Why I’m for Bernie Sanders by Oliver Stone

[Uncle Joe]

“When fear becomes collective, when anger becomes collective, it’s extremely dangerous. It is overwhelming... The mass media and the military-industrial complex create a prison for us, so we continue to think, see, and act in the same way... We need the courage to express ourselves even when the majority is going in the opposite direction... because a change of direction can happen only when there is a collective awakening... Therefore, it is very important to say, ‘I am here!’ to those who share the same kind of insight.“ - Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist Monk, The Art of Power.

(snip)

But who set this policy and who controls this country? Her point of view is steeped in the traditional post-World War II, Atlanticist, NATO-domination of the universe. It’s set in stone. No president it seems, no democratic vote, no dissenting media can alter this. We’re going to be in border, resource, and forever wars for the next 10, 20, 100 years, until Trump (who our shadow government will never allow to exercise power) actually said in his straight way of talking, “our cities go bust.” Our media has been drained and made callous by war, increasingly sensationalized by TV, looking for the next high in the next headline, the more outrageous the better. Modesty in American politics is dead — it’s better to be sensational.

Ironically, as they call Trump unelectable (which he is), it leaves you to think Clinton is the “new normal,” in which case you’ve been deceived by the unnecessary dichotomy that Clinton is actually “respectable” in the same way that Eisenhower/Dulles 1950s were respectable when we went about intervening and overthrowing governments in many countries. But the difference was they at least had the brains not to get into shooting wars. To suggest that NATO should’ve expired in 1991 when the Soviet Union disintegrated, I suppose, isn’t questionable anymore. NATO, which has expanded to 13 countries since 1991, must be supported and Clinton has been brainwashed by the neoconservatives to believe it’s about “Russian aggression” when it’s the United States that’s ensuring the greatest build-up on the European borders of Russia since Hitler did it in World War II.

We’re going to war — either hybrid in nature to break the Russian state back to its 1990s subordination, or a hot war (which will destroy our country). Our citizens should know this, but they don’t because our media is dumbed down in its “Pravda”-like support for our “respectable,” highly aggressive government. We are being led, as C. Wright Mills said in the 1950s, by a government full of “crackpot realists: in the name of realism they’ve constructed a paranoid reality all their own.” Our media has credited Hillary Clinton with wonderful foreign policy experience, unlike Trump, without really noting the results of her power-mongering. She’s comparable to Bill Clinton’s choice of Cold War crackpot Madeleine Albright as one of the worst Secretary of States we’ve had since ... Condi Rice? Albright boasted, “If we have to use force it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future.”

Hillary’s record includes supporting the barbaric “contras” against the Nicaraguan people in the 1980s, supporting the NATO bombing of the former Yugoslavia, supporting the ongoing Bush-Iraq War, the ongoing Afghan mess, and as Secretary of State the destruction of the secular state of Libya, the military coup in Honduras, and the present attempt at “regime change” in Syria. Every one of these situations has resulted in more extremism, more chaos in the world, and more danger to our country. Next will be the borders of Russia, China, and Iran. Look at the viciousness of her recent AIPAC speech (don’t say you haven’t been warned). Can we really bear to watch as Clinton “takes our alliance [with Israel] to the next level”? Where is our sense of proportion? Cannot the media, at the least, call her out on this extremism? The problem, I think, is this political miasma of “correctness” that dominates American thinking (i.e. Trump is extreme, therefore Hillary is not).

This is why I’m praying still for Bernie Sanders, because he’s the only one willing, at least in the name of fiscal sanity, to cut back on our foreign interventions, bring the troops home, and with these trillions of dollars no longer wasted on malice, try to protect the “homeland” by actually rebuilding it and putting money into its people, schools, and infrastructure.

(snip)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/oliver-stone/why-im-for-bernie-sanders_b_9576984.html

[SHRED]

1. I wish I could recommend this 100 times!

[jillan]

2. Excellent!!

[snowy owl]

3. Too little too late?

[Uncle Joe]

4. I don't believe so.

[snowy owl]

10. You are an optimist, Uncle Joe. I hope you're right.

[ucrdem]

5. Seems like a lot of projection.

Foreign policy-wise they vote the same. Bernie is a little more crafty in the way he flogs that meaningless AUMF vote he's been dining out on for a decade but otherwise there's nothing I've heard him say to indicate that any of this would be likely to come to pass:

This is why I’m praying still for Bernie Sanders, because he’s the only one willing, at least in the name of fiscal sanity, to cut back on our foreign interventions, bring the troops home, and with these trillions of dollars no longer wasted on malice, try to protect the “homeland” by actually rebuilding it and putting money into its people, schools, and infrastructure.

The only foreign policy position I've actually heard him take is "ISIS must be destroyed" which is hardly different from Hillary and to me is much worse. Here's what that means: big terra event shortly before or after Bernie takes office and perma-quagmire for the rest of his term. Will Hillary do better? Let's just say she's been played enough times to know better at least.

[Peace Patriot]

17. You haven't been paying any attention to Sanders...

...which is obvious to anyone who reads your posts. You don't care what he has said on foreign policy so you haven't looked it up, and you just rely on what "you've actually heard." When was the last time you listened to a Sanders speech or interview? Where did you "hear" that he said, "ISIS must be destroyed"?

I can verify that he said it. I actually watch and listen to his speeches and interviews. But he didn't say just that alone. He has said it IN CONTEXT of a broader foreign policy that he bases on,

1) Non-intervention as a principle, unless we are attacked.

2) Diplomacy first, as a principle (as Kerry is doing); war as a last resort.

3) Before you overthrow a government, understand the consequences. He put it this way: The U.S. has the biggest military in the world and can obviously overthrow governments. The key question is, "What happens NEXT?" He uses the examples of Iraq, Libya and Syria, with stable governments overthrown in the first two, and attempted in the third, and bloody, nightmarish, out of control chaos ensuing, and the rise of a thuggish, bloody-minded Islamic jihad army into the power vacuum that WE created.

4) So now we have to "destroy ISIS." We have no choice. They threaten all stability in the ME and the world, and are a threat here already. How do we do that?

5) We should NOT put U.S. troops on the ground again in the Middle East. The U.S. failure to create a stable Iraq makes it very clear that that is not only a failed policy, it will commit the U.S. to a Forever War in the ME, which our economy and our people cannot sustain. What we MUST do is oblige our ME allies to use THEIR troops and THEIR rich resources to fight THEIR war for the soul of Islam. We and our western allies must help form such an Arab and Islamic states coalition and support THEIR efforts.

6) Stop insulting Mexicans (Trump); stop the really idiotic idea of building a wall (Trump); create a path to citizenship for current undocumented Latin American workers and families; keep families together; stop the cruelties of imprisonment and deportation. And also, stop the exportation of U.S. jobs to cheap labor markets. Don't make U.S. workers compete with workers getting $3/hr in foreign countries. Create FAIR trade policies that benefit everyone.

7) Learn from other countries. For instance, learn from the universal health care programs in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, France, Canada and other countries, where health care costs MUCH less than here and everyone is fully covered.

I've also watched the full video of Bernie Sanders when he was mayor of Burlington and traveled to Nicaragua on a sister city program, while Reagan was sending fascist thugs into Nicaragua to murder teachers, mayors and other people, in a dirty, rotten U.S. effort to overthrow their government. What impressed me most about this interview was Sanders' close observation of what he saw and heard (not all praise for the leftist government) and his WILLINGNESS TO LEARN what was really going on.

[ucrdem]

18. Platitudes and projections. Here's what he actually said about ISIS in the Nov. 14 debate:

"Together, leading the world, this country will rid our planet of this barbarous organization called ISIS."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/11/14/the-cbs-democratic-debate-transcript-with-insight-from-the-fix/

Which does not suggest to me any of the thoughtful, progressive foreign policy positions his supporters are so eager to ascribe to him.

[DerekG]

6. Everyone watch "Untold History of the United States"

The definitive documentary on the American Empire.

[ChiciB1]

13. I Have His Book... Eye Opening & Has More Information Than

the documentary. I bought it when FSTV was having a fund drive. Stone HAS GREAT a GREAT deal of knowledge about "Our History" and a lot of it IS VERY DISTURBING! So, so, so much WAR!

And he's is totally right, Hillary is a hawk, he didn't say that I did, but he explained himself well. The FACTS are on his side.

Wish I had gotten the documentary, but I paid $100 for the book as a donation.

[kgnu_fan]

7. kick

[appalachiablue]

8. K & R. Glad to see this-

[All in it together]

9. No wonder we can't do too much for our people,

We've got more military adventures to go on. That's made more and more enemie and no peace.

[swilton]

11. 1,000 Recs

for Uncle Joe for posting this
for the thread
for Oliver Stone
for Bernie Sanders.

[senz]

12. K&R

Thanks, Uncle Joe.

[Snotcicles]

14. I agree totally. K&R. nt

[Karmadillo]

15. Devastating summary of the case against Clinton. Horrific record. Thank you for posting this.

[Peace Patriot]

19. Wonderful statement! It almost makes me weep to think of...

...the Forever War to come, a war that Clinton's advisers--Henry Kissinger (for godssakes!), Robert Kagan (wrote Bush, Cheney & Rumsfeld's clusterfuck plan for dominating the ME, the "Project for a New American Century&quot and other such advisers-- are intent on implementing, once they have their clutches on the White House once again.

Yes, THESE ARE HER ADVISERS!

Oliver Stone touches all the sore spots--all the wretched decisions Clinton made as Sec of State; all the hideous decisions she's made her whole life (didn't know she supported the "contras" in Nicaragua--good gawd!); her warmongering AIPAC speech; and the threatening world war.

He also mentions the ignorance of the American people about these matters, which is a very important point--although I do think that is changing with the internet and social media.

It is heartening to see the truth laid out like this--some things I knew, but many I didn't know (like her support of the "contras&quot . The truth can buoy you up merely by being spoken or read or seen.

[Uncle Joe]

20. The forces for eternal war are definitely most powerful,

it will take a mass awakening and major leap in enlightenment of the American People to turn the tide.

[kgnu_fan]

21. kick in the morning...