Documents Show How Soviets Cultivated Sanders

[wyldwolf]

As Bernie Sanders Pushed for Closer Ties, Soviet Union Spotted Opportunity.

Previously unseen documents from a Soviet archive show how hard Mr. Sanders worked to find a sister city in Russia when he was a mayor in the 1980s. Moscow saw a chance for propaganda. The documents do show the Soviets’ intensive preparation to use Mr. Sanders’s interest in their country to their advantage.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/world/europe/bernie-sanders-soviet-russia.html

[oldsoftie]

1. Oh man does this sound familiar......

[NYMinute]

2. Oh. My. God.

[oasis]

3. Well, well, well. nt

[wyldwolf]

4. remember back in the day after the John Edwards situation, how relieved we were ...

... he didn't win the nomination?

Now this.

[thesquanderer]

21. "Now this"? What did Sanders do wrong here? I don't see the Edwards parallel. (n/t)

[BootinUp]

5. we've been KGB'd.

[dalton99a]

7. "The visit to Yaroslavl was planned minute-by-minute"

Bernie Sanders, center, then mayor of Burlington, Vt., on a visit in 1988 to Yaroslavl, Russia, to establish sister-city ties.

“One of the most useful channels, in practice, for actively carrying out information-propaganda efforts has proved to be sister-city contact,” a Soviet Foreign Ministry document provided to Yaroslavl officials said.

“People there seemed reasonably happy and content,” Mr. Sanders told reporters in Burlington about Yaroslavl, a city of about 600,000. “I didn’t notice much deprivation.”

Two days after returning to Vermont, Mr. Sanders wrote to the Soviet Embassy in Washington, asking for help in setting up the sister-city program.

Throughout their negotiations with Burlington City Hall, Yaroslavl officials were coordinating their messaging with Soviet officials in Moscow.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/world/europe/bernie-sanders-soviet-russia.html

[W_HAMILTON]

8. So he CAN cultivate relationships!

Now, if only he -- the apparent progressive standard-bearer right now -- put as much effort into cultivating relationships among his congressional colleagues over the past 30 years as he did establishing a sister city within the Soviet Union, maybe he would have accomplished more and actually made some progress for the progressive movement.

[dalton99a]

9. Like a sister city in South Carolina, perhaps

[Dennis Donovan]

10. Sister cities between US and USSR cities were quite commonplace in the 1970's

My hometown had one. There was nothing nefarious about it. The article is a bit overblown, IMO.

[Wellstone ruled]

11. Very common.

Still remember when a delegation of Business People and Farmers went to Moscow in the late fifties and came home with a Tractor Assembly Plant in Milwaukee.

[showblue22]

12. Maybe so but how will republicans exploit this in a GE?

[Dennis Donovan]

15. You answer them the way Joe Scarborough did:

Link to tweet

[nini]

13. I feel vindicated

Last edited Fri Mar 6, 2020, 12:44 AM - Edit history (1)

Damn. I've been saying this for a long time.

[thesquanderer]

20. What do you feel vindicated about? I see nothing bad about Sanders in this article. n/t

[Uncle Joe]

14. All this happened in the 1988 and three years later 1991, the Berlin Wall fell

I wonder if there was a ripple effect?

Thanks for the thread wyldwolf.

[SunSeeker]

16. Who said nobody likes Bernie!

[wyldwolf]

19. LOL

[grantcart]

17. No one is more opposed to Sanders than I am but this is an unfair story

Soviets targeted everyone they could and having a sister city in USSR was encouraged by both Republican and Democratic Presidents.

There is no evidence that Sanders behaved unethically.

This information has been publicly available in Russia for years and no one took any interest.

This is an unfortunate non story.

[Jim_S]

18. So this is supposed to be the 'Paper of Record'?

If you actually read the article there could have been a dozen different headlines for this story...but of course not. How about: "Even After 30 Years Berine Still Wants Peace and Not WAR!" Or maybe: "Berine Still Right After All These Years!" Certainly wouldn't want an article about policy.