye, The Strategist)
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has revived many questions about nuclear deterrence. Whatever the outcome of what could be a long war, the issues it has raised won’t go away.

Turning Off Russia’s Tap  (Oleg Ustenko and Ricardo Hausmann, Project Syndicate)
Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the challenge for the West has been to end the war without intervening militarily. According to Oleg Ustensko, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s economic adviser, anything short of a full boycott of Russian energy exports is insufficient. But Harvard’s Ricardo Hausmann argues that a punitive tax on oil would serve the same moral and political purpose, but with less economic pain for global consumers.

Putin’s War Has Given Birth to Geopolitical Europe  (Joseph Borrell, Project Syndicate)
After long debating how the European Union can be made more robust and security-conscious, Europeans have now made more progress toward that objective in the past week than they did in the previous decade. Russia’s war has awakened a slumbering giant – one that is fully committed to supporting a free Ukraine.

Could the Ukraine Invasion Spark a Global Financial Crisis?  (Nasir Aminu, The Conversation)
The Russian assault on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities has intensified uncertainty in the world economy. To condemn Putin’s war, western leaders announced some restrictive economic measures to target Russian financial institution and individuals.
The sanctions include: removing some Russian banks from the Swift messaging system for international payments; freezing the assets of Russian companies and oligarchs in western countries; and restricting the Russian central bank from using its US$630 billion (£473 billion) of foreign reserves to undermine the sanctions.
In response to these moves, several ratings agencies have either cut Russia’s credit rating to junk status or signaled that they may do so soon. In other words, they think the prospect of Russia defaulting on its debts is higher than before. According to a group of global banks, a default is “extremely likely”.

Putin’s Other Big Miscalculation  (Paul Krugman, New York Times)
Itlooks as if Putin made a double miscalculation. His planned short victorious war is turning into a bloody slog that has outraged the world, and his vaunted economic Fortress Russia appears to be headed for a Depression-level slump.

Far-Right Militias in Europe Plan to Confront Russian Forces, a Research Group Says  (Cora Engelbrecht, New York Times)
The Russian attack on Ukraine has prompted a flurry of activity among far-right European militia leaders, who have taken to the internet to raise funds, recruit fighters and plan travel to the front lines to confront the country’s invaders, according to a research group.
In recent days, militia leaders in France, Finland and Ukraine have posted declarations urging their supporters to join in the fight to defend Ukraine against a Russian invasion. The posts have been located and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, a private organization that specializes in tracking extremist groups.