Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist.

Today from London, I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

A democratic, west-facing country with a big bully of a neighbor.

The island of Taiwan has every reason to watch what's happening in Ukraine.

The historical respondent gets a feel for the political wins in Taiwan and in the broader region.

And a hundred years ago this week Pierre Paolo Pasolini was born, an author, a playwright,

a journalist and novelist, but most prominently an audacious film director.

We look at the dark commentary in his films and the dark circumstances of his death.

But first, the range of economic weapons pointed at Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine

has been nothing short of astonishing, perhaps even to Russia.

A powerful coalition representing some of the world's biggest democracies announced it would

block some Russian banks from swift.

President Biden targeting a new group of oligarchs today as well as some of their relatives

and close associates.

Russia faces a massive, corporate global boycott under severe Western sanctions.

Now a truly devastating weapon is on the table, choking off imports of Russian oil, the

biggest source of the regime's cash flow.

America's Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed to NBC that the country is gathering

up support among its allies, sending oil prices to a 13-year high today.

We are now in very active discussions with our European partners about vanting the import

of Russian oil to our country's wall, of course, at the same time maintaining a steady

...