17 Mar 2020; MEMO: US Senator Bernie Sanders, one of two Democratic candidates in the race to run in the upcoming presidential elections, has criticised his country’s support for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, and likened their regimes to a “dictatorship”.
This came during a televised debate held on Sunday with his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden; the former vice president.
“I have been leading all efforts against any form of tyranny, including (practices) by the alleged US allies in the UAE and Saudi Arabia,” he said.
Responding to his Biden, who had accused him of supporting dictatorships by praising the regimes in Cuba and China, Sanders said: “I think we condemn authoritarianism, whether it is in China, Russia, Cuba, or any place else, but to simply say that nothing ever done by any of those administrations had a positive impact on their people; well, I think that to be incorrect.”
Sanders stressed his opposition to dictatorships in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, saying: “Before it was considered good policy, [or even a] good idea, I was condemning the dictatorship in Saudi Arabia, with a lot of other people in Washington with me. I was condemning the dictatorship in the UAE.”
