Matt Duss on Biden's State of the Union & the Risks of an Anti-China Consensus in Washington

[Uncle Joe]

President Biden delivered his second State of the Union speech Tuesday and discussed his administration's support for Ukraine, growing tensions with China and other international challenges. Foreign policy scholar and former Bernie Sanders adviser Matt Duss says one major missing theme was the "global war on terror." "We need to acknowledge that this war is still very much ongoing," says Duss, noting that thousands of U.S. troops are deployed around the world. He also says that while the Biden administration's approach to the Chinese balloon that entered U.S. airspace was calm and measured, the strong anti-China position that seems to divide much of Washington is a concern. "This idea of trying to create political unity around … any external threat has a very bad history," says Duss.

[McKim]

1. We Need to Turn Away from this Tough Stance!

We need to turn away from the medieval policies of: “Getting TOUGH on China, Russia, Iraq, Vietnam” and the list is endless. In today’s world we need to live cooperatively. We could be spending more on say, helping Syria and Turkey recover from the earthquake, than keeping the MiC going here at home. In a connected world we need to behave differently. We all pull together or we all perish from destroying our environment, that is the choice for the 21st Century.