We Need an Anti-Imperialist Alternative to Biden’s Status Quo Foreign Policy
When it comes to foreign policy, Joe Biden represents a continuation of the imperialist status quo. We need a leftist alternative that weakens US empire and prizes democracy, rather than one that assumes the US is right to dominate the world.
US president Joe Biden waves as he boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on March 26, 2021. (Olivier Douliery / AFP via Getty Images)
Earlier this week, Axios reported that Joe Biden “loves the growing narrative that he’s bolder and bigger-thinking than President Obama.”
One dramatic exception: foreign policy. While Biden and others in the political establishment have dropped their usual paeans to belt-tightening, there’s no indication Biden will make any foreign policy moves that could be spun as “bolder and bigger-thinking.” He hasn’t even reentered Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal yet.
To sort out Biden’s foreign policy, Ana Kasparian and Nando Vila, cohosts of Weekends, recently spoke with historian and Jacobin contributing editor Daniel Bessner about China; the United States’ sprawling, opaque national security state; and the need for a leftist, anti-imperialist alternative. Their conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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