What’s next for Ukraine?
The political conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to evolve rapidly: On Sunday, citizens in Crimea voted to secede from Ukraine and become part of Russia — a referendum other countries have said they will not recognize. A group of experts on the region suggested during a public forum at MIT on Friday that the path forward is fraught with hurdles for everyone, not just Western leaders trying to impede Russia’s attempts to annex Crimea. “There is considerable room for miscalculation all the way around,” said Eugene Fishel, division chief in the Office of Russian and Eurasian Analysis in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research.While Western leaders are scrambling to find a way to limit Russia’s actions, some of the panelists suggested that Russia could incur serious long-term costs from economic sanctions or reduced access to capital. Meanwhile, other former Soviet republics could become wary of their...