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Biden Insists He Doesn’t Want a New Cold War. His Actions Say Otherwise
Grant Golub in the National Interest considers the ideological framing of the Summit for Democracy and how it may impact upon the possibilities for escalations of conflict with Russia and China. Golub interprets the rhetoric expressed at the Summit as echoing that of the Cold War, in which the world is divided into two competing ideological blocs of democracies versus non-democracies. While the Summit regarded challenges to democracy as the "defining challenge of our time", it fails to consider the much more pressing problems in people's daily lives as they suffer the consequences of the global pandemic and worsening impact of climate change. Moreover, bilateral relations between Moscow and Washington also echo diplomatic decisions made during the Cold War, as other key voices are left out of discussions that result in deadlock. A similar 20th-century style stance has been taken in the Indo-Pacific region. Golub contends that this Cold War style mentality will only increase the likelihood of crisis and war and urges the US Administration to think differently.