Sanders contrasted the harm these interventions have done with the success of the post-WWII Marshall Plan, an example of the good that can come from using U.S. power and resources to rebuild war-torn countries instead of using U.S. weapons and covert operations to destroy them.
Connecting his foreign policy with a familiar theme from his domestic agenda, Sanders pointed out that, "The planet will not be secure or peaceful when so few have so much, and so many have so little." And he looked forward to a day when "human beings on this planet will live in a world where international conflicts will be resolved peacefully, not by mass murder."
Authoritarianism: From Syngman Rhee and the Shah to Trump and MBS
But, like Warren, Sanders made several references to "authoritarianism," in particular in relation to Russia, and he has repeated that theme in more recent speeches.
When Sanders cataloged the history of disastrous U.S. interventions in other countries, he neglected to point out that his examples nearly all involved U.S. support for the most extreme, authoritarian right-wing governments of their day.
In fact, throughout the Cold War, the U.S. consistently supported conservative, right-wing parties and politicians in Asia, Africa and Latin America, bringing dictators and mass murderers to power in many countries. The examples range from Syngman Rhee in South Korea and Suharto in Indonesia to apartheid South Africa and Mbuto in the Congo to military dictatorships throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
Current U.S. alliances with Saudi Arabia and the other absolute monarchies in the Persian Gulf, as well as Sisi's Egypt and Netanyahu's Israel, make it clear that the U.S. still does not choose its friends and allies based on their freedom from authoritarianism.
Nor can we even claim that the U.S. is free of authoritarian tendencies, including fear-mongering by Donald Trump, "the best Congress money can buy," the rise of white nationalism, and two million Americans disproportionately people of color -- condemned to harsh prison terms and dehumanizing conditions in an American gulag.
The presidential candidates should also recognize that U.S. efforts to impose its political will on other countries through economic sanctions or by the threat or use of force are themselves a dangerous form of authoritarianism, and flagrant violations of the rules-based international order that the U.S. claims to uphold.
So if we are honest about it, Russia and China have not earned the hostility of U.S. policymakers because of their authoritarianism, but because they are large, powerful countries that have resisted U.S. ambitions for "global hegemony," as Sanders described it.
As a critic of those ambitions himself, Sanders should appreciate Russia and China's difficult position and the fine line they have had to walk to defend their sovereignty and develop economically without falling foul of this domineering, destructive U.S. militarism.
A New War to Rescue the Military-Industrial Complex?
After a 45-year Cold War against communism and a 20-year Global War on Terror, the last thing we need from our next president is a New Cold War, a "War on Authoritarianism" or a war of any kind as a new organizing principle for U.S. foreign policy. Authoritarianism is not a concept the U.S. can defeat militarily, any more than "communism" or "terror."
To the extent that authoritarianism is an international problem, the solution for it lies in progressive movements and in real policy solutions that will reverse the inequities of neoliberalism and improve the lives of working people here and around the world.
Senators Sanders and Warren have correctly diagnosed many of the problems of our society and helped to craft serious policy proposals to address them, from Medicare For All to the Green New Deal. We hope that these programs will be shining examples of democracy at work that other countries will want to emulate. But presidential candidates should not talk about exporting an American democratic revolution to other countries when we have barely begun the serious work of reforming our own country.
As Representative Gabbard keeps reiterating in her campaign, we must not let this moment and this chance for peace slip away into a New Cold War.
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