WSJ Editorial: Elizabeth Warren Is Right

[question everything]

Elizabeth Warren is a progressive hero, so it’s notable when she takes a position that is attacked on the left. A case in point is Venezuela, where the Senator has more or less supported Donald Trump’s policy. In a podcast clip from earlier this year that’s getting second life on the left, Ms. Warren calls Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro “obviously a dictator” who’s putting people through “a nightmare.”

She argues for humanitarian aid and criticizes Mr. Trump for “saber rattling.” But she also advocates a strong response, including official U.S. recognition that Venezuela’s rightful leader is Juan Guaidó, not Mr. Maduro. “This notion of using our diplomatic tools, I’m all for it,” Ms. Warren says. “I think recognition, I think getting our allies to do it, it’s a way to bring diplomatic pressure. Economic sanctions? Yeah. I support economic sanctions.”

The podcast has been dug up by Bernie Sanders supporters, who say it reveals Ms. Warren as a running dog of neoliberal imperialism. Her views were broadly consistent in a July questionnaire. Mr. Maduro “is a dictator and a crook who has wrecked his country’s economy,” she told the Council on Foreign Relations, endorsing “efforts to negotiate a political transition.”

Mr. Sanders, in contrast, has refused to call Mr. Maduro a dictator. When a debate moderator noted this in September, he instead chose the term “vicious tyrant,” yet he didn’t suggest Mr. Maduro step down. His answer to that same July questionnaire cited “the Venezuelan people’s right to build their own future,” without mentioning any transition. “The United States,” Mr. Sanders added, “has a long history of inappropriately intervening in Latin American countries; we must not go down that road again.”

This is an important distinction on the American left. Mr. Sanders is a socialist of Cold War vintage who mistrusts the U.S. more than he does anti-American left-wing regimes. Ms. Warren’s instincts on foreign policy are also dovish and deserve scrutiny as the primaries continue. But it’s good to see that she is willing to speak up against at least one form of socialism in this hemisphere.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/elizabeth-warren-is-right-11574467550 (paid subscription)

[TomCADem]

1. Bernie's mystery Soviet tapes revealed

Bernie's campaign tries to dispute Bernie's support for dictatorships by arguing that votes like his vote against Russian sanctions in 2017 were isolated incidents that could be explained. However, Bernie has long been fascinated with such regimes. For example, in 1988, in the midst of the cold war, Bernie decided to go on a honeymoon in Soviet Russia:

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/17/bernie-sanders-mystery-soviet-video-revealed-1330347

BURLINGTON, Vt. — It’s 1988 and newlywed Bernie Sanders is in the Soviet Union with his wife, Jane, handing out gifts to the mayor of a midsized city they’ve befriended. The mood is festive as the two bestow the items: A Beatles album, a red “Bernie for Burlington” button, “delicious Vermont candy” and a tape of tunes Sanders recorded himself with fellow artists from Vermont, among other goodies.

“I have met many fine mayors in the United States,” Sanders says, “but I want to say that one of the nicest mayors I've ever met is the mayor of Yaroslavl.”

At another point, a member of Sanders’ delegation hands a Russian woman a small American flag. “If you’re wondering what’s wrong with capitalism, it’s made in Hong Kong," he jokes. "Sorry about that.”

The scene is part of 3½ hours of raw, never publicly seen footage of the trip Sanders took to the Soviet Union that year — his “honeymoon.” POLITICO viewed the tapes this week, along with a forgotten hourlong episode of a TV show created by Sanders that featured the same trip, at the offices of a Vermont government access channel.

[Me.]

2. Ouch

"Mr. Sanders is a socialist of Cold War vintage who mistrusts the U.S. more than he does anti-American left-wing regimes"

So I guess that's why he honeymooned in Moscow rather than Vegas.

[crazytown]

3. What happens in Moscow, stays in Moscow

on tape.

[Me.]

4. ...

[question everything]

6. Honeymooned in Moscow?

Can one imagine how the Rs were going to celebrate with this had he been our candidate?

[Me.]

8. Well, It's Certainly In Their Wheelhouse

[ritapria]

5. If We want other Nations to butt out of our businesss

We have to butt out of their business …. We can't have it both ways ...Will any candidate other than Bernie call out the military coup and right wing junta that is in now in charge of Bolivia ? … Are we surprised that the people are Venezuela re not down with accepting a new President chosen by Donald Trump ? …….