We don’t need a new Cold War with China, latimes.com

Andrew Bacevich, president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft

Has a new Cold War, this one pitting the United States against the People’s Republic of China, commenced? Rhetoric coming out of Washington, amplified by hawkish media commentary, appears to take a Second Cold War as a given, something perhaps even to be welcomed.

If Cold War II looms, how will it compare with its predecessor? Does the term “Cold War” aptly describe the contest now being joined? Or might the revival of the term itself represent a potentially fatal misstep? […]

Recall that at the onset of the original Cold War, the United States occupied an immensely advantageous global position. Apart from Washington’s well-honed capacity for waging war, those advantages have since diminished or disappeared altogether. The Biden administration’s stated ambitions, centered on repairing a badly frayed social fabric, amount to a tacit admission of that fact. President Biden can “build back better” or he can court a showdown with China. The days when the United States could do both are long gone. Läs artikel