Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumBernie Sanders is America's best hope for a sane foreign policy
In the American foreign policy discussion, socialists are often presented as gormless naifs people whose utopian projects might sound good in theory, but who can't be trusted to exercise real power in a dangerous world. Only hard-nosed liberals or conservatives can make the tough decisions required to protect American interests.
Yet it is beyond question that, for at least the last 20 years now, American foreign policy has indeed been in the grips of starry-eyed utopian cranks the imperialist variety, whose violent madcap schemes have unleashed hell across the globe, for no purpose or benefit to anyone but a narrow elite. Most recently, the supposedly anti-war President Trump has assassinated Iran's most important military leader under the delusional belief that it will somehow reduce instability and violence in the region.
Meanwhile, the 2020 presidential candidate with the most serious, realistic foreign policy agenda is the self-identified socialist, Bernie Sanders. Sanders promises the most stubborn confrontation with this lunatic militarism on offer, and the best possibility that America might become a responsible member of the international community.
(snip)
The last 20 years of American foreign policy have seen bloody bungling on a scale of Napoleon's invasion of Russia. A sensible, realistic approach would start by not doing that anymore. Bernie Sanders is the best choice to bring America back to its foreign policy senses.
https://theweek.com/articles/887731/bernie-sanders-americas-best-hope-sane-foreign-policy
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
George II
(67,782 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
TidalWave46
(2,061 posts)Here are a couple of his article headlines -
Pete Buttigieg endorses corruption
Democrats are sleepwalking into a Biden disaster
Democrats made impeachment a snoozer. Big mistake.
What McKinsey really suggests about Pete Buttigieg <- You should see the doctored photo of Mayor Pete used with this one. Made him out to look as evil as possible.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
TwilightZone
(25,479 posts)In "The Obama legacy is not what many liberals think", he pontificates about the "disastrous failures" of the Obama administration.
Pass.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
George II
(67,782 posts)....it's intentional.
Yesterday we saw an article (undated) about an endorsement that was issued back on December 26. What's the point of this deception?
Any time I post an article I post the date it appeared and the name of the person who wrote it. It's simple, and common courtesy.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
TidalWave46
(2,061 posts)Some might see it as insignificant. Others see it as their job.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
George II
(67,782 posts)A body at rest will remain at rest, and momentum can only build on a body that is in motion.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
oasis
(49,407 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
George II
(67,782 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
comradebillyboy
(10,175 posts)a sound foreign policy. His Iraq vote doesn't qualify as foreign policy experience.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
oldsoftie
(12,597 posts)It didnt work out well in the 1930s; it would cause even more instability today
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
George II
(67,782 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
The Valley Below
(1,701 posts)Russia and China would happily fill the vacuum of American withdrawal from the world stage.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Autumn
(45,120 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Uncle Joe
(58,417 posts)to be an intricate part of his foreign policy goals/ideals.
Having the world come together for a change to fight our common enemy of global warming climate change instead of destroying life as we know it.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Me.
(35,454 posts)I googled and got lots of aims/goals but no hows.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Uncle Joe
(58,417 posts)Transform our energy system to 100 percent renewable energy and create 20 million jobs needed to solve the climate crisis.
Ensure a just transition for communities and workers, including fossil fuel workers.
Ensure justice for frontline communities, especially under-resourced groups, communities of color, Native Americans, people with disabilities, children and the elderly.
Save American families money with investments in weatherization, public transportation, modern infrastructure and high-speed broadband.
Commit to reducing emissions throughout the world, including providing $200 billion to the Green Climate Fund, rejoining the Paris Agreement, and reasserting the United States leadership in the global fight against climate change.
Invest in conservation and public lands to heal our soils, forests, and prairie lands.
End the greed of the fossil fuel industry and hold them accountable.
(snip)
https://berniesanders.com/en/issues/green-new-deal/
Details and much more information is on the link.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
relayerbob
(6,555 posts)Not a specific item in there. Lots of hand-waving, no answers
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
It's a start but still short on how... for instance..."Ensure a just transition for communities and workers, including fossil fuel workers. Ensure justice for frontline communities, especially under-resourced groups, communities of color, Native Americans, people with disabilities, children and the elderly." How do you ensure these aims/goals.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
oldsoftie
(12,597 posts)Its time everyone started living in the real world.
But that wont happen
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
George II
(67,782 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
TwilightZone
(25,479 posts)Warren, for example, wants to reduce the US military's role in the world to significantly cut the military budget, in part to pay for her social program proposals. Her plans for doing so are arguably more transformational than Sanders'.
The author of the piece also appears to be a bit, shall we say, biased. His recent "work" includes gems like "Pete Buttigieg endorses corruption" and "The Obama legacy is not what many liberals think" in which he opines about the "disastrous failures" of the Obama administration.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)America First is not going to soothe the waters.
Im fine with significantly reducing troops abroad, though.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
enough with the unproven hyperbole
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
emmaverybo
(8,144 posts)areas, his ideas are not always sound ones, nor are they those a majority of Americans will endorse in the GE.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Mr.Bill
(24,319 posts)it's a thinly veiled attack on President Obama.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
TwilightZone
(25,479 posts)The same author wrote an article titled "The Obama legacy is not what many liberals think", in which he opines about the "disastrous failures" of the Obama admin.
The guy's not on our side, his fawning over Sanders notwithstanding.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
samnsara
(17,635 posts)..i look for calm collected followers who can quietly prove a point....i feel thats reflective of the candidate they support.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
beastie boy
(9,421 posts)Caution: being super popular in Vermont doesn't count.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
samnsara
(17,635 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
still_one
(92,394 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
still_one
(92,394 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
still_one
(92,394 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
brooklynite
(94,727 posts)"Being right" isn't the same as being effective.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,122 posts)IT'S NOT EVEN CLOSE... BERNIE COMES OUT ON TOP!!
Bernie/Elizabeth or Elizabeth/Bernie 2020!!
Either way, they're stronger together & can't be bought!!
Jump on the Bernie Bandwagon & join the revolution!!
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Gothmog
(145,554 posts)Link to tweet
Biden is the only person who can deal with the mess created by trump https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/01/07/joe-biden-speaks-iran-bolsters-his-electability-argument/
That is the considerable advantage that former vice president Joe Biden has in the Democratic primary race against contenders with little foreign policy experience or with irresponsible, extreme views that put off a lot of voters. In New York on Tuesday, Biden delivered remarks seeking to capitalize on that advantage.
Make no mistake: this outcome of strategic setbacks, heightened threats, chants of Death to America once more echoing across the Middle East, Iran and its allies vowing revenge this was avoidable, he said. The seeds of these dangers were planted by Donald Trump himself on May 8, 2018 the day he tore up the Iran nuclear deal, against the advice of his own top national security advisers. Biden argued that the trouble started the day [Trump] turned his back on our closest European allies and decided it was more important to him to destroy any progress made by the Obama-Biden administration than build on it to create a better, safer world.
Bidens argument is that careful diplomacy and measured use of force had kept Iran at bay. Now, however, a president who says he wants to end endless war in the Middle East is bringing us dangerously close to starting a new one, Biden warned. A president, who says he wants out of the region, sends more than 18,000 additional troops to deal with a crisis of his own making. And an administration that claims its actions have made Americans safer in the same breath urges them to leave Iraq because of increased danger.....
If Bidens aim was to sound like the adult in the room, the one with every ally on speed dial, he largely succeeded. He will benefit in making a clear distinction between himself and candidates who promise to bug out of the Middle East immediately or sound as though they are making excuses for an evil regime. Biden understands that average Americans do not want a war with Iran, but neither do they want to feel as though the terrorists have free reign. Just as in health care as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) recently learned from her fumble on Medicare-for-all Democratic candidates who get themselves too far to the left on matters of war and peace risk viability in the general election. Biden who boasts the biggest lead over Trump in head-to-head matchups, according to the latest Morning Consult poll seems to understand this. Whether the others do will determine whether their electability argument collapses.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Uncle Joe
(58,417 posts)voted to give authorization to wage war in Iraq in the first place.
Subject to the preceding condition Trump probably wouldn't be in power much less have assassinated the Iranian general if we weren't there in the first place.
In regards to "electibility" Bernie Sanders has beaten Trump in 98% of head to head to polls since 2016.
Furthermore why does anyone believe people in the Middle East shout "death to America?"
Could it have anything to do with seeing their families, friends and nation being bombed into oblivion without regard to their feelings?
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Gothmog
(145,554 posts)Link to tweet
The only way out of this crisis is through diplomacy -- clear eyed, hard-nosed diplomacy grounded in a strategy thats not about one-off decisions and one-upsmanship, Biden said.
With less than four weeks until the Iowa caucus, Bidens quickly organized speech in New York was a chance for him to show off his deep knowledge of international issues and to demonstrate to voters that he has leadership qualities he believes the president lacks. Polls suggest Democratic voters think he possesses those qualities more than his rivals for the nomination.
Subdued and reading from a TelePrompter, the former vice president spoke in detail about Middle East policy and the traditional cooperation between the White House and Congress.
No one wants war. But its going to take hard work to make sure we dont end up there by accident.
The former vice president said he knew that Trump wouldnt listen to his advice but said he hoped the president would listen to top national security officials and find a way to back away from his tweets, threats and tantrums of the past week. He urged Trump to reach out to European allies and to signal privately to Iran that the U.S. is still open to a diplomatic resolution.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Uncle Joe
(58,417 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Gothmog
(145,554 posts)I seriously doubt that this attack will work in the real world. No one in the real world really wants sanders to be in charge of foreign policy
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden