Along with government sanctions, we’ve seen a huge number of corporations shut down business in and with Russia. While some of the companies have made the move for ethical reasons, many have done so for public relations. And in those cases, the PR teams have been moved in part by appearing on a list compiled by Yale professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and his research team. This is one spreadsheet you don’t want to appear on. A Yale professor’s list of companies staying in Russia has put the business world on notice. One of the most important aspects of these shutdowns is that they make it harder for Vladimir Putin to sell Russians the idea that his maniacal war is just a minor incursion. And it looks like that facade has been punctured. NYT: More than 13,000 people have been arrested in antiwar protests in Russia since its invasion of Ukraine began. And that’s in the face of potentially stiff prison sentences.

+ “One post-invasion poll found that 86% of Americans saw the invasion as unjustified – with broad bipartisan agreement – and another showed that half of the respondents would compare the actions of Vladimir Putin with those of Adolf Hitler.” In other words, this is one of the easiest stands many corporations have ever had to take.

+ “If Europe before the war had a long-term political agenda to remake its energy resources by mid-century in response to global warming, now the energy question is even more urgent: What can be done by next winter and beyond, in the name of cutting off the Russian economy from its largest source of trade? Or perhaps even by next month.” Bloomberg: Europe Is on a Wartime Mission to Ditch Russian Oil and Gas. And Biden’s climate change agenda would reduce oil demand enough to replace Russian imports.

+ “The Venezuelan government has freed two jailed Americans, including an oil executive imprisoned alongside colleagues for more than four years.” (This is a sign that the US is looking to Venezuela to make up the difference when it comes to lost oil supplies from Russia. That moves us from one thug dictator to another, all of which makes renewables seem like one hell of an option – with the bonus that we just might save the planet.)

+ “Joe Biden hasn’t received the full credit he deserves for his statecraft during this crisis, because he has pursued a policy of self-effacement. Rather than touting his accomplishments in mobilizing a unified global response to the invasion, he has portrayed the stringent sanctions as the triumph of an alliance. By carefully limiting his own public role … he has left Vladimir Putin with little opportunity to portray the conflict as a standoff with the United States, a narrative that the Russian leader would clearly prefer.” Franklin Foer in The Atlantic: Biden Answered the 3 a.m. Call. (Compare that with Trump’s “perfect call.”)

+ For now, Putin continues to respond to the international pressure by doubling down and targeting civilians, including bombing a children’s and maternity hospital. Here’s the latest from CNN and BBC.