BERNIE SANDERS NEEDS TO SPEAK OUT MORE ON FOREIGN POLICY ISSUES

In a recent excellent interview conducted by Bill Moyers on his “Moyers & Company” program, possible presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders did not say one word about foreign policy. Of course, that omission was due to the questions that were asked. The topic of the program was big money in politics, but certainly foreign policy needs to be brought into the picture.

The fact is that what distinguishes liberals (in the good sense of the word) like Sanders and positions further to the left is in the area of foreign policy. Liberals like Sanders have excellent positions on health, education and inequality. But, in the first place, they deemphasize foreign policy as a topic, when in fact foreign policy issues are as important (in my opinion even more so) than domestic ones. If you want to see what I’m talking about, check out liberal magazines such as “The Nation,” “In These Times” and the “Progressive” and you’ll see very little coverage on foreign issues and those pieces that are published are usually restricted to human rights concerns, but virtually nothing on U.S. intervention. In the second place, when issues such as U.S. intervention in third-world countries are dealt with, liberals (the good ones, that is) usually take wishy-washy stands. Moveon.org,’s discussion of the current Mid-East mess, for instance, stresses the demand that the Obama administration go to congress to request backing for any action it takes. Not one word about how U.S. unconditional support for Israel and its invasion of Gaza ends up stoking resentment and thus contributing to terrorism (which is not meant for one second as a justification of the barbaric actions of ISIS).

If Sanders is to run for president (and I hope he does) he needs to address seriously foreign policy issues and courageously adopt progressive critical positions, regardless of the flack he will undoubtedly get from the corporate media.

http://billmoyers.com/episode/bernie-sanders-breaking-big-moneys-grip-elections/