Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders gave frontrunner Hillary Clinton a piece of his mind in the most vigorous of their four presidential debates, accusing her of cozying up to Wall Street and accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from big banks.
“The first difference is I don’t take money from big banks,” Vermont Senator Sanders said. “I don’t get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. I have huge doubts when people receive money from Wall Street,” he added.
Discussing national security, both Sanders and Clinton voiced support for Obama’s diplomatic decisions on Iran and his opposition to sending US ground troops into Syria.
Moderator Andrea Mitchell asked whether the US president was right not to act on his “red line” vow regarding his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad and the use of chemical weapons.
“I know from my own experience as secretary of state that we were deeply worried about Assad’s forces using chemical weapons because it would have had not only a horrific effect on people in Syria, but it could very well have affected the surrounding states – Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey. So getting those chemical weapons out was a big deal,” Clinton said.
She said the United States had a “very big interest in trying to help stabilize the region.”
“If there is any blame to be spread around, it starts with the prime minister of Iraq, who sectarianized his military, setting Shia against Sunni,” she noted.
Clinton acknowledged that Russia-brokered deal to get chemical weapons away from Assad was an “opportunity to build on.”
“I think that the president’s decision to go after the chemical weapons once there was a potential opportunity to build on when the Russians opened that door resulted in a very positive outcome. We were able to get the chemical weapons out,” Clinton said.
When asked whether she would give another ‘reset’ button to Vladimir Putin, Clinton replied evasively.
“It would depend on what I got for it.
“I can tell you what we got in the first term, we got a New Start treaty, to reduce nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia. We got permission to resupply our troops in Afghanistan by traveling across Russia. We got Russia to sign on to our sanctions against Iran and other very important commitments.”
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Clinton mentioned that when Putin reassumed the presidency, he accused her of fomenting dissent.
How would she describe her relationship with Mr. Putin these days?
“It’s interesting,” Clinton laughed. “It’s one, I think, about respect. We’ve had some very tough dealings with one another. I know that he’s someone you have to continually stand up to, because like many bullies he is somebody who will take as much as he possibly can unless you do.”
This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license.
Via RT.