Current Affairs 2020 Democratic Primary

[BirkenheadBlue]

So that's two general election cycles in a row that Russia have attempted interference to help Sanders in his campaigns...

Now it made sense in 2016... they were very much on an "anyone but Clinton" tip, with a strong preference for Trump...

This year, a little less so.

There's two possibilities I suppose. One is that they believe a Sanders administration would be more favourable to them and more in line with the aims than any of the other Dems... The other is that by their best calculation, Sanders is the least likely to defeat Trump. Neither is a particularly great look for Bernie. I dearly hope they're wrong on both counts.

 

[abelard]

starting gun on the hasty editing of millions of "listen to women of colour!" social media taglines in suburbs across the country

So that's two general election cycles in a row that Russia have attempted interference to help Sanders in his campaigns...

Now it made sense in 2016... they were very much on an "anyone but Clinton" tip, with a strong preference for Trump...

This year, a little less so.

There's two possibilities I suppose. One is that they believe a Sanders administration would be more favourable to them and more in line with the aims than any of the other Dems... The other is that by their best calculation, Sanders is the least likely to defeat Trump. Neither is a particularly great look for Bernie. I dearly hope they're wrong on both counts.

More likely it's because they know the Democrat leadership will pull a murder/suicide and destroy the Party trying to stop Sanders winning.

 

[LinekersLegs]

Very impressive given the historical power of the Culinary Union

 

[DanEFC92]

El presidente Bernard Sanders.

 

[LinekersLegs]

 

[BirkenheadBlue]

More likely it's because they know the Democrat leadership will pull a murder/suicide and destroy the Party trying to stop Sanders winning.

lol lol lol

 

[BossBlue]

The Electoral College will re-elect Trump.

Land of the Free right there.

 

[abelard]

lol lol lol

Ok. I'll defer to your Russian foreign policy expertise.

 

[Deleted member 48881]

 

[abelard]

The traitor Sanders once again subverting the election by deploying subhumans who didn't vote for Hillary in 2016.

 

[DanEFC92]

 

[abelard]

What dimension of chess are we on now?

Hawks say Sanders will be weak on Russia. But Putin should fear a President Bernie | Ben Judah and David Adler

Whereas recent US foreign policy has emboldened the Kremlin, Sanders actually understands how to undermine it, say Ben Judah and David Adler

www.theguardian.com

But most advocates of military competition fundamentally misunderstand the nature of Kremlin power – a misunderstanding that has led the US to fail, time and again, in its attempt to contain Putin. The promise of Sanders’ foreign policy platform is precisely that it turns the conventional wisdom on its head, showing how the US government can use domestic reform as a strategy to undermine Putin’s authoritarian aggression abroad.

To make sense of this strategy, it is necessary to see the three pillars on which Putin’s regime rests. The first of these pillars is hydrocarbons: the vast reserves of oil and gas in Russia that deliver large revenues and deep political loyalties both within Russia and across Europe. Russian oil and gas output is currently at a record high 11.25m barrels per day, generating $44.4bn each year from countries such as Germany that have become heavily reliant on Russian gas exports.

The second pillar of Putin’s power is corruption. Russia is today a kleptocracy, a political system that runs on kickbacks, bribes and pocketed public money for loyal oligarchs. Their dark money, of course, does not stay in Russia. Instead, it circulates through the vast international system of murky finance – into Deutsche Bank and Danske Bank, into London real estate and US shell companies – buying allegiance to the regime along the way.

And the third pillar is propaganda: Putin and his allies actively seek to stir up conflict abroad in order to strengthen nationalist loyalties at home. From the very beginning of his tenure, Putin has fomented violence and aggression against Russia’s “enemies” – be they Chechen, Ukrainian or American – as a strategy to boost his own popularity.

Far from attacking these pillars of Kremlin power, recent US foreign policy has served to strengthen them. The Barack Obama administration, for example, aggressively pursued a fossil fuels arms race against Russia, further entrenching the global addiction to hydrocarbons. Meanwhile, Obama presided over a flood of Russian oligarchs’ cash into the US, even as his secretary of state, Hillary Cinton, drew comparisons between Putin and Hitler.

Sanders, by contrast, seeks to dismantle each of the three pillars at their base. Rather than deepening US dependence on oil and gas, he is promoting a Green New Deal with major provisions to support a green transition beyond US borders. By driving decarbonisation among US allies in Europe and around the world, Sanders promises to reduce Putin’s geopolitical leverage.

Rather than ignoring the illicit financial system, Sanders is advocating a programme of “corporate accountability” to shut down tax havens, eliminate anonymous shell companies and strictly regulate the Wall Street banks that have facilitated the flow of kleptocrats’ cash all around the world.

Finally, Sanders avoids the lazy cold war rhetoric about “the Russians” that helps boost Putin’s legitimacy back at home. Instead, his approach is infrastructural, attacking the nodes of the illicit finance network rather than the individual “bad actors” operating within it.

In short, Sanders is shifting away from the antiquated paradigm of “foreign policy” – with its clear demarcations of home and abroad and its appeals to a unified national interest – and towards “foreign politics”. He is targeting the global architecture of kleptocracy in which many US firms and passport holders are complicit, and building ties with social movements around the world that can serve as allies in the fight against state corruption.

Progressives cannot afford to be naive in their approach to Putin. His efforts to consolidate a sphere of influence are unlikely to abate, regardless of the 2020 election outcome. But for all the Democratic party’s legitimate fears about Russian aggression, it cannot retreat to an outdated paradigm that approaches Russia as a question of military security alone.

It should come as no surprise, therefore, that those who understand Putin’s kleptocratic system – such the leader of the Russian opposition, Alexei Navalny – are now rooting for Sanders. It is only by undermining that system, not competing with it, that the US can truly weaken Putin’s authoritarian grip, and make way for a new democratic movement to flourish in Russia.

To be fair to Putin, the Democrats oppose him for the same reasons

 

[BirkenheadBlue]

Ok. I'll defer to your Russian foreign policy expertise.

Excellent.

 

[LinekersLegs]

The traitor Sanders once again subverting the election by deploying subhumans who didn't vote for Hillary in 2016.

Impressive identification and turnout operation by the Sanders campaign.

Tbh the Buttigieg number is pretty decent too even if it doesn’t seem to have been enough to have gained him a great deal of delegates. Iirc he was targeting rural voters again, will be interesting to see the makeup of those first time attendee for each of the candidates.

 

[Death]

Legend.