America leads

The heightened U.S. diplomatic interest may prove fleeting. [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( The White House is dispatching Vice President Kamala Harris at the head of the U.S. delegation to this weekend’s Munich Security Conference, an annual forum that will be dominated by the crisis over Ukraine. Harris hopes to meet with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the gathering, while U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will confer with his counterparts from the Group of Seven nations on the sidelines. It’s a powerful show of diplomacy that underlines Washington’s commitment to the transatlantic relationship. Key reading: - [Biden Says Threat to Ukraine Remains, Awaits Russia Pullback]( - [Russia Rejects U.S. Troop Claim; EU Leaders Meet: Ukraine Update]( - [The Great Climate Backslide: How Governments Are Regressing Worldwide]( - [Diplomatic Whirl Shows West Unconvinced by Russian Peacemaking]( Yet U.S. interest may prove fleeting. There’s no doubt that the crisis prompted by Russia’s military build up around Ukraine has reinvigorated U.S.-Europe ties and helped to breath life into President Joe Biden’s assertion that “America is back” after the Trump administration’s America First policy. Government officials in European capitals talk warmly of Washington’s engagement, with multiple high-level calls, intelligence sharing and public commitments to NATO. But they are also aware that China remains Biden’s foreign policy priority, and that domestic challenges are never far from his mind. That ever-present dilemma was on display this week when the president warned that any escalation of the crisis could lead to higher U.S. fuel prices. Cheap gasoline is a golden calf for many Americans. Faced with rising global crude prices, Biden has already appealed to OPEC+ members to boost output and asked U.S. oil companies to drill more, undermining his climate record. Any further price increase could hurt the Democratic Party’s chances in the November midterm elections. And losing control of Congress would force the president to focus still more on domestic matters. America’s attention to the current tensions in Eastern Europe is welcome from Warsaw to Paris. But it may be the high point rather than an enduring trend. — [Alan Crawford]( U.S. soldiers disembark yesterday in Poland from a C-17 cargo plane. Photographer: Wojtek Radwanski/AFP/Getty Images Click [here]( to follow Bloomberg Politics on Twitter and share this newsletter with others too. They can sign up [here](. Global Headlines Troop movements | Russia [rejected]( claims by the U.S. and U.K. that it’s added 7,000 troops to what Biden has said are roughly 150,000 already near Ukraine’s borders, rather than withdrawing forces. The Defense Ministry in Moscow says a pullback continues of soldiers and equipment following the completion of drills, and Russia has repeatedly said there are no plans to invade Ukraine. European Union leaders hold talks today on the crisis. - The western Ukrainian city of Lviv, whose baroque old town reflects its former Habsburg rulers, has become a temporary [refuge]( for diplomats and IT workers leaving the capital, Kyiv, as the U.S. warns of a potential Russian attack. Mass testing | Hong Kong plans a [testing]( blitz of the entire city, a tactic used to root out Covid-19 cases on the mainland, [Chi Yui Siu]( and [Iain Marlow]( report, as the financial hub struggles to control its most challenging outbreak. The move follows Chinese President Xi Jinping’s call for the city to take “all necessary measures” to contain the virus. Global trade in goods and services will probably [slow]( this year from a torrid pace in 2021, as inflation pressures in the U.S. and real-estate instability in China weaken growth prospects in the world’s two largest economies, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development says. Climate vow | Biden’s pledge to slash greenhouse-gas emissions is in jeopardy. Beyond facing a skeptical Congress, it depends on proposed rules the Supreme Court may [strike down]( after it hears arguments on Feb. 28 from coal-plant owners and Republican-led states trying to curb the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate the power sector’s carbon-dioxide discharges. - The Beijing Winter Olympics’s claim to “carbon neutrality” is based on junk offsets that do little or nothing to [counteract]( the emissions of the games, [Natasha White]( and [Akshat Rathi]( report. Explainers you can use - [How Poland and Hungary Are Challenging European Law]( - [What Trudeau Can and Can’t Do With Emergency Powers]( - [What Banning Forced Arbitration for Harassment Means]( Door shutting | The U.K. is set to scrap the so-called [golden visa]( program that gives foreign nationals a path to residency if they invest more than $2.7 million, as the government looks to curb the influence of Russian money. Britain has been reviewing the visas since 2018, after the poisoning of ex-Russian agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury sank ties with the Kremlin. - [Read our deep dive]( on how the collapse of London finance firm Dolfin Financial left golden visa holders in limbo. Best of Bloomberg Opinion - [U.K. Judges Help the Next Robert Maxwell: John Micklethwait]( - [Meta’s ‘Metamates’ Are In for a Rough Voyage: Mark Gongloff]( - [Olympics Have Been a Raging Success (for China): Adam Minter]( Speeding up | African governments are playing catch-up in vaccinating against the coronavirus, with just 12% of the continent’s 1.3 billion people fully inoculated and the World Health Organization listing 20 nations at high risk of missing a target of dosing 70% of their populations by mid-year. Read [this list]( on what countries are doing to overcome a mixture of hesitancy, complacency and a dearth of shots and health-care workers. News to Note - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged her counterparts from leading industrialized nations to support setting up a new World Bank [fund]( to prevent and prepare for future global health crises. - Taiwan believes Xi is focused on a key party meeting to extend his tenure as China’s leader and assesses the risk of an [imminent attack]( as low, sources say. - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida eased [stringent]( virus border measures as he seeks to tread a careful path on pandemic policy that damaged his two predecessors. - Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is [ramping up]( spending to bolster support before elections next year, even as reserves and finances dwindle. - France and its allies agreed to a coordinated [withdrawal]( of their forces from Mali after relations with the West African nation’s government deteriorated following a military coup. And finally ... Rickenbacker International Airport in the U.S. state of Ohio has become an economic relief valve for auto parts, consumer products, and pharmaceuticals to help ease supply chains. [Brendan Murray]( reports on how its booming business — a record 1,655 cargo plane arrivals last year — illustrates how the old architecture of globalization is [absorbing]( shocks and changing shape. International freight being unloaded at Rickenbacker airport. Photographer: Megan Jelinger/Getty Images Like Balance of Power? [Get unlimited access to Bloomberg.com](, where you'll find trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Balance of Power newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( | [Ad Choices]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022