Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump on the phone Monday the Ukraine war can only end after addressing its “root causes,” which the Western media have been tirelessly rooting out of public discussion since the war began, says Joe Lauria.
Putin with Trump, 2019 (Russian Presidential Press and Information Office CC BY 4.0)
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
After a two-hour telephone call between the presidents of Russia and the United States on Monday, President Vladimir Putin said:
“I would like to emphasize once again that the conversation was very constructive, and I rate it highly. The question, of course, is for the Russian and Ukrainian sides to show maximum desire for peace and find compromises that would suit all parties. At the same time,I would like to note that Russia’s position is generally clear. The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis.”
It should be no mystery to Western leaders, media and the public what those root causes are, as Moscow has been repeating them ad nauseam beginning 30 years ago and especially in the run up to Russia’s 2022 intervention in Ukraine’s then eight-year old civil war.
The problem is the West appears too full of itself to bother listening to what its adversary has to say, which in itself has been one of the root causes of the conflict.
Unlike consumers of mainstream media — the majority of the population — readers of independent news outlets, like Consortium News, are well aware of what those root causes are. For doing its job by reporting on the causes of the conflict, CN and other alternative media, have been branded Russian propagandists.
The root causes bear repeating here. 1) NATO expansion; 2) Forward deployment of NATO troops and missiles in Romania and Poland; 3) NATO training and equipping Ukraine as a proxy with the intention of bringing Ukraine into NATO; 4) the 2014 unconstitutional change of government leading to attacks against Russian speakers in the south and east of Ukraine; and 5) the outsized influence of Neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine.
[For a detailed discussion, see: Ukraine Timeline Tells the Tale]
Many useful analogies have been made about a Russian-backed overthrow of the Mexican or Canadian governments and Russian missiles pointed at the U.S. being deployed in either country. The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis showed how the U.S. reacted when missiles were deployed near its borders.
Meanwhile, establishment media have worked overtime to root out the root causes from the public’s mind.
They bury them by airbrushing out of the story a) NATO expansion; b) the U.S.-backed unconstitutional change of government in Ukraine in 2014; c) Ukraine, with NATO backing, starting the war against ethnic Russian Donbass the same year; d) Ukraine and the West’s failure to abide by the Minsk accords in 2015 to end the war; e) Ukraine pulling out of the Istanbul agreement in 2022 under U.S. and U.K. pressure; and f) ditching its 2014 coverage of the role of Ukrainian Neo-Nazis in this.
After the Phone Call
The big questions emerging from today’s telephone conversation are 1) After two hours of, no doubt, careful explanation by Putin to Donald Trump, did the American president finally allow these root causes to penetrate his mind? Is he prepared to instruct U.S. negotiators to address these causes in a final peace agreement?
Trump has made fleeting remarks before that seem to indicate some sort of understanding of the Russian perspective, such as when he said in January:
“A big part of the problem is, Russia – for many, many years, long before Putin – said, ‘You could never have NATO involved with Ukraine.’ Now, they’ve said that. That’s been, like, written in stone. And somewhere along the line [Joe] Biden said, ‘No. They should be able to join NATO.’ Well, then Russia has somebody right on their doorstep, and I could understand their feelings about that.”
What’s required is a full, sustained comprehension that Trump may be incapable of. He must be prepared to stand up to (or dismiss) the hardliners on his team — namely Gen. Keith Kellogg and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — and to use U.S. leverage to press Ukraine to accept that these root causes must be resolved to bring peace.
The early reaction from Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, particularly about Russian demands that Ukraine cede territory to Moscow, shows Trump would have his work cut out for him.
“Ukraine will not withdraw troops from part of its own territory and will not succumb to Russia’s ultimatums,” Zelensky said Monday. “I asked him [Trump] not to accept any things about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
But without addressing the root causes, the Kremlin has made clear it is prepared to continue the war until they are resolved. The sacrifices it and Ukraine have made otherwise make little sense from Russia’s viewpoint. Moscow’s chief negotiator in the Ukraine-Russia talks that began in Istanbul last week said Russia had fought Sweden for 21 years in the 18th century and was in for the long haul in Ukraine.
Russia sought in December 2021 to avoid its intervention and an escalation of the war when it offered treaties to the United States and NATO that would see the withdrawal of NATO troops from former Warsaw Pact countries; the removal of missiles from Romania and Poland; and an assurance of Ukraine’s neutrality, i.e., that it does not join NATO. The Kremlin said if the treaties were rejected it could resort to technical/military means to resolve the issues.
The U.S. rejected the treaties, preferring the military response in the misguided and now dashed hope that a Russian intervention would lead to the collapse of Putin’s rule. Only a revival of these treaties and Trump’s determined willingness to negotiate them will bring the war to a close.
[See: Biden Confirms Why the US Needed This War]
The situation could not be any clearer: Ukraine can only hope to win the war and recover its territory if NATO directly intervenes against Russia. As NATO leaders understand this could lead to nuclear annihilation they will only keep the fiction alive that they could still help Ukraine win, thereby preserving their own political careers and reputation, but doing nothing to effect events on the ground.
The longer Ukraine refuses to make compromises, the worse deal it will get in the end unless Trump understands this and uses the power he has to make Ukraine accept reality.
Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former U.N. correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and other newspapers, including The Montreal Gazette, the London Daily Mail and The Star of Johannesburg. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London, a financial reporter for Bloomberg News and began his professional work as a 19-year old stringer for The New York Times. He is the author of two books, A Political Odyssey, with Sen. Mike Gravel, foreword by Daniel Ellsberg; and How I Lost By Hillary Clinton, foreword by Julian Assange. He can be reached at joelauria@consortiumnews.com and followed on X @unjoe.
A story I remember involved Europe and Russia having decent relations, especially in trade, until 2014, and that the conflict in Ukraine was launched by the US in order to disrupt those relations. A similar scenario preceded both world wars with the intention of preventing Russia and Germany from forging a Eurasian economic alliance that would’ve rivaled the British Empire.
Btw, back in March, Gerald Celente rocked a “Root Cause Analysis,” (RCA). Like Lauria’s, Celente’s “RCA” is geared toward identifying the true root cause, the general problem, the question, “an ace in the hole,” everybody’s asking, about DJTrump, is he a, “Man of Peace OR a Piece of SH*T?” @ hxxps://www.brighteon.com/1d945d5f-7aec-4edc-929b-c84d6dd39850 ….imo, Gerald Celente’s Trends Journal’s “Front Page,” featuring The “Gemini,” DJTrump.
…… “What’s required is a full, sustained comprehension that Trump may be incapable of. He must be prepared to stand up to (or dismiss) the hardliners on his team — namely Gen. Keith Kellogg and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — and to use U.S. leverage to press Ukraine to accept that these root causes must be resolved to bring peace.” JOE LAURIA
No doubt, ”Every elephant has to carry its own trunk.” Onward & Upwards. TY, Joe Lauria, CN, et al.
MEMO To: Trump-Vance, Inc.,
FROM: A “Russian Propagandist”
RE: The “root causes,” which the Western media have been tirelessly rooting out of public discussion since the [USG/NATO vs. Russia] war began” in Ukraine.
Mr. President,
The Analysis,“Rooting Out the Root Causes in Ukraine,” is Done & Dusted! See above, @ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
The “ask?” THAT Trump-Vance, Inc., ACT accordingly: 1) LOSE the “BIG” $hot persona! 2) “Eliminate the root causes of this crisis,” 3) Declare, by Executive Order, Biden-Harris, Inc., et al., are “Persona non grata,” 4) Declare Biden-Harris, Inc., et al., & former U.S. Presidents, are NOT immune from actual prosecution & cannot escape justice, under any condition, from war crimes & crimes against humanity, in Ukraine, Gaza, the West Bank of Jordan, in the Divided $tates of Corporate America, 5) Via denaturalization, US Presidents’, 42’s, 43’s, 44’s, 46’s, citizenship could be stripped, 6) U.S. Presidents 42, 43, 44, 46, + their “lot of corporate canines” deported. 7) The ticket, #47 declares U.S. Presidents 42, 43, 44, 46, “Persona non grata,” the “unwelcome person(s)” the very ugly $ide of “America the Beautiful.”
4.17.25: “Why should deportations stop just at people who cross the border illegally? We have some horrible criminals, American-grown and born.” DJTrump. Trump also said he loves the idea of sending U.S. citizens to El Salvador.
TY, for considering, “NO More f/Wars!!! Ciao.
“Life Began In A Garden.” Basically, “what plants you can harvest depends entirely on what seeds you sow.” However, without healthy roots, it’s very difficult for plants to grow. Unhealthy roots are often slimy & produce a foul & pungent odor,” i.e. the “Calamity” sown by the USG, NATO, & Volodymyr “El Chapo” Zelensky, in Ukraine, aka “unhealthy roots.”
……“The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis.” President Vladimir Putin
“A root cause is defined as 1) a factor that caused a nonconformance; and, 2) should be permanently eliminated through process improvement, The root cause is the core issue—the highest-level cause—that sets in motion the entire cause-and-effect reaction that ultimately leads to the problem(s).”
……“The problem is the West appears too full of itself to bother listening to what its adversary has to say, which in itself has been one of the root causes of the conflict.” Joe Lauria; AND, in a New York minute, JOE LAURIA, delivers the motherlode, the what, when, how & why. “AWH, Mon, the Fruit is Rotten to the Core!”
HENCE, “The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis.” President Vladimir Putin.
The owl asks, “WHO, can Stop the MADness? The Mutually Agreed Deception, Destruction, Death-Ness, in Ukraine? In Gaza? In the Divided $tates of Corporate America?” The bird tweets, “In a heartbeat, the USG!”
Great article. Russia has hundreds of trillions of dollars in natural resources, whereas, America has hundreds of trillions of dollars in bad paper. The lure of wealth and power fuels all of the West’s war-making.
“Ukraine will not withdraw troops from part of its own territory …,” Zelensky said Monday.
He will be proven wrong, if not by diplomacy by military means.
The worst President Trump can do is to listen to the EU-Politicians. EU doesn’t mean European Union anymore but Euer Untergang (your demise). It is a collection of russophobe individuals who were sent to Brussels because they couldn’t get any jobs in their local governments. They are set to start the 3rd attack on Russia even though the other two failed. A large amount of European citizens are happy that President Trump won the elections and have their hopes up for him to end this war. If he should listen to the German Chancellor, whom the majority of Germans doesn’t care for and who was voted into office because he lied to the general public all the way, he will be misled. Merz, von der Leyen and the likes want to convince him, that a war with Russia is necessary. The number of millionaires in the Ukraine is up by 40%, at least you know, where your money is. It is not gone, it is just with someone else while your and our people are suffering and the little Ukrainian actor pulls international politicians around like puppets on a string. JD Vance was right, not only Germany but the total of the EU is well on its way to become a dictatorship with methods we though were gone after 1945. President Trump is doing the right thing by getting rid of the left, he should help us to get rid of them here, too by ending the war by not wavering when the EU-Politicians whisper in his ear. Our hopes are on him.
How is JD Vance’s and Trump’s USA not a dictatorship by comparison?
Ukraine as presently constituted is a political construct. Return Russia’s western border to the Dnieper River where it was for centuries.
Pressure to admit Ukraine into NATO is a bridge too far for Russia, as Vladimir Putin has said repeatedly. Publishing the names of those people who are pushing for Ukraine to become a part of NATO would likely end that effort. Just saying.
“Ukraine can only hope to win the war and recover its territory if NATO directly intervenes against Russia.”
I’m not so sure that this is true any more. Unless they used nukes, NATO would have a very hard time of it indeed. Their weapons, strategies and battlefield tactics have not proven effective against Russia in the last three years. Militarily, Russia has advanced significantly in the post-Soviet years, and dramatically since the SMO began three years ago.
Many western military commentators are starting to recognise that, in all probability, it is now superior to the west in land and air, but probably not in sea.
The use of hypersonic weapons and drones has changed the nature of war a great deal, and the west has yet to fully understand this and adapt accordingly. This gives Russia, and arguably its close ally China, a huge advantage – one that it might take many years for the west to equal.
The US, and its western allies, have lost the military high ground. The US’ large navy has suddenly become extremely vulnerable to hypersonic weapons, against which it has virtually no defence. Air power, in the form of high speed jets and bombers, is also vulnerable, as the new missiles can target them effectively at long range, well before they get close enough – as Israel discovered recently when it tried to attack Iran.
All of this has yet to be fully understood in the western halls of power, and factored into future behaviour. Russia, and its allies, have become quite capable of standing up to western aggression and hostility, as this Ukrainian conflict has proven. NATO has thrown nearly everything [except nukes] at Russia, and failed to stop it or slow it down much. And now, it is running out of weapons, matériels, and doesn’t have the manufacturing ability to replenish – at least, not in the short and medium term.
This new reality reduces the threat to Russia somewhat, and should put it in a much better position to address some of those root causes.
For all intents and purposes, “Ukraine” as constituted today is a political construct.
Natural borders, such as oceans, rivers and mountain ranges are much better than political borders. The Dnieper River was a natural border for Russia’s western front for centuries. Make it so again, and I think peace can be attained.
Continuing this present nonsense of attempting to bring Ukraine into NATO is a bridge too far for Russia, which has been made clear by Vladimir Putin.
Russian-phobia seems to be about having a convenient scapegoat for the profits of the arms industry and governing crutch to manipulate public opinion. I certainly disagreed with the “dictatorship of the proletariat” under Stalin. Putin seems to kill off his opposition (Navalny?) General who lead the successful Wagner Group. But that doesn’t threaten the U.S. unless it wants world hegemony; China has now stepped into this role as competitor and threatens our hegemony.
It’s not our business. Multipolar democratic cooperation is, damnit.
The Ukraine govt. is illegitimate and an obvious puppet/proxy of the US/NATO. If it were not for massive loans, arms and cash from “the west” Ukraine would have collapsed a long time ago. Now it is a highly corrupt, failed state barely propped up by foreign powers.
If the DT were competent and serious, he would force Zelensky out and call for elections in Ukraine. He would not have signed off on continuing sanctions against Russia, and would not have approved of more arms shipments to Ukraine. He would have proposed a renewal of treaties with Russia. None of that happened, so we can only conclude this is just another BS show for domestic consumption.
The DT2 regime is all blah blah and a cheap stage-managed farce. Their laughable attempts to pry Russia and China apart are more examples. Russia holds the cards: military reality on the ground makes that crystal clear. The Idiot Emperor hasn’t a clue.
The emperor has lost his marbles, yet the Court Sycophants don’t dare mention his cognitive decline, probable drug use etc. (similar to covering for Biden’s senility).
Nothing has changed, the war in Ukraine, the genocide of Palestine, hostility and trade wars toward China, etc.
The only real development is that the “Houthis” have succeeded in chasing off the US/UK . This was after US/UK/Israel bombed them repeatedly.
Excellent essay ! New to me was the proposed treaty ( by Russia ) before the special military action began to require the US / NATO to remove its missile systems from Poland and Romania , as well as stopping any NATO expansion in to Ukraine . Thank you .
Al Donohue , member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War . PS I will checkout your book A Political Odyssey
Joe Lauria here offers a well composed, sadly necessary restatement of obvious historical and strategic facts about the root causes of the Ukraine War . What is left of the Biden-era deep state liberal imperium ideology in Washington and its Russophobia-deluded acolytes in Europe never cease to try and flood Trump’s mind with their lies about Russia’s malign intent . Joe rightly shows how finely balanced the situation is and how Zelensky and these Europeans still try to wreck Dmitriev’s and Witkoff’s peace efforts with their poisonous attempts to reshape Trumo’s thinking . That is why the recent very long Putin conversation with Trump was so necessary . Let us hope it bears fruit .
Trump bringing Ukraine to “accept reality” will
surely be a challenge beyond the American
President’s reach. As his own grip on reality
has been shown, to put it kindly, slippery as
as seal.
No not repeated its original
Damn, I wonder why so many countries voluntarily joined NATO. Maybe there’s something Russia did in the past that would cause fear in the average eastern European to join the alliance. If only this article could inform me.
Maybe I should consult my grandparents from that very place. Perhaps they would explain it.
“I wonder why so many countries voluntarily joined NATO”?
Maybe they joined out of fear for not doing what they are told?
Maybe they joined for fear of being sanctioned out of existence?
Maybe they joined for fear being deposed?
Maybe they rather be the boot than the ass?
God bless the giovane
Good description of why the small countries joined NATO. NATO/EU are mafia like organizations. Al Capone would say give me $200 each week or your business gets burned down. Ursula/Stoltenberg/Rutte say join our business operation or we will ruin you financially. Same tactic, bigger scale. Ursula has some really bad genes flowing through her. If European governments don’t diminish her near complete control of member states, she will bring Europe to its knees in 5 years.
Yes, by all means, discuss this with your grandparents, and be sure to explain that times have changed and that the U.S. and NATO are now much greater threats to the peace and well-being of their home countries than Russia. But first, explain it to yourself.
Exactly Rob. England used to be our enemy and we fought a war against them, but now they’re one of our staunchest allies, just to name one of numerous available examples.
So you are trying to keep the American fanatical anti communism they have never stopped instilling wherever they can in every “independent country ” like the Baltic trio, to ensure hatred of Russia.
Winning the war against Nazism has not been forgiven.