Marketplace All-in-One

A growing number of giant global businesses — including Apple, Shell, Ford and BP — are opting to divest from Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. That list also includes ExxonMobil, which manages and has a major stake in a Russian oil and gas project. Terminating those commitments will take time, cost billions and likely not change Vladimir Putin’s stance on Ukraine. We’ll also look at where OPEC+ oil is flowing, how a ban on Russian airlines will affect global aviation and what it means that the ruble is a free-floating currency. Plus: Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell confirms the upcoming interest rate hike we’ve been expecting.

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A new report from ProPublica dives into the role of private equity in the multifamily rental market. It reveals the growing proportion of private equity-owned apartment buildings as well as how tenants are being affected by changes in ownership. We spoke with ProPublica’s Heather Vogell, the reporter behind the investigation. Susan Schmidt offers insight into today’s market activity.

President Biden used Tuesday night’s State of the Union address to urge global unity against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but he also pushed forth pieces of his domestic agenda, specifically ways to control inflation. He called fighting inflation his top priority. We know how the invasion of Ukraine is disrupting the crude oil industry, but it’s also causing chaos in the industry of edible oils as well. Ukraine is leaning on its familiarity with cryptocurrency to gather funding for aid.

From the BBC World Service: Brent crude oil rose above $112 a barrel for the first time since 2014, and European natural gas prices hit a fresh record as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues. Plus, a look at whether cryptocurrency exchanges can be held legally responsible if users use digital currencies to flout sanctions against Russia.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine last week, social media users have been sharing images and stories of the war. Mixed in with the feed are coordinated disinformation and propaganda campaigns. Wednesday we’re joined by Courtney Radsch, a fellow at UCLA’s Institute for Technology, Law and Policy, to discuss content moderation policies that platforms are creating “on the fly yet again.”

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There’s only one story we wanted to do a deep dive into this week: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The conflict has escalated in recent days. It’s a humanitarian story, an economic story and a story of history.

Someone who is well familiar with that history is Francis Fukuyama, a political scientist at Stanford University. Fukuyama is known for his 1992 book, “The End of History,” in which he argued that the great ideological battles between East and West are effectively over.

On the show today, we check in with Fukuyama about that concept, given today’s context and the significance of a land war on the European continent.

“One of the reasons that people have paid special attention to Ukraine is that it sets an important precedent for what will happen in East Asia,” he said. “Ukraine may be kind of a dry run for how much resistance there’s going to be to what’s happening in that theater. The biggest challenge to current world order actually is not Russia, but it’s China, simply because Chinese power is much more multidimensional than Russian power.”

In the News Fix, we discuss Western media coverage of the conflict in Ukraine and how it compares to coverage of conflicts in the Middle East and Africa. Plus, the U.S. is the world’s top oil producer, so why does it still import oil from Russia? We’ll explain.

Later, we hear from a listener who paid a big price for a cheap app. And we get an answer to the Make Me Smart question that has us wondering about a linguistic phenomenon. (Hopefully you can help us.)

Here’s everything we talked about today:

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Ukraine’s official Twitter account solicited donations in bitcoin and other online currency this weekend and reportedly received $20 million worth. Russians have also turned to cryptocurrency as an alternative to the plummeting ruble — and, potentially, a way for oligarchs to protect their wealth from sanctions. Plus: A look at the businesses that are divesting from Russia, and we delve into social media deplatforming Russia’s state media.

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That’s the concern of the United States and its European allies after cutting off Russia from the SWIFT banking system. China features an interbank system known as CIPS that could, in theory, provide Russia the avenues necessary to keep its financial wheels moving. Helping us explain CIPS is Marketplace’s China correspondent Jennifer Pak. David Kelly offers up some insight into today’s market activity as oil surpasses $100 a barrel. We also look into the pathways that humanitarian aid for Ukraine can take.

Russia’s war in Ukraine is expected to impact air travel and air cargo, because Europe banned Russian planes from its airspace and Russia did the same to Europe’s planes. Royal Dutch Shell has become the latest energy company to announce that it’s divesting from Russian oil and gas, a move some experts say signals a “sea change” in how energy companies in the West deal with Russia. We check in on the strength of American manufacturing as demand keeps growing.

From the BBC World Service: Shipping giants, including Maersk, are responding to the growing risks of doing business with Russia and working to comply with international sanctions and restrictions. Plus, while stock markets have suffered sharp declines due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, cryptocurrencies have surged. And, could a cyber attack which halted Toyota’s car production in Japan be related to the country’s sanction action against Russia?

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