The following statement was released by RootsAction.org at 1 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday, February 24: The world desperately needs a single standard of accountability to prevent the crime of war -- a crime that the Russian government is now committing in Ukraine and the U.S. government continues to commit elsewhere as part of the ongoing “war on terror.”

RootsAction condemns crossing borders and killing, no matter what the nationality of the military forces. Hypocritical condemnations in both directions ring hollow, as when President Biden late Wednesday night insisted that “the world will hold Russia accountable.” Most of the world has long been trying to hold reckless war-makers accountable. The latest actions by the Russian government will cause death and suffering, and those actions will further destabilize global security while rendering institutions like the United Nations even more powerless. As always, in this instance the aggressor has couched its aggression by claiming to act in defense, as the U.S. government often has. At this extremely dangerous moment in world history, diplomacy -- not warfare -- remains the only hope. In the process, the perilous history of NATO’s eastward expansion and the threat of further expansion must be faced. Fueling a conflict between the two nuclear superpowers is insanity.