Day: September 2, 2015

Sanders’ Screwy Mideast Strategy

It is not secret that I am a supporter of Bernie Sanders.  I like his thoughts on this country and how we can repair it from all the damage that both parties has done to it over the past several decades.

Unlike many who have a fave candidate and will go to great lengths to defend their positions on just about everything…..I will not…..In my opinion Sanders’ foreign policy is seriously flawed…..

2016 is being billed as the foreign policy election because so much is going on in the world that it would be hard to have this election without some debate on the best way forward in international situations and diplomacy.

Even though I am a supporter of Bernie I do have one area that I am concerned about……his foreign policy ideas.

Source: Sanders’s Screwy Mideast Strategy | Consortiumnews

Hopefully before the primaries begin he will clarify his stances for me and others with similar concerns.

I worry because of statements he has made recently……

On the use of military force……..

The Vermont senator says the United States should have the strongest military in the world. The U.S. should be prepared to act when it or its allies are threatened or in response to genocide.

“Yes, there are times when you have to use force. No question about it,” Sanders said. “But that should be a last resort.”

During his nearly 25 years in Congress, Sanders’ record on authorizing military force is mixed. He voted to send troops to Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But he voted against going to war with Iraq in 1991 and again in 2003.

That answer is troubling to me and I need him to clarify this…..is it trying to keep support, a campaign promise?

Then there is the drone program which is killing more civilians than the Pentagon is willing to acknowledge…..what is Bernie’s thoughts on drones?

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Sunday that if elected president he would not end the U.S.’s controversial drone program in the Middle East.

Sanders told ABC’s “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos that he would continue with the targeted killing campaign but suggested he would somehow reform the program so that drones don’t kill innocent people abroad.

This answer troubles me….just how does he think to limit civilian deaths from above?

Not something I would expect to hear from a Democratic Socialist…….but he is trying to win some primaries.

I will continue to support him against Clinton but I will worry about his world affairs outlook…..it is not a deal breaker for my support…..just a concern that I have as an analyst.

But I do ask…..If Bernie will not stand up to the War Party (GOP) then who?

And along that line of thought…..

Source: Politics 2016: Who Will Stand Up to the War Party? by Justin Raimondo — Antiwar.com

So far it appears that war will win in the end of this election…..that is unless there is a change in attitude and thinking…..

Any thoughts?

What is the lie on Iran worth?

What is the lie on Iran worth?

Another of my op-eds that Legationes has graciously approve to publish….they are kind so please visit their site and help them as they help others…..

Congress will return next week and on their agenda is the debate about the Iranian Deal……much will be said and much of that will be misinformation….there is so much at stake that games need not be played……

 Return of the ‘Yellow Peril’

If you are old enough to remember “the Red Scourge” of the 1950’s then you should recall the “Yellow Peril”…….one was the threat from Soviet Russia and the other was the threat of the Communist Chinese…..

Now with the approach of the 2016 elections….China is once again part of the conversation by the candidates…..mostly they are being warned that we are looking at total defeat at the hands of the Chinese.  But how many Americans know enough about China to know what these candidates are talking about?

They understand the loss of jobs (wait I thought those jobs were being taken by illegal immigrants) or that our debt is growing thanks to the Chinese….all are cutsey slogans but how many understand what it is beyond the bumper sticker?

That is okay…all they need to know is that candidate “A” will make them (China) pay……not sure how he/she will accomplish that….but they will pay by damn!

Here’s a crazy idea……why not try to understand the problem (if there is one) before you go off half cocked and pull the trigger on an idiot?

 

Source: China and the Return of the ‘Yellow Peril’ by Justin Raimondo — Antiwar.com