Bernie Sanders’ radicalism has long inspired his fans and been a target of his foes. The self-described socialist, who some saw as the leftwing version of the staunch antiwar libertarian Ron Paul, was considered to be radically opposed to war for most of his career.
In the wake of the 2020 U.S. assassination of Iranian military leader Qassim Suleimani under President Donald Trump, The Nation’s Jeet Heer wrote, “Sanders is the candidate best positioned to use the ramping up of hostilities in the Middle East as an opportunity to highlight his alternative policy. He’s had a long record as an anti-war activist, going back to the Vietnam War. In 2016, he gained some traction by contrasting his vote against the Iraq War with Hillary Clinton’s vote in favor. In the current race, Sanders has staked out a radical foreign policy that includes ending the forever wars…”
I was right about Vietnam.
I was right about Iraq.
I will do everything in my power to prevent a war with Iran.
I apologize to no one. pic.twitter.com/Lna3oBZMKB
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 3, 2020
Throughout his presidential campaigns, Sanders’ opposition to the Iraq War was constantly compared with Clinton’s vote for it. If you were Left and wanted an anti-establishment leader, Bernie was your guy. He was fearless. Sanders pulled no punches.
Until now.
Here’s what the supposedly brazen revolutionary recently had to say about the Ukraine conflict and the U.S. role in it.
Bernie Sanders, promoting his book in the UK, is asked by the BBC about Ukraine policy: "It's not an issue that I've been heavily involved in, but I support what the president is doing"
A year in, still no significant thoughts on the issue, other than Support For The President
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) March 3, 2023
Independent journalist and very much left-leaning personality Glenn Greenwald observed:
One of America's most vocal and steadfast advocates for supporting Joe Biden's war policies in Ukraine. He voted to send $40 billion to Raytheon and CIA "for Ukraine," and when asked if the US should send F-16 *fighter jets*, he seems not just ready but eager to send much more:💣 https://t.co/Dzai4PpR4D
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 3, 2023
In 2016, Sanders excited and deceived millions by promising what he called a "political revolution" against the Demo establishment.
Now, you wind him up and he says – even on the most consequential questions, like Ukraine – uh, I don't know much about it but I support Biden. https://t.co/6IzjO65Mu6
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 3, 2023
This is not an unconventional stance on the Left at the moment. It is different for Sanders given his past views and the current views of a number of his antiwar peers.
For example, here’s where Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the feminist antiwar group Code Pink, stands:
I just wrote a @CODEPINK letter: Patriots? Hell No! Stop Escalating the US-Russia Proxy War in Ukraine! Write one here: https://t.co/pxWFEIYfmp
— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) January 16, 2023
Here’s where legendary lefty intellectual Noam Chomsky lands on this:
Noam Chomsky explains how US involvement in Ukraine and the expansion of NATO to Russia's border created the War in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/Mejzp8NQDJ
— Lue Stringer (@socrates_meth) March 2, 2023
Even Ralph Nader recognizes billions of U.S. dollars – with the full blessing of the Biden administration – are simply going to the military-industrial complex:
A big chunk of the $40 billion Biden/Congress is sending to Ukraine are orders for the munition companies like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. Why isn’t Congress taxing their excess profits to help pay for the $40B instead of their sending the deficit bill to our children? -R
— Ralph Nader (@RalphNader) May 11, 2022
Granted, most of the Democratic Party, including the once reliably antiwar members of the far-left “Squad,” seem to have bought the Biden narrative on this conflict. The harcore progressive Left attempted to retreat to their old antiwar ways briefly in October of last year – calling for diplomacy – but then immediately retracted that approach seemingly due to party pressure.
The US Anti-War Left is Dead. The Squad's $40b War Vote Just Killed It….#GlennGreenwald exposes the hypocrisy of the left. #AOC & #TheSquad are warmongering neocons who voted for $40 billion Ukraine war funding.
There are no antiwar #Democrats! https://t.co/7T3HoDEQaS
— judy morris (@judymorris3) May 13, 2022
The current broad mainstream Democratic stance is that the U.S. must continue to endlessly fund Ukraine in their battle against their Russian aggressor until Ukraine wins.
But neither side can “win.”
At the moment, the most current political resistance you will find to the U.S. proxy war with Russia is on the Right.
In an address this week, Donald Trump *railed* against the warmongering uniparty in Washington, condemning the establishment neocons that pushed us into war in Ukraine.
It's an important anti-war perspective that is now found *only* among this wing of the Republican Party. pic.twitter.com/RXBPWwaMm3
— System Update (@SystemUpdate_) February 23, 2023
That large faction of conservatives along with the minority of old school antiwar figures cited here all note that, as a practical matter, this is an unwinnable war with negotiations being the only reasonable end.
Since neither side appears to have the intention or capabilities to achieve absolute victory, the war will most likely end with some sort of negotiated outcome. https://t.co/rHlwaXGOh4 via @RANDCorporation
— Giancarlo Summa (@GiancarloSumma) February 26, 2023
But for our purposes here, the same handful of old school antiwar types cited in this piece… THEY were Sanders’ people. They are, or were, the types of high profile Left thinkers and activists who supported him so feverishly. They were the intellectual hearts and souls of his populist movement.
He was ONE OF THEM, not only in political temperament, but generationally.
Now his response to the most pressing foreign policy issue of the moment that the U.S. continues to play a major role in is somewhere between ‘I haven’t been paying attention’ and ‘Biden’s got this?’
On this issue, Sanders has gone full establishment.
Supporters of endless funding for Ukraine
George Bush
Joe Biden
Liz Cheney
Lindsey Graham
Hillary Clinton
Mitch McConnell
Mitt Romney
Adam Kinzinger
Mainstream mediaPro tip: If you ever see these people all agreeing on something, it is 100% something bad that you should oppose
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) February 27, 2023
Hillary and Bernie currently agree on America’s most major foreign policy front. No more contrasting Sanders with Clinton.
The only way we're going to end the bloodshed and terror Putin has unleashed in Ukraine—and the only way we're going to protect Europe and democracy—is to do everything we can to impose even greater costs on Putin. pic.twitter.com/3TnvTyui6A
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 4, 2022
We have to make sure that within our own country, we are calling out people giving aid and comfort to Putin and siding with autocrats against the global cause of democracy. pic.twitter.com/6R11vmtkKP
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 28, 2022
And for now, apparently no more antiwar Bernie Sanders.
He’s actually breathtakingly bad at being an insurgent progressive in the DNC https://t.co/SenCzkLCnD
— Hannah Cox (@HannahDCox) March 4, 2023
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