Perhaps the most distinguishing foreign policy position Biden took on the campaign trail was his saber rattling toward China, which was not quite as racist at Trump’s, but nonetheless got so bad a Biden ad was rebuked by progressive Asian-American groups for its racist content (Biden eventually walked back some of the ad’s rhetoric). Biden did say during his campaign that he wants to end “forever wars” (many of which he helped start) and that he’s against the war in Yemen (a position he only took after he served in the Obama administration that supported the war), but he neither centered these platforms nor accompanied them with concrete policy proposals that would actually bring an end to endless war.Lazare provided more details on the controversy over that China ad in Asian-American Groups Demand Biden Take Down His ‘Anti-China’ Ad In These Times 05/20/2020. See also: Palmer Haasch, Joe Biden's latest ad said Trump 'rolled over for the Chinese' on coronavirus, and people are calling it racist and xenophobic Business Insider 04/21/2020. This is the ad in question:
Donald Trump left our country unprepared and unprotected for the worst public health and economic crisis in our lifetime — and now we're paying the price. pic.twitter.com/aCxcqQqUqw
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 18, 2020
Lazare goes on to point out that on the war in Yemen, currently considered the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the world, Biden is opposed to it. And he could very well be open to cutting off arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emerates (UAE). As always, the actual policies that emerge will require careful critical examination. Rabyaah Althaibani recently offered suggestions on How a future Biden White House can end the war in Yemen Responsible Statecraft 10/15/2020. "The United States can use its financial leverage over Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to help de-escalate and eventually end the war."
Lazare comments on Biden's nominees-to-be Antony Blinken (Secretary of State), Avril Haines (Director of National Intelligence), Linda Thomas-Greenfield (UN Ambassador), Jake Sullivan and Michèle Flournoy (a possible pick for Secretary of Defense). In my mind, Thomas-Greenfield is the most problematic of those four because of her role in the Obama-Biden Administration's drone assassination program. Lazare also focuses on the issue of the "strategic consulting" network, which walk a fine line between consultancy and lobbying, that I discussed in my previous post.
The ”strategic consultancy“ world has been getting well-deserved scrutiny from progressive outlets like @TheProspect. So reality-based reporting is available when Republicans start building them into QAnon-ish conspiracy theories. https://t.co/LyJlsQdJa4
— brucemillerca (@brucemillerca) November 25, 2020
We're still at a moment when it's easier than it ever will be again for people to project their own hopes and fears onto an upcoming Biden Administration. Mehdi Hasan interviews the MSNBC political analyst Anand Giridharadas, who suggests this metaphor for the moment, America Is On A First Date With Biden 11/25/2020:
Giridharadas also addresses the current moment in The afterlife of the #Resistance The.Ink 11/24/2020. "Trump was not a departure from history but the culmination of an age — of greed, of plutocracy, of racism left to metastasize through every institution, of negligence, of democratic decay, of the dubious pretensions of those responsible for our biggest problems to be their solvers."
Sarah Lazare concludes her article with this observation:
There is a temptation to take a moment to breathe, to celebrate that the Trump administration has been voted out (although Trump appears determined to maintain power), and to hold on to hope that Biden will mark a turn away from some of Trump’s worst impulses, including his war mongering. But we learned from the earliest days of the Obama administration that it is sober assessment — rather than projection — that is called for in moments like this. Obama, with Biden at his side, oversaw intervention in Libya, disastrous involvement in the Yemen war, ongoing occupation in Afghanistan, support for the coup in Honduras, and much more. And Biden is now pulling from the same team of advisors and influence peddlers and consultants who helped make it all happen. [my emphasis]In other words, falling into a Brunch Liberalism stupor is not desirable outcome for democracy supporters:
Perfect image for the Brunch Liberal view of the end of the Trump-Pence Administration. https://t.co/qCccC6QzjL
— brucemillerca (@brucemillerca) November 25, 2020
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