The New Cold War in Washington

THE NEW COLD WAR IN WASHINGTON

On Oct. 24, thirty progressive members of Congress proposed “a proactive diplomatic push” to end the fighting in Ukraine. Otherwise they agreed with everything the Biden administration has done so far with regard to Ukraine. But the authors of the proposal withdrew it under pressure within a day.

Why? A new cold war atmosphere pervades Washington. This mentality rejects even the slightest compromise with adversaries, just as the cold war against communism did, and the war on terrorism. Eventually this rigid way of thinking got us involved in disasters is Viet Nam and Iraq.

The new cold war also involves China. The US has for decades had a policy of “strategic ambiguity” regarding Taiwan: in other words, we don’t say what we would do if China becomes more aggressive towards Taiwan. But now Pres. Biden has said four times that he would use force to defend Taiwan.

Progressives have said nothing about China policy nor have they questioned ever-higher military budgets. They are worried about being called “weak”. Groupthink has taken hold. Beware: it has happened before. 

(Source: The New York Times, 11/6/22: article by Peter Beinart)