Dear John,

Today’s invasion of Ukraine by Russia has sparked alarm around the world. Anytime civilians are forced to endure violence, outrage and concern are thoroughly appropriate.

While many voices have shared concern for human rights and democracy, however, we are compelled to observe that the U.S. has no credible claim to have stood for either of those values over the past half century.

In times like these, it’s important to remember the past before repeating its path.

Many foolishly clamor for U.S. military intervention, but we remember the recent history in both Ukraine, as well as the United States.

Thinking that the Russian invasion of Ukraine justifies a military response erases the history of the region. In 2014, the U.S. supported a right-wing coup in Ukraine that created the conditions for the current conflict. It did not start this week, nor do countries that have long instigated international conflicts (like the United States) have any legitimate claim to later stand for peace.

The continuing history of U.S. military industrial corruption is also crucial to consider. The United States is the only country to ever deploy weapons of mass destruction against civilian populations. We’re the only country that embraces extended solitary confinement (recognized across the world as a human rights violation) in our domestic prison system, which imprisons more people than any other country in the world—by far.

We’ve intervened in dozens of countries over the past three generations, set up military bases around the world, “tortured some folks” with impunity, assassinated journalists before outrageously prosecuting the publisher who revealed those war crimes, continue to illegally detain thousands of migrants at our nation’s militarized borders, and created a global mass surveillance network.

Each of those examples enjoyed widespread bipartisan support.

For better or worse, Washington can’t credibly claim to support human rights, leaving NATO with no legitimacy to intervene in Eastern Europe, or frankly anywhere else.

As I explained recently in SF Gate, political considerations are generally unimportant to me. I didn’t help establish LGBTQ marriage equality and impose the first restrictions on the domestic surveillance state by following the crowd.

Doing the right thing often requires standing up against an uninformed consensus. I’ve done that before, and I’m happy to do it again.

Before our country gets dragged into yet another war—this time, with a nuclear armed adversary—we implore everyone to take a breath.

Policymakers need to emphasize diplomacy, and restraints on executive power to prevent potential escalation.

Journalists need to emphasize accountability, for acts including the 2014 coup that prompted the current conflict.

Finally, voters need to remember which candidates chose to prioritize military industrial corruption over the still unmet social needs confronting communities across our country. Ultimately, that's the surest way for Americans to prevent conflicts in the future.

We’re grateful that Washington’s response has remained limited to sanctions up until this point, especially given the continuing risks of military escalation. Sanctions, however, unfortunately impact civilian populations more than governments or military capacity, so they don’t really offer a meaningful solution.

Nor does the route of sanctioning Russian oligarchs—for a particularly disturbing reason: their American counterparts who dominate Congress blocked money laundering laws from reaching the hedge funds and private equity instruments preferred by oligarchs around the world as money laundering vehicles.

If you’re as disturbed by human rights abuses as I am, it’s understandable that you’d want to do something in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

One reason so many of us took action against CIA torture and recurring wars-for-profit was so that our country might retain some shred of international legitimacy to challenge abuses of human rights by other countries.

But Washington failed that invitation, reducing itself to casting stones from a glass house.

Before anyone pretends that the Russian invasion of Ukraine lacks any parallel precedent in U.S. history, we’d invite them to recall the staggering loss of life—and cultures—imposed through the ultimately imperial westward expansion under figures including Andrew Jackson, or the human rights violations that continue en masse at our nation’s borders today.

Moments when we feel compelled to action are especially important moments to think about consequences. We remember what happened when war drums beat before, which is why I’m categorically skeptical of any claims that support the interests of the U.S. military industrial establishment.

Human rights and democracy are the values that most concern me. But while I’m concerned about how they’re being violated in Ukraine, I’m frankly more concerned with how they’ve been—and continue—getting violated in Washington.

Thanks for thinking independently!

Shahid