By Jamison Paul

War continues in Ukraine, as the world’s second most powerful military astonishes everyone with its incompetence and brutal ineffectiveness, and increasingly targets civilians.

Vladimir Putin is also engaging in nuclear saber-rattling as one of his parliament members squawks about biting off a piece of Alaska, and California of all places. The Alaska part is not that out of the question, especially in the kind of chaos which would be engendered by even a limited nuclear war. Cut off from supply chains by global disruption, Alaska might even beg for Russian relief — with Trump-aligned politicians favoring Putin’s style of nationalism over American democracy.

Grim outcomes to the recklessness going on right now in and around Ukraine are ever more of a probability: An expanded confrontation with NATO, a cornered Russian leader upping the ante with the use of tactical nuclear weapons, or just a brutal and bloody war of attrition, with the west supplying a Ukrainian resistance.

There are historical precedents for the latter, Afghanistan for one. One wonders if interested parties really want to turn Ukraine into the impoverished wasteland Afghanistan has become, or if that’s just how we treat the third world?

This is a teachable moment for the American electorate, if we really want to learn, and we may have no choice in the matter if it comes to the use of nuclear weapons.

What has America really stood for, throughout much of our history? Freedom and justice for all, is what we tell ourselves when we swear the Pledge of Allegiance—-But what have our leaders done with that allegiance on the world stage? Have we stood with other world democracies, to encourage the growth of self-determination?

Often, as in the case of resisting fascism in Europe during World War II, we have. But when it came to supporting a democratically elected government in Iran, and their desire to nationalize their oil resources, we sided with oil companies and staged a coup, installed a constitutional monarch, the Shah, and stood by as that country whittled itself down in increasing chaos and repression, until a theocratic revolution threw off the monarchy and declared itself our undying enemy.

What was the second Bush administration’s statement about another oil-rich country we invaded some time later? “They weren’t ready for democracy.” I guess that must have also been the case in Chile in 1973, The “other 9/11.”

Our aggression in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and many other sovereign nations made much of the world wary of our ambitions, our real foreign policy goals: It set the stage for a United Nations Security Council in which both Russia and China can state they feel the need to be a counter for what has become the world’s most powerful military—-And has given Putin perfect cover for falsifying a reason for a war of aggression in Ukraine.

Many claim to be shocked by Putin’s temerity in engaging in moves which endanger the peace and security of the world, but we shouldn’t be surprised: We’ve allowed our own government to engage in similar actions, spending much of our credibility on the world stage in the Cold War, the “War on Drugs,” and the “War on Terror.”

Our responsibility as a voting population of this country is to hold our government accountable for its actions in our name. If we really want to look an autocrat like Putin in the face and decry a war of aggression in Eastern Europe, we also have some house-cleaning to do at home. This is a chance for America to actually stand up for some of what we claim to represent in the world — And we have the incentive of watching as Ukraine is stripped of the peace and security many of us take for granted.

• Jamison Paul is a concerned Juneau parent, and resident of Alaska for 30 years.