US stance on Russia's security interests hypocritical: Bernie Sanders

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 3

Independent US Senator Bernie Sanders recently called out the US for being “hypocritical” in not accepting Russia’s argument of “spheres of influence.”

For the last 200 years, recalled Sanders in the US Senate, America had operated under the Monroe Doctrine which gave it the right to intervene against any country that might threaten its alleged interests.

Under this doctrine, the US undermined and overthrew at least a dozen governments. In 1962, it came to the brink of a nuclear war with the Soviet Union in response to the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba, which the Kennedy administration saw as an unacceptable threat to US’ national security.

Policy matter

Countries should be free to make their foreign policy, but making those choices wisely requires a consideration of the costs and benefits. —Bernie Sanders, US Senator

In 2018, Donald Trump’s Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called the Monroe Doctrine “relevant today as it was the day it was written”. In 2019, former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton declared “the Monroe Doctrine is alive and well”.

“To put it simply, even if Russia was not ruled by a corrupt authoritarian leader like Vladimir Putin, Russia, like the US, would still have an interest in the security policies of its neighbours. Does anyone really believe that the United States would not have something to say if, for example, Mexico was to form a military alliance with a US adversary?” asked Sanders.

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