The Russia-Ukraine War: Jeffrey Sachs Knows the Root Causes

By David Starr

 

Political economist Jeffrey Sachs has a deep understanding of the Russia-Ukraine war and is thus knowledgeable on the root causes of the conflict. Sachs, however, has pretty much gone against the current of the major support for Ukraine and the condemning of Russia’s invasion as an act of aggression. 

 

Sachs’s recent speech at the European Parliament lays out in detail the how’s and why’s of the conflict. There is an important factor some Ukraine supporters have ignored. And that’s the role of the U.S./NATO alliance.

 

Over the decades, U.S. leaders and their supporters have exercised a superiority complex when it comes to relating to other nations in the world. Russia has been no exception. One can go back to the 1890s, for example, and see the Old United States display overt racism in its foreign policy as it expanded across the world. This before there was a Soviet Union. 

 

In 1917, the October Revolution brought the Bolsheviks into power in Russia. The reaction was immediate, as an invasion by the west and Japan sought to destroy the Bolshevik government. The U.S., accumulating more power as an empire, wanted to do what it did to other nations: Turn the Soviet Union into a market satellite. This goal, however, failed. 

 

Besides the invasion, a civil war broke between those who supported socialism and those who supported a counter-revolution led by former individuals who were in power under the monarchy. This was a clash between the Reds and the Whites. Eventually, the Whites also failed to topple the Soviet government. 

 

A policy was eventually launched in the early 1920s by such leaders as Vladimir Lenin and Nicholai Bukarin. This was the New Economic Policy (NEP), which implemented at least some degree of capitalism in the Soviet Union. It did improve economic conditions, but only to say that capitalism enjoyed world dominance then (and now) and in turn an advantage over other systems. 

 

Lenin, who was battling a stroke, died in 1924. There was a conflict within the leadership, one side led by Josef Stalin and the other led by Leon Trotsky. Stalin, however, won the conflict and forced Trotsky into exile. Gradually accumulating power, Stalin then discarded the NEP and pushed for “socialism in one country.” It, however, turned out to be a deformity of the ideal. From there came the purges, repression, and gulagsunder the rule of Stalin. This went on until Stalin’s death in 1953.

 

But the U.S. empire finally got its wish, with the Soviet Union dissolving in 1991. From there, many in the USSR suffered as a result of the “reforms,” more accurately put, capitalist, shock therapy economics.

 

There was a solemn promise by the west to Soviet leader Mikail Gorbachev that if he allowed Germany to reunite, NATO would move “not one inch” eastward. But U.S. leaders saw another chance to pick up where the U.S. empire left off, imposing the old imperialism in the present day. The U.S./NATO alliance lied to Gorbachev about moving eastward. It also violated numerous treaties agreed upon by the USA and USSR. 

 

At any rate, Sachs can better explain the root causes for the Russia-Ukraine war, especially going back to 2014 when a U.S.-backed coup occurred in Ukraine. His speech at the European Parliament is a major example.

 

Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the Putin-Trump meeting, a joint press conference was held between the two. There were the niceties expressed by both to each other but this is probably tactical when it comes down to it. In all, it was rhetorical.

 

The Russia-Ukraine war must come to an end ASAP. Jeffrey Sachs does have the correct idea to prioritize diplomacy. But he also knows the root causes of the war. It’s been a U.S./NATO provocation. 

 

Ukrainian sovereignty is important. But so is Russian sovereignty. There should basically be equal relations between nations.