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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.Born in 1954, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr is an environmental lawyer who started his public career in 1985 as an attorney for the environmental nonprofit RiverKeeper. He co-founded the WaterKeeper Alliance and served as its President for 21 years. Kennedy is the son of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy. After initially seeking the Democratic party nomination, he announced candidacy as an independent on October 9, 2023.
Campaign Website: kennedy24.com Resource Under Development- Please Do Not Cite |
photo source: Campaign Website
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Military Assistance to Ukraine
Kennedy's position on increasing military aid to Ukraine is unclear. He has called for U.S. support to Ukraine but also for a diplomatic solution and less U.S. global engagement militarily.
Peace topic, Campaign Website
As President, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will start the process of unwinding empire. We will bring the troops home. We will stop racking up unpayable debt to fight one war after another. The military will return to its proper role of defending our country. We will end the proxy wars, bombing campaigns, covert operations, coups, paramilitaries, and everything else that has become so normal most people don’t know it’s happening. But it is happening, a constant drain on our strength. It’s time to come home and restore this country.
In Ukraine, the most important priority is to end the suffering of the Ukrainian people, victims of a brutal Russian invasion, and also victims of American geopolitical machinations going back at least to 2014. We must first get clear: Is our mission to help the brave Ukrainians defend their sovereignty? Or is it to use Ukraine as a pawn to weaken Russia? Kennedy will choose the first. He will find a diplomatic solution that brings peace to Ukraine and brings our resources back where they belong. We will offer to withdraw our troops and nuclear-capable missiles from Russia's borders. Russia will withdraw its troops from Ukraine and guarantee its freedom and independence. UN peacekeepers will guarantee peace to the Russian-speaking eastern regions. We will put an end to this war. We will put an end to the suffering of the Ukranian people. That will be the start of a broader program of demilitarization of all countries.
Border topic, Campaign Website
End military adventurism that destabilizes other nations and generates millions of refugees. That’s what happened in Syria and Iraq, which sent millions of migrants into Europe. The current flood of arms into Ukraine sends ripples of instability across the continent. Some of the weapons have already ended up in Africa and central Asia, two major sources of immigration.
Tweet on X (formerly Twitter), September 29, 2023
"Where do you think our resources are better spent? Building up Ukraine’s munitions industry? Or rebuilding our own industrial base to produce things people actually need?"
Tweet on X (formerly Twitter), September 28, 2023
"Establishment journal Foreign Affairs signals the next step of Ukraine War escalation: stationing U.S. military advisors on the ground. Have they forgotten how we got embroiled in Vietnam? But this time, the opponent isn’t the Viet Cong. It is nuclear-armed Russia.
Within 100 days of my term as President, this war will be over. And it will be on better terms than anyone could reasonably expect."
Tweet on X (formerly Twitter), September 12, 2023
"I guess avoiding World War III is no longer a “key goal.” Did Biden change his mind? Or has he lost it? Let me explain why these missiles are perhaps the most dramatic escalation of the war to date. They will allow Ukraine to conduct missile strikes on Crimea and Russian territory. Goodbye Crimea Bridge. Moscow would mount a massive retaliation. If you want to provoke a full-on war between Russia and NATO, this is exactly how to do it. Is President Biden so out of touch with the American people that he thinks provoking war with Russia is more important than restoring our economic prosperity? Health? Schools? Infrastructure? Farms? Environment? Are there any Democrats in Congress with the spine to oppose this lunacy? Are there any Republicans?"
Response to an interview of GB News, August 14, 2023
"...Ukraine from the beginning was the red line for Russia and we put a nuclear-capable weapon systems, Aegis missile systems, in Romania and in Poland right near the Russian border you know in 12 minutes from Moscow. When the Russians did that in Cuba my uncle was going to invade them.
...We've pushed the Russians into the orbit of the Chinese which is not a good geopolitical outcome. It's the worst political outcome and it's a war that we don't need. In fact you know Biden when he was asked why we were in Ukraine he said we're there in order to do regime change in Russia. Then his defense secretary Lloyd Austin in April of 2022 said that our role our purpose of the Ukraine is to exhaust the Russian army and degrade its capacity to fight anywhere else in the world. That is the specific mission that the neocons have been writing about since 2002. I know that has nothing to do with Ukraine. Ukraine is a proxy in a geopolitical struggle between Russia and the United States and all of NATO is being dragged into it and it's going to destroy NATO because ultimately I don't think NATO the other NATO countries like Greece, I do not think they have the heart to join a war against Russia. Nobody wants it and that is going to expose a big weakness.
...The United States is the paper tiger and it has forced Russia into the orbit of China and we're now at the edge of nuclear war. It's a bad idea."
Arms to Israel
Our research has not indicated a position on this specific topic. Kennedy appears to be in favor of military aid to Israel.
Press release on Campaign website, October 7, 2023
“This ignominious, unprovoked, and barbaric attack on Israel must be met with world condemnation and unequivocal support for the Jewish state’s right to self-defense. We must provide Israel with whatever it needs to defend itself — now. As President, I’ll make sure that our policy is unambiguous so that the enemies of Israel will think long and hard before attempting aggression of any kind.
I applaud the strong statements of support from the Biden White House for Israel in her hour of need. However, the scale of these attacks means it is likely that Israel will need to wage a sustained military campaign to protect its citizens. Statements of support are fine, but we must follow through with unwavering, resolute, and practical action. America must stand by our ally throughout this operation and beyond as it exercises its sovereign right to self-defense.”
Arms to Saudi Arabia
Our research has not indicated a position on this specific topic. Kennedy has expressed concern about U.S. actions increasing tension in the Middle East
If Saudi Arabia agreed to normalize relations with Israel but requested a guarantee from the United States to defend the Kingdom militarily in exchange, would you seek to ratify a treaty making that commitment?
"We think the premise of this question to be unlikely. Saudi Arabia is armed to the teeth and has no need of such a guarantee. As it has good relations with most other nations, its [only] plausible national security threat is Iran. However, much of the Sunni-Shiite conflict in the past arose from U.S. geopolitical maneuvering that elevated tensions throughout the region.”
Arms to Taiwan
Our research has not indicated a position on this specific topic. Kennedy has called for decreasing tension with (and concern about) China.
“We believe that China has no desire for military confrontation. We will therefore ratchet down the tensions and cease the provocations in the South China Sea and elsewhere. We will adopt a posture that does not see China as an ‘adversary,’ and begin to negotiate arms control treaties in good faith so that both countries can reduce military spending to better the lives of their citizens.”
Military intervention across Mexican border
Kennedy's is opposed to using U.S. force in Mexico. He has been vocal about using technology to tighten border security.
Response to Responsible Statecraft, first published November 14, 2023
If elected, would you request an authorization from Congress to use military force against drug cartels in Mexico?
“Absolutely not. The Mexicans have the power to overcome the drug cartels themselves. We can aid them by sharing intelligence, by shutting down the illegal weapons trade, by cracking down on money laundering activities of US banks, and by prosecuting the cartels' collaborators in this country.”
Border topic, Campaign Website
Tighten border security to regain control over the border. We will use technology that was installed at the border then dismantled by the Biden administration, such as cameras, lights, and motion detectors, coupled with physical barriers in key areas (there is no need to build a wall across the entire 2,000-mile border). We have the technology to prevent people from getting through undetected. We can control the border. We have the technology. We can deploy the personnel. All we need is the will.
Response at Jesse Watters Primetime, Fox News, September 28, 2023
Question: What is wrong with President trying to match third world workers with American companies? It's just a business plan.
"There's nothing wrong with it if it's legal immigration. The problem is the open border is not a way to do that and I understand that a lot of the Democrats promoted this policy at the beginning of the Biden administration out of a humanitarian impulse. But it's been a catastrophic catastrophic failure. It's caused a humanitarian crisis at the border our border policies are now being administered by the Mexican drug cartels. We brought seven million illegal immigrants into this country over the past three years...
We ought to have open gates that encourage legal immigration and make it an easier path to citizenship. But just to open the borders --there's no country in the world that can do that."
Press release on Campaign Website, September 23, 2023
“Every city in this country has now become a border town.
As President, I will make the border impenetrable to illegal migrants, but we can’t afford to wait a year and a half for that to happen. That is why I am calling on Democratic and Republican leaders to unify on this issue. I’m asking Democrats in particular to reexamine their assumption that a loose border is somehow more compassionate. It is not. It has created a humanitarian crisis for the migrants that is now destroying our cities, crushing our social services, and harming the working poor by undercutting their wages.”
Arms Trade Treaty
Our research has not indicated a position on this topic.