User:Informant16/Foreign policy of Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders was elected to the United States Senate in 2006 and re-elected in 2012.

Afghanistan

Sanders voted for the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists that has been cited as the legal justification for controversial military actions since the September 11 attacks. In February 2011, Sanders traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan with fellow senators Bob Corker, Chris Coons, and Joe Manchin, opining afterward that Afghanistan was "one of the most backward countries in the entire world", given its massive poverty, lack of literacy, and corruption. He stated his belief that the US could afford to reduce its funding for the American and Afghanistan armed forces, Afghanistan police, and Afghanistan's economic development.

In 2019, Sanders was one of eight law-makers to sign a pledge by grass-roots organization Common Defense stating their intent "to fight to reclaim Congress's constitutional authority to conduct oversight of U.S. foreign policy and independently debate whether to authorize each new use of military force", along with acting toward bringing "the Forever War to a responsible and expedient conclusion", after seventeen years of ongoing US military conflict.

In June 2019, Sanders told the New York Times that "by the end of my first term, I think our troops would be home". In September, a campaign spokesman indicated to the Washington Post that this did not rule out leaving residual forces.

In September 2021, after a drone strike accidentally killed ten civilians, Sanders called the incident "a human tragedy" that reflected on the US and "unacceptable".

Balkans

Sanders supported the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, arguing that while aspects of the Clinton administration's military push to resolve ethnic tensions in Kosovo bordered on unconstitutional, such a push was necessary to prevent genocide in the region. Regarding the level of influence Congress needed to have in approving the bombing, he preferred the administration's recommendation that the bombing not be subject to the War Powers Resolution of 1973, and opposed an explicit declaration of war by the United States proposed by then-Representative Tom Campbell.

During the Greek government-debt crisis, Sanders opposed fiscal austerity measures, and called on the European Central Bank, European Commission, and International Monetary Fund to back "pro-growth" economic stimulus policies. In November 2018, Sanders and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis reiterated their opposition to austerity before launching the Progressive International movement at an event in Rome.

Central America

In April 2019, Sanders was one of thirty-four senators to sign a letter to President Trump encouraging him "to listen to members of your own Administration and reverse a decision that will damage our national security and aggravate conditions inside Central America", asserting that Trump had "consistently expressed a flawed understanding of U.S. foreign assistance" since becoming president, and that he was "personally undermining efforts to promote U.S. national security and economic prosperity" through preventing the use of Fiscal Year 2018 national security funding. The senators argued that foreign assistance to Central American countries created less migration to the U.S., citing the funding's helping to improve conditions in those countries.

Cuba

On April 14, 2015, after the White House announced that President Obama had intended to remove Cuba from the United States' list of nations sponsoring terrorism, Sanders issued a statement, saying: "While we have our strong differences with Cuba, it is not a terrorist state. I applaud President Obama for moving aggressively to develop normal diplomatic relations. Fifty years of Cold War is enough. It is time for Cuba and the United States to turn the page and normalize relations."

China

On May 1, 2019, Sanders tweeted: "Since the China trade deal I voted against, America has lost over 3 million manufacturing jobs. It's wrong to pretend that China isn't one of our major economic competitors."

On August 27, 2019, Sanders told The Hill: "China is a country that is moving unfortunately in a more authoritarian way in a number of directions. What we have to say about China, in fairness to China and its leadership, is – if I'm not mistaken – they have made more progress in addressing extreme poverty than any country in the history of civilization. So they've done a lot of things for their people."

On December 6, 2019, Sanders spoke concerning the Xinjiang re-education camps, telling the DesMoines Register: "What we should be doing with China is understanding they are a super-power, they are a strong economy. We want to be working with them. We certainly don't want a Cold War. But we should be speaking out against human rights abuses. When you put into concentration camps, you know, or at least lock up, I don't know, a million Muslims there, somebody's got to speak out about that."

On January 7, 2020, Sanders mentioned China in the context of the 2020 Baghdad International Airport airstrike in an interview with Anderson Cooper, saying: "... you can say there are a lot of bad people all over the world running governments... The President of China now has put a million people, Muslims, into educational camps – some would call them concentration camps."

Iran

Sanders supports the agreement with Iran reached by President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry. While calling it less than a perfect agreement, he believes that the US needs to negotiate with Iran, rather than enter in another war in the Middle East.

During the January 17, 2016, Democratic debate in Charleston, South Carolina, Sanders criticized Iran by saying, "Their support for terrorism, the anti-American rhetoric that we're hearing from of their leadership is something that is not acceptable", and espoused the view that the US should apply the same policy it did toward normalizing relations with Cuba to Iran, through a "move in warm relations with a very powerful and important country in this world".

In 2017, Congress took up a bill designed to impose CAATSA sanctions on Russia, for its alleged interference in the 2016 election, and on Iran. Sanders announced that he supported the sanctions on Russia, but he voted against the bill because of the Iran provisions. He stated:

I have voted for sanctions on Iran in the past, and I believe sanctions were an important tool for bringing Iran to the negotiating table. But I believe that these new sanctions could endanger the very important nuclear agreement that was signed between the United States, its partners, and Iran in 2015. That is not a risk worth taking. ...

In October 2017, Sanders said that "the worst possible thing" the United States could do was undermine the Iran nuclear deal if it was "genuinely concerned with Iran's behavior in the region", and that the president's comments against the deal had isolated the US from foreign allies that had retained their commitment to the agreement.

In May 2018, Sanders was one of twelve senators to sign a letter to President Trump, urging him to remain in the Iran nuclear deal, on the grounds that "Iran could either remain in the agreement and seek to isolate the United States from our closest partners, or resume its nuclear activities" if the US pulled out, and that both possibilities "would be detrimental to our national security interests".

Following Patrick M. Shanahan announcing 1,000 more US troops being deployed to the Middle East for defensive purposes in June 2019, Sanders was one of six senators to sign a letter spearheaded by Tim Kaine and Mike Lee, expressing concern that "increasingly escalatory actions" by both the US and Iran would "lead to an unnecessary conflict". The senators noted that Congress had not authorized a war against Iran, and requested "a joint Defense, State, and Intelligence Community briefing by the end of June to address these policy and legal issues".

Sanders said during the Democratic primary debate hosted by NBC News: "I will do everything I can to prevent a war with Iran, which would be far worse than [the] disastrous war with Iraq."

Following the death of Qassem Soleimani in a US airstrike, Sanders tweeted: "Trump's dangerous escalation brings us closer to another disastrous war in the Middle East that could cost countless lives and trillions more dollars. Trump promised to end endless wars, but this action puts us on the path to another one."

India

Sanders, along with multiple other American politicians, expressed their concerns over the anti-Muslim North East Delhi riots. In response, on February 27, 2020, the Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Raveesh Kumar, stated that these remarks were "factually inaccurate", "misleading", and "aimed at politicising the issue".

Iraq

Sanders strongly opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq and voted against the 2002 resolution authorizing the use of force against that country. In a 2002 speech, he said: "I am opposed to giving the President a blank check to launch a unilateral invasion and occupation of Iraq"; and: "I will vote against this resolution. One, I have not heard any estimates of how many young American men and women might die in such a war, or how many tens of thousands of women and children in Iraq might also be killed. As a caring Nation, we should do everything we can to prevent the horrible suffering that a war will cause. War must be the last recourse in international relations, not the first. Second, I am deeply concerned about the precedent that a unilateral invasion of Iraq could establish in terms of international law and the role of the United Nations."

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Sanders has called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) "a barbaric organization" and "a growing threat", but does not believe that the U.S. should lead the fight against it. Sanders believes that "the United States should be supportive, along with other countries, but we cannot and we should not be involved in perpetual warfare in the Middle East – the Muslim countries themselves have got to lead the effort".

On November 15, 2015, in response to ISIS' attacks in Paris, Sanders cautioned against Islamophobia, saying: "During these difficult times as Americans, we will not succumb to racism. We will not allow ourselves to be divided and succumb to Islamophobia. And while hundreds of thousands have lost everything, have nothing left but the shirts on their backs, we will not turn our backs on the refugees!"

Sanders criticized Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and UAE, saying that those "countries of enormous wealth and resources – have contributed far too little in the fight against ISIS". Sanders said Saudi Arabia, instead of fighting ISIS, has focused more on supporting the Yemeni government against Iranian sponsored Houthi militants in Yemen that seized control of much of the country in 2015, and Kuwait, which has been a well-known source of financing for ISIS, and Qatar is spending $200 billion on the 2022 World Cup, yet very little to fight against ISIS. "Wealthy and powerful Muslim nations in the region can no longer sit on the sidelines and expect the United States to do their work for them."

Syria and Assad

In January 2016, Sanders said on the Democratic primary debate: "Our first priority must be the destruction of ISIS. Our second must be getting rid of Assad." Then, in September 2019, Sanders told the Washington Post, "The world and in particular the Syrian people would be far better off without Bashar al-Assad, who is responsible for the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children, the forced migration of millions and the collapse of the nation of Syria. It is not up to the United States to topple him, and diplomatic engagement does not imply approval of him or of his activities. If he remains in power, the United States needs to engage with his regime in some fashion."

In April 2018, in a statement, Sanders said President Trump had "no legal authority for broadening the war in Syria" and recommended Trump approach Congress if he believed "expanding the war in Syria will bring stability to the region and protect American interests".

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Sanders supports a two-state solution, saying that "the Palestinian people, in my view, deserve a state of their own, they deserve an economy of their own, they deserve economic support from the people of this country. And Israel needs to be able to live in security without terrorist attacks." Sanders has said Israel must have a right to live in peace and security.

In 2008, Sanders was a co-sponsor of a Senate Resolution, "recognizing the 60th anniversary of the founding of the modern State of Israel and reaffirming the bonds of close friendship and cooperation between the United States and Israel." The resolution reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself against terror. It also congratulated Israel on building a strong nation and wished for a successful Israeli future.

According to Sanders' senate webpage, David Palumbo-Liu wrongly noted in Salon that Sen. Sanders "voted" for a resolution supporting Operation Protective Edge which had actually passed without a vote. A statement published on his Senate website reads in part: "Sanders believes the Israeli attacks that killed hundreds of innocent people – including many women and children – in bombings of civilian neighborhoods and UN controlled schools, hospitals, and refugee camps were disproportionate, and the widespread killing of civilians is completely unacceptable. Israel's actions took an enormous human toll, and appeared to strengthen support for Hamas and may well be sowing the seeds for even more hatred, war and destruction in future years."

The Intercept's Zaid Jilani wrote that Sanders "stood out in contrast to the remarks from the other four major party candidates" in the 2016 presidential election, criticizing Israel's policy of settlement expansion after violent episodes and defended self-determination, civil rights, and economic well-being for Palestinians. After AIPAC's refusal to accept Sanders's telepresence at their 2016 debate, former U.S. ambassador Marc Ginsberg explained the event saying that Bernie Sanders "has never really extolled his Jewishness, much less any support for Israel". Sanders was criticized for hiring IfNotNow founder Simone Zimmerman as his Jewish Outreach Coordinator, and she was fired from the campaign after critical social media posts about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the conflict surfaced.

While being interviewed in April 2016 by the New York Daily News, Sanders said that Israel killed over 10,000 innocent civilians in Gaza, an unnecessarily high death toll. The Anti-Defamation League subsequently called on Sanders to withdraw remarks he made about the casualties, which the ADL said exaggerated the death toll of the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, citing a number far in excess of Palestinian or Israel sources' estimates. Sanders later clarified that he was quickly corrected in that the death toll was closer to 2,000 civilians.

In November 2017, Sanders was one of ten Democratic senators to sign a letter urging Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu to halt the planned demolitions of Palestinian villages Khan al-Ahmar and Susiya on the grounds that such action would further diminish efforts to seek a two-state solution and "endanger Israel's future as a Jewish democracy." In December 2017, Sanders opposed President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

In April 2018, shortly after the commencing of the 2018 Gaza border protests, Sanders stated, "From what my understanding is, you have tens and tens of thousands of people who are engaged in a nonviolent protest. I believe now 15 or 20 people, Palestinians, have been killed and many, many others have been wounded. So I think it's a difficult situation, but my assessment is that Israel overreacted on that." He furthered that Gaza remained "a humanitarian disaster" and called on the United States to play "a more positive role in ending the Gaza blockade and helping Palestinians and Israelis build a future that works for all."

During an October 2018 speech, Sanders said it was "hard to imagine that Israel's Netanyahu government would have taken a number of steps— including passing the recent 'Nation State law,' which essentially codifies the second-class status of Israel's non-Jewish citizens, aggressively undermining the longstanding goal of a two-state solution, and ignoring the economic catastrophe in Gaza — if Netanyahu wasn't confident that Trump would support him."

In March 2019, after Representative Ilhan Omar received criticism from Democrats and Republicans over comments about Israel that were deemed as anti-Semitic, Sanders condemned antisemitism as "a hateful and dangerous ideology which must be vigorously opposed in the United States and around the world" while noting that they should not "equate anti-Semitism with legitimate criticism of the right-wing, Netanyahu government in Israel." Sanders called for the formation of "an even-handed Middle East policy which brings Israelis and Palestinians together for a lasting peace" and voiced his concern that Omar was being targeted "as a way of stifling that debate."

In a July 2019 interview, Sanders stated that he believed "that the people of Israel absolutely have the right to live in peace, independence and security" but that the Netanyahu government was extremely right-wing "with many racist tendencies" and that the role of the United States was "to try to finally bring peace to the Middle East and to treat the Palestinian people with the kind of respect and dignity they deserve." Sanders reflected on the trillions of dollars spent on the War on Terror and asserted that as U.S. President he would favor sitting down "in a room with the leadership of Saudi Arabia, with the leadership of Iran, with the leadership of the Palestinians, with the leadership of Israel, and hammer out some damn agreements, which will try to end the conflicts that exist there forever."

BDS and defense of Israeli right to exist

Bernie Sanders supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, opposes attempts at a one-state solution, opposes the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel (BDS), and maintains that the United Nations has a bias against Israel. He has also maintained that anti-Semitism plays a role in the BDS movement.

Following Sanders' signing of a US congressional letter denouncing a bias at the UN against Israel and calling upon UN General Secretary António Guterres, urging him to remedy the problem, he defended his signature on an interview hosted by the Qatari news agency Al Jazeera, saying:

there are many problems with Israel ... On the other hand, to see Israel attacked over and over again for human rights violations — which may be true — when you have countries like Saudi Arabia or Syria, Saudi Arabia – I'm not quite sure if a woman can even drive a car today. So, I think the thrust of that letter is not to say that Israel does not have human rights issues — it does — but to say how come it's only Israel when you have other countries where women are treated as third-class citizens, where in Egypt, I don't know how many thousands of people now lingering in jail, so that's the point of that, not to defend Israel, but to say why only Israel."

Asked if he "respected" BDS as a protest tactic, Sanders has said "No, I don't", adding that it was counter-productive if the goal is trying to bring about peace talks. In 2016, Sanders averred that there was "absolutely" anti-Semitism in the BDS movement, elaborating:

Israel has done some very bad things, so has every other country on earth," Sanders said. "I think the people who want to attack Israel for their policies, I think that is fair game. But not to appreciate that there is some level of anti-Semitism around the world involved in that I think would be a mistake ... I spent many months on a kibbutz on Israel, so I know something about Israel. Israel has got to be defended, has a right to exist, but you cannot ignore the needs of the Palestinian people.

Sanders supports a two-state solution, and regarding the possibility of a one-state solution, he has stated:

I think if that happens, then that [a one-state solution] would be the end of the State of Israel and I support Israel's right to exist ... I think if there is the political will to make it [peace and a two-state solution] happen and if there is good faith on both sides I do think it's possible, and I think there has not been good faith, certainly on this Israeli government and I have my doubts about parts of the Palestinian leadership as well.

In a December 2018 letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sanders and Dianne Feinstein advocated against a provision of a spending package barring companies from endorsing anti-Israel boycotts promoted by governmental groups, writing that while they did not support "the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, we remain resolved to our constitutional oath to defend the right of every American to express their views peacefully without fear of or actual punishment by the government." In February 2019, Sanders voted against a controversial Anti-Boycott Act initiated by Republicans, which would make it illegal for U.S. companies to engage in boycotts against Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Henry Kissinger

During a 2016 Democratic debate, Sanders took issue with Hillary Clinton's admiration of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, describing him as "one of the most destructive" in US modern history, stating:

I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. In fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in who then butchered some 3 million innocent people – one of the worst genocides in the history of the world.

Nicaraguan Revolution

During the Nicaraguan Revolution, Sanders opposed funding the Contra Rebels and praised the leadership and popularity of the Sandinista Party. Sanders stated that the support for the Sandinistas in their country was higher than the support of American voters for President Ronald Reagan and even those who did not vote for the Sandinstas did not want an invasion.

Venezuela

In August 2011, Sanders's official Senate webpage re-printed in full an editorial from the West Lebanon, New Hampshire Valley News stating: "These days, the American dream is more apt to be realized in South America, in places such as Ecuador, Venezuela and Argentina, where incomes are actually more equal today than they are in the land of Horatio Alger. Who's the banana republic now?"

Since the deterioration of Venezuelan living standards under the direction of the country's self-described socialist government, concerns and comparisons to Venezuela were raised over Sanders' desires to implement socialist policies in the United States. In 2016, Sanders responded by attempting to distance himself from Venezuela's Bolivarian government, replying to such worries by stating, "When I talk about democratic socialism, I'm not looking at Venezuela. I'm not looking at Cuba. I'm looking at countries like Denmark and Sweden". Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen has contested Sanders's portrayal of the nation, saying Denmark is not socialist but rather has a market economy.

Sanders also furthered himself from the Venezuelan government by calling the leader of Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution, former President Hugo Chávez, a "dead communist dictator".

During the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, Sanders cautioned about President Donald Trump's decision to back a competing claim for the government in Venezuela, citing US support of coups in Chile, Guatemala, and Brazil. At the same time, Sanders condemned the actions of the Nicolás Maduro government.

In a February 2019 CNN town hall, when asked by Wolf Blitzer why he would not describe Maduro as a "dictator", Sanders admitted that it was "fair to say" Venezuela's last presidential election "was undemocratic" while noting other "democratic operations taking place in that country" and stated his support for "internationally supervised free elections."

In an April 2019 interview, Sanders stated that Maduro was heading a "failed regime" while also expressing his opposition to military intervention, furthering that the world community needed to "be mindful of the humanitarian suffering and the hunger that's going on in Venezuela right now" and that what one would want is "free and fair elections, and we want to do everything we can to establish democracy there." Sanders noted that all recent evidence had pointed to Maduro's reelection being under fraudulent circumstances and cited the need for establishing a democracy in Venezuela without "deciding that some politician is the new President, who never won any election."

Clinton Foundation

When asked by CNN's Jake Tapper in June 2016 if it was fair to criticize the Clinton Foundation, an American charity, for taking money from foreign governments which do not represent American values, Sanders responded, "Yes it is. It is. If you ask me about the Clinton Foundation, do I have a problem when a sitting secretary of state and a foundation run by her husband collects many millions of dollars from foreign governments, governments which are dictatorships -- you don't have a lot of civil liberties or democratic rights in Saudi Arabia. You don't have a lot of respect there for opposition points of view for gay rights, for women's rights. Yes, do I have a problem with that? Yes, I do." In September 2016, Sanders told NBC's Chuck Todd that if Clinton becomes president of the United States, she should cease all contact with the Foundation, but stopped short of agreeing it should be closed, noting, "I don't know enough. They do a lot of good things with A.I.D.S. and so forth. I can't, you know, definitively answer that."

United Kingdom and Jeremy Corbyn

In August 2016, Sanders praised Jeremy Corbyn in his candidacy in the Labour Party leadership election. Corbyn said that he had received a message from Sanders saying that Sanders was dismissed as unelectable but that the real reason many dismissed him was that he was electable and a threat to the American political establishment.

During a speech promoting his book at the Brighton Festival in June 2017, Sanders drew parallels between Corbyn and himself, saying: "What Corbyn has tried to do with the Labour Party is not dissimilar to what some of us are trying to do with the Democratic Party, and that is to make it a party that is much more open and inviting for working people and young people and not have a liberal elite making the decisions from the top down. I think what Corbyn is doing is trying to revitalise democracy, bring a lot of new people into the political process and I think that's an excellent idea ..." He added: "...he has taken on the establishment of the Labour Party, he has gone to the grassroots and he has tried to transform that party ..."

After the 2017 general election, Sanders wrote in The New York Times that "the British elections should be a lesson for the Democratic Party" and urged the Democrats to stop holding on to an "overly cautious, centrist ideology", arguing that "momentum shifted to Labour after it released a very progressive manifesto that generated much enthusiasm among young people and workers".

Russia and Ukraine

In December 2010, Sanders voted for the ratification of New START, a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russian Federation obliging both countries to have no more than 1,550 strategic warheads as well as 700 launchers deployed during the next seven years along with providing a continuation of on-site inspections that halted when START I expired the previous year. It was the first arms treaty with Russia in eight years.

In July 2017, Sanders voted against the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act that placed sanctions on Russia together with Iran and North Korea. 98 senators voted for the act, Rand Paul was the only other Senator to vote no. Sanders supported the sanctions on Russia, but he voted against the bill because of the Iran provisions.

During December 2018, in response to President Trump's October announcement that he intended to withdraw the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, Sanders was one of seven senators to cosponsor the Prevention of Arms Race Act of 2018, legislation prohibiting funding for a U.S. ground-launched or ballistic missile that had "a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers" until the administration provided a report meeting five specific conditions. Sanders also cosponsored this legislation when it was reintroduced by Senator Jeff Merkley in the 116th United States Congress.

In December 2018, after United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the Trump administration was suspending its obligations in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 60 days in the event that Russia continued to violate the treaty, Sanders was one of twenty-six senators to sign a letter expressing concern over the administration "now abandoning generations of bipartisan U.S. leadership around the paired goals of reducing the global role and number of nuclear weapons and ensuring strategic stability with America's nuclear-armed adversaries" and calling on President Trump to continue arms negotiations.

In a January 2020 speech, Sanders said on Russian interference in the 2020 United States elections, "Let me be clear: We must not live in denial while allowing Russia and other state actors to undermine our democracy or divide us. Russia targets the divisions in our society; we will work to heal those divisions."

On February 21, 2020, The Washington Post reported that, according to unnamed US officials, Russia was interfering in the Democratic primary in an effort to support Sanders' nomination. Sanders issued a statement after the news report, condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin as an "autocratic thug", and saying in part, "I don't care, frankly, who Putin wants to be president. My message to Putin is clear: stay out of American elections, and as president I will make sure that you do." Sanders acknowledged that his campaign was briefed about Russia's alleged efforts about a month prior. Sanders suggested that Russians were impersonating people claiming to be his supporters online in order to create an atmosphere of toxicity and give "Bernie Bros" a bad reputation, a suggestion that Twitter rejected.

Regarding the Russo-Ukrainian War and the build-up of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border in early 2022, Sanders emphasized in an opinion in The Guardian, and reiterated in a later Senate speech, that Putin represented an anti-democratic movement in Europe, calling Putin "a liar and a demagogue", and said, "In my view, we must unequivocally support the sovereignty of Ukraine and make clear that the international community will impose severe consequences on Putin and his associates if he does not change course." At the same time, Sanders argued that an extensive land war in Europe would be disastrous, citing estimates of 50,000 civilian casualties, as would broad sanctions against the Russian people. He implied NATO was acting with "intransigence", said "The fact is that the US and Ukraine entering into a deeper security relationship is likely to have some very serious costs – for both countries," and argued it is "hypocritical" for the United States to consider the foreign policy interests of its neighbors (per the Monroe Doctrine) but not view Russia as justified in doing so. He also cited the example of Finland as a successful non-NATO member with a strong democracy and border with Russia. Sanders emphasized "diplomatic efforts to deescalate this crisis".

In response to Putin's recognition of the pro-Russian separatist enclaves of Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sanders said in a statement, "Vladimir Putin’s latest invasion of Ukraine is an indefensible violation of international law, regardless of whatever false pretext he offers. There has always been a diplomatic solution to this situation. Tragically, Putin appears intent on rejecting it." He announced his support for targeted sanctions against "Putin and his oligarchs" and emphasized the need for the United States to help "Ukraine's neighbors care for refugees fleeing this conflict" and the rest of the world to pursue a fossil fuel phase-out to "deny authoritarian petrostates the revenues they require to survive" .

Myanmar

Sanders condemned the genocide of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar and called for a stronger response to the crisis.

North Korea

In April 2017, after President Trump acknowledged the possibility of a "major, major conflict" between North Korea and the US, Sanders said such a conflict equated to a nuclear war and advocated for the US to lean on China, citing China's receiving of exports from North Korea and thereby being in "a position to tighten the screws on North Korea and tell them they cannot continue their missile program or their nuclear program."

In October 2017, Sanders and six Democrats were led by Chris Murphy in introducing legislation prohibiting "funds from being used for kinetic military operations without congressional approval unless the United States faces an imminent threat or such action is necessary to defend citizens or our allies" in light of rhetorical escalation between the US and North Korea as well as "contradictory behavior from Trump and officials in his administration".

In February 2018, Sanders was one of eighteen senators to sign a letter to President Trump arguing that striking North Korea with "a preventative or preemptive U.S. military strike would lack either a constitutional basis or legal authority" without congressional approval.

In April 2018, when asked by a reporter about the US pursuing diplomatic relations with North Korea, Sanders said, "I think the idea of sitting down and having direct negotiations with North Korea is a step forward, and I hope it works out well." After President Trump met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during the 2018 North Korea-United States summit, Sanders called the summit "very light on substance" but also representing "a positive step in de-escalating tensions between our countries, addressing the threat of North Korea’s nuclear weapons, and moving toward a more peaceful future."

In February 2019, ahead of the North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit, Sanders said, "I think nuclear weapons in the hands of a brutal, irresponsible dictator is a bad idea. And if Trump can succeed ... through face-to-face meetings with Kim Jong Un and rid that country of nuclear weapons that is a very good thing."

In a May 2019 interview, Sanders stated that "the idea of sitting down with Kim Jong Un is the right thing to do", citing this as difficult but necessary due to North Korea being a threat to the planet, and that the United States had "to do everything we can to have China and the people in the Pacific Rim put as much pressure on North Korea and make it clear that they cannot continue to act this way."

In June 2019, following President Trump becoming the first sitting U.S. President to cross into North Korea and announcing that stalled talks between the US and North Korea on nuclear capabilities would resume, Sanders stated that he did not have a problem with President Trump "sitting down and negotiating with our adversaries," but that he opposed such meetings being reduced to "a photo opportunity." He called for the US to have "real diplomacy" and criticized President Trump for weakening the State Department, citing the agency's strength as essential to moving "forward diplomatically."

Mexico

In a January 2018 statement, Sanders said he was "not sure why President Trump wants to shut down the government over a multi-billion dollar wall that no one wants, is not needed and will not be paid for by Mexico" and that Americans instead overwhelmingly favored providing "legal protection to 800,000 Dreamers and a path toward citizenship for them."

United Nations

In June 2018, following the United Nations releasing a report on poverty in the United States and condemning "President Trump's administration for pursuing high tax breaks for the rich and removing basic protections for the poor", Sanders was one of twenty lawmakers to sign a letter to United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley calling for the Trump administration to develop a plan to address poverty. Haley responded to Sanders in a letter, writing that it was "patently ridiculous for the United Nations to examine poverty in America" and charged the report with misstating "the progress the United States has made in addressing poverty and purposely used misleading facts and figures in its biased reporting." Sanders disputed Haley in a subsequent letter, defending the appropriateness of the U.N.'s report and noting that poverty was occurring "in the richest country in the history of the world and at a time when wealth and income inequality is worse than at any time since the 1920s."

Saudi Arabia

In June 2017, Sanders voted for a resolution by Rand Paul and Chris Murphy that would block President Trump's 510 million sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia that made up a portion of the 110 billion arms sale Trump announced during his visit to Saudi Arabia the previous year.

In September 2017, Sanders called Saudi Arabia "an undemocratic country that has supported terrorism around the world, it has funded terrorism. ... They are not an ally of the United States."

On October 9, 2018, Sanders said that Saudi Arabia "is a despotic dictatorship that does not tolerate dissent, that treats women as third-class citizens, and has spent the last several decades exporting a very extreme form of Islam around the world. Saudi Arabia is currently devastating the country of Yemen in a catastrophic war in alliance with the United States."

In October 2018, Sanders said that if Saudis murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the US should "not only stop military sales, not only put sanctions on Saudi Arabia, but most importantly, get out of this terrible, terrible war in Yemen led by the Saudis." He maintained that the US could not "have an ally who murders in cold blood, in their own consulate, a critic, a dissident". Later that month, Sanders was one of eight senators to sign a letter to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats requesting a classified briefing on what the American intelligence community knew about threats to Khashoggi so that the senators may fulfill their "oversight obligation" as members of Congress. In a column for The New York Times, Sanders called on the United States to end its backing of the Saudi intervention in Yemen against the Houthis, saying that US support for this war makes it complicit in crimes against humanity and that its participation is unconstitutional because it had not been authorized by Congress.

In November 2018, Sanders confirmed his intent to force a vote on ending American support for the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen in an email to supporters, writing that despite President Trump's "venal support for the Saudi regime, I am confident that we now stand an excellent chance to win this vote which I plan on bringing back to the Senate floor this week." On November 28, as the Senate weighed the resolution to end American military support for the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen's civil war, Sanders said, "In my mind it is imperative today that the United States Senate tell Saudi Arabia and tell the world that we are not going to be continuing to be part of that humanitarian disaster. We have to make the decision as to what happens in the war in Yemen and our role in that, and that's what the vote today is about." The resolution passed in a vote of 63 to 37.

The Senate voted to pass Sanders's resolution again on March 13, 2019 in a vote of 54 to 46. Sanders stated that the resolution's passage would begin the process of reasserting Congress's "responsibility over war making" and that "Article 1 of the Constitution clearly states that it is Congress, not the president, that has the power to declare war."

In April 2019, after the House passed the resolution withdrawing American support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, Sanders was one of nine lawmakers to sign a letter to President Trump requesting a meeting with him and urging him to sign "Senate Joint Resolution 7, which invokes the War Powers Act of 1973 to end unauthorized US military participation in the Saudi-led coalition's armed conflict against Yemen's Houthi forces, initiated in 2015 by the Obama administration." They asserted the "Saudi-led coalition's imposition of an air-land-and-sea blockade as part of its war against Yemen’s Houthis has continued to prevent the unimpeded distribution of these vital commodities, contributing to the suffering and death of vast numbers of civilians throughout the country" and that Trump's approval of the resolution through his signing would give a "powerful signal to the Saudi-led coalition to bring the four-year-old war to a close".

In July 2022, Sanders criticized President Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia, referencing Bin Salman's role in the Khashoggi murder and he did not believe "that that type of government should be rewarded with a visit by the president of the United States." Sanders added that the US should not "be maintaining a warm relationship with a dictatorship like that" if it believed in democracy and human rights.