Author: Jeremy Scahill
Affiliation: The Intercept
Organization/Publisher: The Intercept
Date/Place: December 4, 2020/USA
Type of Literature: Opinion
Word Count: 3349
Link:https://theintercept.com/2020/12/04/joe-biden-election-national-security/
Keywords: Party Elites, Aggressive interventionism, Militarism, Foreign policy
Brief:
The US elections unmasked the facade used by political institutions. Republicans have turned into a public campaign for a charlatan like Trump, while the Democrats had a chance of becoming a moral alternative yet wasted it by focusing on defending militarism, corporate bailouts, and preventing Medicare for all. If anything, Trump showed that both parties’ elites are closer to each other than the public they claim to care for. In essence, the nomination of Biden was a result of manipulation and behind the scenes push against progressive candidates like Bernie Sanders, who was the victim of flanderization and repeated attacks by Democrat nominees. The claim that candidates like Sanders would drive away neoconservative votes was a mirage; plenty of Republicans are comfortable with Democrats. Elite Democrats, Biden included, had an active role in aggressive foreign policy and national security in previous presidential mandates. There are efforts by former President Obama and other Democrats of attempting to redeem figures like McCain and George H. W. Bush. Individuals chosen by Biden for his cabinet are no different. People like Antony Blinken, Avril Haines, and Jake Sullivan have a record of supporting CIA torture programs, the intervention in Libya, the catastrophe of Yemen, worldwide assassinations, and drone attacks. All the current nominees are aggressive interventionists, with Biden’s own record of hawkish policy-making and militarism. Democrats don’t seem to take the progressive ideas seriously, there is no prospect of change in policy, and Biden’s years would be a replay of Obama’s. Both parties are comfortable in their mutual agreement on aggressive imperial visions; Biden is simply a part of the DC bipartisan foreign policy establishment.
By: Omar Fili, CIGA Research Assistant
