The left-wing Democratic Socialist group of America was criticized over the weekend after calling for the dissolution of NATORussia’s Western Union and blaming the United States’ “imperialist expansionism” for Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine.
DSA, which boasts high-ranking members as a representative of New York. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a senator from Vermont Bernie Sandersissued a statement Saturday night condemning Russia’s invasion and calling for Vladimir Putin to call in his troops immediately.
As soon as it called for a ceasefire, the progressive group also called for an end to “further intervention” – even when Kyiv’s top officials called on Europeans and other global allies to take up arms and fight Moscow’s military.
They also appear to have rejected coordinated sanctions against Russia in a historic joint effort, such as economic “overcoming” and arguing that Western attempts to punish Putin would only cost more lives.
Current and former Democrat lawmakers and even a Biden White House official have challenged their views.
“There is no solution through war or further intervention. “This crisis requires an immediate international anti-war response, requiring de-escalation, international cooperation and opposition to unilateral coercive measures, militarization and other forms of economic and military edge that will only exacerbate the human consequences of this conflict,” said the Democratic Socialists.
Ukrainian soldier in Kyiv, Ukraine, February 28. In the early hours of Thursday morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his military orders to attack their neighbor.
View of the wreckage after a rocket hit buildings while Russian attacks continue in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on February 28
A US soldier plays with a dog at a military camp in Arlamov, southeastern Poland, near the border with Ukraine, on Monday, February 28.
“The DSA reaffirms our call on the United States to withdraw from NATO and put an end to the imperialist expansionism that laid the groundwork for this conflict.
“We call on anti-war activists in the United States and around the world to oppose the escalation of violence, to demand a lasting diplomatic solution and to emphasize the critical need to accept all refugees stemming from this crisis.”
The statement ended: “There is no war, but a class war.”
Many Democrats jumped in to criticize the DSA’s message, including the White House.
Biden’s director of rapid response, Mike Gwyn, called the far-left statement “shameful.”
The Los Angeles branch of the DSA tweeted: “That’s a good statement, Mike.”
Biden’s spokesman returned fire with a statement earlier this year, accusing Western media of “inciting conflict” in Ukraine’s separatist region – which has been at war with Russian-backed rebels since 2014 – and calling for a revolution in the country against their Moscow puppet government in that year “coup”.
White House Rapid Response Director Mike Guinn condemned the Democratic Socialists of America for their statement in support of the dissolution of NATO
“You may want to re-evaluate why you call the deaths of dozens of Ukrainians seeking democracy and fundamental freedoms in 2014 a coup,” Gwyn said.
New York Democrat Richie Torres has accused the DSA of spreading a pro-Putin message and comparing it to that of Fox conservative leader Tucker Carlson.
“FACT: [DSA] called for the withdrawal of the United States from NATO, which would be a gift to Vladimir Putin. FACT: [Tucker Carlson] called Russia’s impending invasion of Ukraine a “border dispute,” Torres wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
He said Carlson and the DSA had “joined forces to form a pro-Putin axis in American politics, a union of useful idiots.”
Former New York spokesman Max Rose, who is running for office this year, tweeted: WWII.’
Another New York MP from the left, Tom Suozzi, applauded Rose’s message.
“I strongly oppose the DSA statement calling on the United States to leave NATO. We need to stand by NATO, stand with Ukraine and face Putin’s harassment, “said Suotsi, who is leaving the House of Representatives later this year to run for governor.
Many other Democrats have jumped in to defend NATO and criticize the DSA’s comments
Foreign policy expert Benjamin Whits accuses the Democratic Socialists of waging a “war against their honest history”
Not surprisingly, many New York lawmakers oppose the message, given that their state is home to the country’s largest Ukrainian population.
Democrat MP Connor Lamb of Pennsylvania, who is running for the Senate this year, defended sending US weapons and defense equipment to Ukraine: “I’m sure your words mean nothing to them, but anti-tank missiles and bullets matter.”
Benjamin Whits, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, accused the Democratic Socialists of waging a “war on honest history.”
‘The [DSA] continues its war against its honest history in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calling on the United States to leave NATO and abandon the imperialism that they believe has given rise to the conflict. Did the DSA consult with an Eastern European before releasing this? Whits wrote on Twitter on Sunday night.
The Alliance of the North Atlantic Treaty was established in 1949 to oppose the former Soviet Union. Ukraine’s interest in joining the Western defense organization is seen as a threat from the Kremlin, which has demanded that its security guarantees never allow it to do so.
It is unclear whether Ocasio-Cortez or Sanders support the DSA’s call for a review of the global security order by withdrawing the United States from NATO, but both progressives seemed wary of being too involved in the conflict.
Two of the most popular members of the DSA are Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders. It is unclear whether either supports the DSA’s call for US withdrawal from NATO, but both progressives seemed wary of being too involved in the conflict.
Just days before Putin personally ordered his forces to invade, Ocasio-Cortez joined an ideologically diverse coalition of lawmakers, including representatives of the Conservative Freedom Party, demanding that President Joe Biden first seek congressional permission before send troops on the spot. in Ukraine.
“The American people, through their representatives in Congress, deserve to have their say before American troops are put in danger or the United States gets involved in another foreign conflict,” a February 22 letter to Biden said.
Biden has repeatedly vowed that American boots on the ground in Ukraine are off the table.
Earlier this month, Sanders stopped calling for significant changes in NATO.
Speaking in the Senate hall as Russian troops and equipment menacingly piled up on Ukraine’s borders, he urged his colleagues to reflect on Russia’s security concerns. He compared the situation to the hypothetical concern the United States would feel if neighboring Mexico “formed a military alliance with a US adversary.”
“Countries should be free to make their own foreign policy choices, but making that choice wisely requires serious consideration of the costs and benefits. The fact is that the entry of the United States and Ukraine into deeper security relations is likely to have very serious costs – for both countries, “Sanders said on February 10.
DailyMail.com contacted the offices of Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez to ask if they supported the message of the Democratic Socialists and the dissolution of NATO.