Andrew Yang’s Recent Comments on Syria Reinforce That He Would Be Bad on Foreign Policy

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Well, it’s unfortunate, but the more Yang talks about foreign policy, the more he reinforces my misgivings about him as expressed in this blog post from a few months ago.

While at a recent campaign stop, Yang reiterated his Yang Doctrine as criteria for foreign intervention. He also said he thought that Syria might fit the criteria. If you click on the link embedded below (for those receiving this by email), you can hear this short part of his talk. Personally, I had to stop myself from banging my head on the table. This guy is not improving as he goes.

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Note that he mentions the usual “exceptionalist” buzzwords like “spreading our values” and supporting “human rights,” but says nothing about international law and the fact that, in the absence of a UN mandate, such an intervention would be just as illegal as Iraq, which he has admitted was a disastrous mistake. So it sounds to me like Yang’s objection to a foreign intervention has little to do with legality or the morality of using our powerful military – whose purpose is to break things and kill people – to effect regime change or to ostensibly solve “humanitarian” problems – as if our military is the fire department or paramedics.

He also does not address how he would ensure that he would not be embarking on the most grave policy decision a president can make based on faulty information. While this was only a snippet from his talk, I’d make book on him not mentioning the implications of the OPCW whistleblowers who have exposed the agency’s report on the Douma chemical weapons allegations as false. He’s either unaware of it or is ignoring it – both of which imply that he is not ready for prime time as commander in chief. He also makes no mention of the problem of portions of the intelligence agencies politicizing information as they did in the run-up to Iraq.

In a recent interview with Matt Taibbi and Katie Halper on the Useful Idiots podcast, Yang talked about how his policy views have been shaped and how he came to be an advocate for UBI. What sparked his transformation in thinking was his reading of a particular book. It makes me wonder what books, if any, Yang is reading on foreign policy. Sadly, based on his comments on Syria, my guess is that it would probably be something from Samantha Power rather than something from John Mearsheimer.

The bottom line is that, based on Yang’s shallow and amateurish thinking on foreign policy, he would easily get sucked into the “Blob” vortex under the more noble patina of “humanitarian intervention” as opposed to overt neoconservative militarism. But, as readers of my work know, it is merely a difference in packaging as the product is still the same – regime change wars that are illegal, immoral, wasteful and ultimately counter-productive with the instability they foster. See Libya as exhibit A.

It sounds like Tulsi needs to have a chat with her friend Yang to set him straight on this “humanitarian intervention” nonsense:

I could see Yang as an adviser or in a cabinet position related to economic or energy policy. His UBI idea – if it is combined with Medicare for All – could be a game-changer for many Americans who are struggling and are stuck in bad jobs. But a hard pass for Yang as president based on his dangerous foreign policy.

One thought on “Andrew Yang’s Recent Comments on Syria Reinforce That He Would Be Bad on Foreign Policy”

  1. I have been mentioning the correct U.S. foreign policies multiple times. It seems that nobody is listening.

    Not many American intellectuals are talking about the Atlantic Charter (the precursor of the UN Charter) and the Fourteen Points.

    Nobody is talking about the founding principle of the United States of American, which is the founded on the principle of self-determination.

    They are all anti-imperial, anti-monarchic, and anti-oligarchic.

    If those documents and ideas are well taught and well understood. Those nonsense opportunists, such as, Andrew Yang, would never be existent. Those regime change wars would never have been staged. Cold war would never have been created. The mankind would never have to live under the fear of a nuclear calamity.

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