Rapid Response Program: Crisis in Ukraine

With the Olympics packed up and gone, all the world’s eyes have turned swiftly to tensions in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir V. Putin claims events in Ukraine are an unconstitutional coup and that Russia has the right “to take all measures” to protect the rights of Russian citizens in Crimea. In Kiev, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry condemned what he called Russia's aggression in Crimea and urged the country to withdraw its troops, saying, "We would like to see this de-escalated. We're not looking for some major confrontation." Meanwhile "self-defense teams" driving Russian military vehicles are mobilizing in the Crimea, Ukraine's military is under-funded, undermanned and poorly equipped to take on a vastly superior foe, and all sides are saying that any use of military force should only be the last resort. 

How should the U.S. respond to the crisis? Will Obama issue economic sanctions? What will the Russian response be? What are the factors at play in this geopolitical chess match? What might happen next? Could this be the worst U.S.-Russian showdown since the Cuban missile crisis? 

Join us for a Rapid Response Program with visiting Fulbright Scholar Polina Erofeeva from Portland State University exploring the big picture issues, geopolitical context and the developing flashpoints of this urgent crisis.

Polina Erofeeva is a Fulbright visiting researcher at Portland State University (PSU). She is a doctoral candidate at Linguistics University of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, a PSU partner university. This academic year at PSU she is completing her doctoral dissertation on U.S. human rights advocacy groups and teaching courses on post-Soviet regime change, and Russian politics. Her research interests include post-communist transitions and democratization, Russian politics and government, and U.S.-Russia relations. Prior to joining PSU, she worked at the University of Magdeburg, Germany and the Higher School of Economics, Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, teaching courses on Russian politics and comparative post-communism. 

$5 WAC members; $10 general. Registration required.