Commentary During a webinar last week on Ukraine, Russia, and U.S. Foreign Policy, a couple of expressed opinions drew a lot of attention. The first was that the conflict in Ukraine is likely to last somewhere between a couple of months and several years. The second was that western sanctions on Russia would have been more effective had they been applied prior to the start of the war. At this point, Vladimir Putin is committed to his course of action, and sanctions are unlikely to get him to back down now. This means that the United States is likely to be living with the effect of sanctions for an extended period, and the costs won’t be borne exclusively by Russia. Oil Prices We spoke with Siddharth Singhai, the Chief Investment Officer at Ironhold Capital, a firm that specializes in global value investing. He points out that Russia was the third …