President Biden has done some good things for the climate, some good things for immigrants, and some other good things. But in many ways he is continuing his decades-long history as a middle-of-the-road Cold War “centrist” subservient to big business. We must push Biden to support PEACE and ECONOMIC JUSTICE.
Here are a few PEACE issues that the American people — and Biden — need to understand:
#1. Iran:
Biden campaigned with promises that his foreign policy would rely on diplomacy first. But instead, he appointed to very powerful positions a huge number of severe war-hawks, and he seems to be taking their advice. Recently Biden launched a missile attack on the Syrian border because some militia members were allegedly supported by Iran. This is seriously undermining a prompt return to the “Iran nuclear deal,” the JCPOA.
Instead of returning to this multi-national diplomatic agreement (which had been working until Trump pulled the U.S. out of it), Biden is continuing Trump’s policy of bullying Iran (applying “pressure”) instead of seeking peace. See my recent blog post about Iran.
Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) just reintroduced the Iran Diplomacy Act, legislation that provides a path for President Biden’s diplomatic effort to return all sides to full-compliance with their commitments under the Iran Nuclear Deal. Please write to your members of Congress today and urge them to do everything in their power to support a return to the nuclear deal.
#2: The “forever” wars:
Biden’s campaign promised that he would end the “forever” wars that George W. Bush — and Barack Obama — and Donald Trump conducted, with devastating effects on millions of innocent people in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other countries. But instead of making peace, Biden attacked Syria. See this article by Katrina vanden Heuvel: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/biden-ran-on-ending-forever-wars-hes-already-undermining-that-promise/
#3: Biden lets the Saudi Crown Prince literally “get away with murder”:
Biden had campaigned with a promise to hold Saudi Arabia’s leadership responsible for a brutal murder, but now Biden refuses to do that. The U.S. government finally admitted that Saudi Crown Prince was responsible for the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but Biden is not taking action. See this: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/saudi-prince-jamal-khashoggi-murder_n_6036e936c5b68379f9855a26?ncid=newsltushpmgpolitics