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<blockquote type="cite" class=""><span class="" style="font-family: 'San Francisco', -apple-system, system-ui, '.SFNSText-Regular', sans-serif; color: rgb(29, 33, 41); font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; letter-spacing: -0.24px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(246, 247, 249);"><a data-ft="{"tn":";"}" class=" UFICommentActorName" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/hovercard.php?id=1228255762&extragetparams=%7B%22is_public%22%3Afalse%2C%22hc_location%22%3A%22ufi_admin%22%7D" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/cgestabrook" style="color: rgb(54, 88, 153); cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; white-space: nowrap; font-family: inherit;">Carl
G. Estabrook</a></span><span style="color: rgb(29, 33, 41); font-family: 'San Francisco', -apple-system, system-ui, '.SFNSText-Regular', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; letter-spacing: -0.24px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(246, 247, 249);" class=""> </span><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(246, 247, 249);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(29, 33, 41); font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: -0.24px;" class=""><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" style="font-family: inherit;" class=""><span class="UFICommentBody" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;" class="">Nonsense.
Democrats (and Republicans) have a progressive [sic] foreign policy vision, as the State Department pointed out years ago: </span><br class="">
<br class="">
<span style="font-family: inherit;" class="">"...we have about 50% of the world’s wealth but only 6.3% of its population. This disparity is particularly great as between ourselves and the peoples of Asia. In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of
envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity without positive detriment to our national security. To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality
and day-dreaming; and our attention will have to be concentrated everywhere on our immediate national objectives. We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford today the luxury of altruism and world-benefaction."</span><br class="">
</span></span></span><font color="#1d2129" face="San Francisco, -apple-system, system-ui, .SFNSText-Regular, sans-serif" class=""><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: -0.23999999463558197px;" class="">—<br class="">
Report by the Policy Planning Staff | top secret | February 24, 1948 | PPS/23</span></font></span></blockquote>
<br class="">
<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<div class="">On Jun 14, 2017, at 18:26, Karen Aram via Peace <<a href="mailto:peace@lists.chambana.net" class="">peace@lists.chambana.net</a>> wrote:</div>
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Democrats Don’t Have a Progressive Foreign Policy Vision. And They Need One</h1>
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<a href="https://commons.commondreams.org/t/democrats-don-t-have-a-progressive-foreign-policy-vision-and-they-need-one/42449" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration: none; font-family: Arial, san-serif; font-size: 14px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" class=""><span class="fa fa-comment" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; line-height: 1; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"></span> <span class="comment-count" style="box-sizing: border-box;">13</span> Comments</a></div>
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<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" class="">President Barack Obama waves at the conclusion of his remarks to U.S. troops at Bagram Airfield in Bagram, Afghanistan, Sunday, May 25, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)</div>
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<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Former President Barack Obama once <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/06/04/obamas-dont-do-stupid-shit-foreign-policy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">articulated</a> his
vision of foreign policy as not doing “stupid shit.” By this he meant not putting boots on the ground in long-term, unwinnable wars. What this vision didn’t include was ending those wars or pursuing a progressive foreign policy based on peace and diplomacy.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Obama’s Democratic Party has not advanced far past this vision since the end of his time in office. While the party has moved to the left on many domestic issues, and emerged as an effective counterbalance to the
meanness and incoherence of Donald Trump, many Democrats remain wedded to Obama’s foreign policy legacy.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">This is the one area in which Trump has managed to win bipartisan support. He does not deserve it.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">For example, last week <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/at-least-12-people-killed-after-airstrikes-in-syria-1.3109195" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">airstrikes
in Syria</a> by a U.S.-led coalition killed at least 12 people, including women and children. The response from Democrats in Congress: radio silence.</p>
<blockquote class="pullquote" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(17, 17, 17); float: right; font-size: 18px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 20px; text-align: right; width: 276.75px;">
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Former President Barack Obama once articulated his vision of foreign policy as not doing “stupid shit,” but his vision didn’t include a progressive foreign policy based on peace and diplomacy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Even worse, consider the Democrats’ reaction to Trump’s April airstrike in Syria after the Syrian government’s horrific use of chemical weapons on its own people. Critics <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/04/president-trumps-syria-strike-was-unconstitutional-and-unwise/522228/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">slammed</a> Trump
for bypassing Congress, arguing that the airstrike was unconstitutional and didn’t solve any of the underlying issues in Syria.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">But twenty-nine Democratic Senators <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-clear-majority-of-senators-support-trumps-syria-airstrike/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">supported</a> the
strike; only <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-clear-majority-of-senators-support-trumps-syria-airstrike/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">five</a> opposed it. In addition, a number of
Democratic leaders in the House <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimdalrympleii/lawmakers-praise-and-condemn-us-airstrikes-against-syria" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">praised</a> the strike.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Beyond their support for the Syrian airstrike, top Democrats have disappointing records on issues of war and peace. Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer is a leading <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/un-israel-vote-mitch-mcconnell-chuck-schumer-233186" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">supporter</a> of
Israel, despite its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory. Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi also has a history of hawkishness in the Middle East, as <a href="http://www.ips-dc.org/pelosi_the_hawk/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">documented</a> by
the <a href="https://www.ips-dc.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">Institute for Policy Studies</a>. And Hillary Clinton, the Democratic standard bearer in the 2016 presidential election, promoted <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/14401-hillary-clintons-legacy-as-secretary-of-state" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">militaristic
solutions</a> to international issues as Secretary of State, as well as during her campaign for President.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Even Democrats like Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders have failed to articulate a progressive foreign policy. During his presidential campaign, Sanders’s main foreign policy talking point was his vote against the war
in Iraq. While he was less hawkish overall than Clinton, Sanders didn’t <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/bernie-sanders-wouldnt-end-obama-s-drone-program-promises-to-use-it-very-selectively-16aca710a8e6" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">rule
out</a> continuing Obama’s drone program that has <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/03/the-obama-administrations-drone-strike-dissembling/473541/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">killed</a> thousands
of civilians.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the women-led peace group <a href="http://www.codepink.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">CODEPINK</a>, tells <em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">The
Progressive </em>that Democrats “have a foreign policy message that is pretty much a continuation of what George Bush had and Obama followed. It’s hard for them to challenge Donald Trump because they have a vision that’s quite similar. I think that the Democrats
are really a war party, just like the Republicans are.”</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">There are individual Democrats whose foreign policy is less hawkish. Representative Barbara Lee of California, for example, has consistently opposed war. Lee, the only member of Congress to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/09/the-vindication-of-barbara-lee/380084/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">vote</a> against
the post 9/11 authorization of military force, has <a href="https://lee.house.gov/news/press-releases/congresswoman-barbara-lee-responds-to-president-obamas-call-for-aumf-repeal-introduces-legislation-creating-greater-oversight-of-drones" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">spoken
out</a>against Obama’s aggressive use of drone strikes.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">And Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut has called for a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/03/chris-murphy-donald-trump-progressive-foreign-policy/518820/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">de-emphasis</a> of
American military force and slammed the proposed $110 billion <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/murphy-saudi-arabia-arms-weapons/2017/05/20/id/791355/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">arms deal</a> with
Saudi Arabia, which is <a href="http://hir.harvard.edu/article/?a=14490" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">using</a> U.S. weapons in its brutal war against Yemen. But Murphy also <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/03/chris-murphy-donald-trump-progressive-foreign-policy/518820/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">opposes</a> cuts
to the United States’ bloated military budget, which is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-us-military-spends-its-billions-2015-8" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">larger</a> than the next
seven highest spending countries combined.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Norman Solomon, author of the book “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death” and co-founder of the group <a href="http://rootsaction.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">RootsAction</a>,
tells <em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">The Progressive </em>that Democrats would likely gain politically if they had a more forward-looking foreign policy.</p>
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<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">“The Democratic Party base is more skeptical of and opposed to the warfare state than most Democrats in the House and Senate,” he argues.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Polls back him up. A 2017 <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-poll-shows-divergence-in-americans-opinion-of-us-strike-vs-syria/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">survey</a> found
more than half of Democratic voters disapproved of Trump’s airstrike in Syria. In addition, a 2016 <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/defense/272323-survey-american-voters-would-cut-defense-spending-by-at-least-12b" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">poll</a> showed
that a majority of Democrats would support cutting the defense budget by $36 billion.</p>
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<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">“The Democratic Party base is more skeptical of and opposed to the warfare state than most Democrats in the House and Senate.”</p>
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<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Paul Kawika Martin, senior director of policy and political affairs at <a href="http://www.peace-action.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">Peace Action</a>,
tells <em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">The Progressive</em> that one problem with Democratic foreign policy is that many lawmakers were previously on city councils or were members of state legislatures and didn’t have to deal with foreign affairs.
He says when they get to Congress, lawmakers often follow the Democratic leadership on foreign policy votes.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Martin says there needs to be a focus on educating lawmakers about foreign policy.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">“It’s important that Democrats think about foreign policy and find a good position,” he says. “They need to take some ownership for their positions and not fall into the trap where they feel like they have to react
to things with force all the time.”</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">With terror attacks on the rise and fears growing over ISIS, the temptation to pursue military strategies will only grow. As the opposition party, Democrats need an alternative foreign policy based on international
diplomacy and the pursuit of peace, rather than the same warmongering strategies that <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2017/6/5/lawyer_for_tortured_detainees_us_created" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">create</a> terrorist
organizations like ISIS.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">If the Democrats regain power in Congress and the White House, it’s important they have a foreign policy that breaks from the Bush-Obama-Trump continuum of endless war.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">But what would such a foreign policy look like? Along with ending the war in Afghanistan, CODEPINK’s Benjamin says it would mean challenging the Pentagon on its extreme budget as well as stopping weapons deals with
oppressive regimes like Israel and Saudi Arabia. Democrats appear to be taking a step forward on that front, with the majority <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/08/trump-senate-saudi-arabia-arms-239259" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">opposing</a> an
arms deal with Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Phyllis Bennis, director of the <a href="https://www.ips-dc.org/new-internationalism/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class="">New Internationalism Project</a> at
the Institute for Policy Studies, tells <em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">The Progressive </em>that forward-thinking foreign policy also has to rely on negotiations rather than violence.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">“If you look at Obama’s foreign policy successes like the Paris climate deal, the move toward normalcy in Cuba and most of all the Iran nuclear deal, they were all examples of the victory of diplomacy over war,” she
says, adding that Obama’s foreign policy failures in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Somalia were instances when war trumped diplomacy.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">However, Bennis says the peace movement will have to pressure Democrats to move toward a progressive foreign policy. They won’t do it themselves, she argues.</p>
<p style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">“The Democrats are never going to lead the progressive movement,” Bennis says. “The movements lead and demand of the Democratic Party that if they want support from the most mobilized, most conscious, and most committed
component of their base, they damn well better include a progressive foreign policy vision.”</p>
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<div class="field__item even" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/author/evan-popp" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;" class=""><img class="caption-processed" typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_bio_small/public/authors/popp.jpg?itok=NbTRQODk" width="65" height="65" alt="" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; max-width: 100%; height: auto;"></a></div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Evan Popp is a journalism student at Ithaca College currently interning at the Institute for Public Accuracy.</em></p>
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