Here's what a CIA whistleblower has to say about her role in the Drone murder program
Avril Haines, at the NSC, was in charge of determining whether it was legal or illegal to place people on John Brennan’s kill list. We know that in almost all cases that she said it was legal to put these names on the kill list, and people were subsequently killed by drone, including American citizens, like Anwar al-Awlaki and his son.
She also choose not to discipline CIA agents for hacking the computers of Congressional Staffers authoring the Senate torture report.
Later she heavily redacted the final draft of the report; reducing it from 6000 pages to 500.
And she heavily advocates for an intensification of " crippling economic sanctions on North Korea "
However, I'm gonna push back on the grandpa love and say it's not that surprising that Bernie would vote to confirm this ghoul considering he's always supported drone warfare; saying they've “ done some good things ,” and “ taken out people who should be taken out .” When it comes to opposing Imperialism, Bernie has never been on our side .
Bernie is Social Imperialist, this is expected of him, Parenti call him out for being an imperialist, as Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee he is probably gonna keep increasing the War budget
Criticism is warranted here, but Parenti's thinking about socialist states (re: judging them against realistic standards, understanding that they exist surrounded by hostility with few allies) should also apply. Maoist Bernie would never have gotten as far as Actual Bernie, and for all the flaws of Actual Bernie, the left is better off with him than without him.
im not asking for maoist bernie, the bare minimun to me is anti-imperialist which Sanders isnt
Is there a realistic prospect of a substantially less ghoulish CIA director? If there was, would that end (or even curtail) U.S. imperialism?
I think he should have done more to fight this appointment, and there's a good argument that he should speak out more against imperialism in general. But there's also a good argument that he doesn't have the power to stop any of this, and that speaking out (as he did during the primary when he praised Cuba) often leads to blowback with no prospect of political gain.
its not just one thing to prove Bernie is an imperialist, he voted for the bombing of yugoslavia, he voted for the Iraq Liberation Act , he voted for santions against Libya and Iran in 96, he voted for 6 Iraq war budgets and other thing
like you can make the case that the CIA ghoul would have still become the director (its the CIA after all) and that being anti-imperialist doesnt get you votes, but thats not the point, Anti-Imperialist even if its just anti-war/santions shows international solidarity with the Third World and just like Evo Morales said being Anti-Imperialism should be the bare minimun for any socialist.
They would never let someone who wouldn't, become chairman anyway.
God damn he's really fucking bad on foreign policy but only now do I realize just how bad wtf
If you feel like justifying this, I encourage you to read Rosa on opportunism :
Now if one says that we should offer an exchange – our consent to militaristic and tariff legislation in return for political concessions or social reforms – then one is sacrificing the basic principles of the class struggle for momentary advantage, and one’s actions are based on opportunism.
Opportunism, incidentally, is a political game which can be lost in two ways: not only basic principles but also practical success may be forfeited. The assumption that one can achieve the greatest number of successes by making concessions rests on a complete error. Here, as in all great matters, the most cunning persons are not the most intelligent.
Bismarck once told a bourgeois opposition party: ‘You will deprive yourselves of any practical influences if you always and as a matter of course say no.’…We who oppose the entire present order see things quite differently. In our no, in our intransigent attitude, lies our whole strength.
It is this attitude that earns us the fear and respect of the enemy and the trust and support of the people.
I don't quite understand the part about saying no but not saying no?
"Does it follow from this that our representative in the Reichstag must oppose all debate on bills concerning these matters with an abrupt and blunt no? Absolutely not," - then she talks about investigating the individual parts and then always coming to the conclusion of no anyways. Is she saying it's important to explain the root causes of the no every time to show people your ideological consistency?
I am not a Labor Leader; I do not want you to follow me or anyone else; if you are looking for a Moses to lead you out of this capitalist wilderness, you will stay right where you are. I would not lead you into the promised land if I could, because if I led you in, some one else would lead you out. You must use your heads as well as your hands, and get yourself out of your present condition. -- Eugene Debs
im getting tired of these daily aoc/bernie good/bad posts
Yes, because if he voted against her she would have not been confirmed and they would have put a good leftist in instead!
I don't get the feign outrage.
If Bernie's vote doesn't make a difference then he might as well vote on principles.
I'm not outraged, just disappointed to once again see the extent to which Bernie, and the American left at large, clearly don't give a shit about the lives of people in the Global South.
If his vote to confirm an evil torturer ,who led a murder program, to a position of immense power didn't matter either way, then what argument is there for him to do it?
It's horse trading, and he's not the guy in the big chair.
"You don't care about the global south!" I can't do anything about the global south! Not a single person on this website wants more bullshit to happen in South America, but if you think it's not on the list to happen, you're naive.
I don't have the answers for what we need to do, but I guarantee Bernie Sanders is going to get more done for us and the world than you or me or every person here, especially if all we do is post about how leftist we are. Perfect politics only exists online. The real world is imperfect.
Girl Boss! Massive wits. Girl Boss! Killing kids. Girl Boss! C-I-A. Girl Boss! Young and hip, loves to slay.
These American "Democratic Socialists" don't care about the death and destruction their Empire cause around the world, their top priority is free health care and college. If you ever criticize Sanders/AOC's foreign policy, they'll tell you it'll will just alienate potential supporters. Fuck'em, I place the lives of the victims of US Empire far greater than free College so they can become good middle class consumers
