Now is the time to bring scrutiny, care, and wisdom to a new era of competition.
In September, in his first address to the UN General Assembly as president, Joe Biden pledged that the United States was not “seeking a new cold war or a world divided into rigid blocs.” Yet rather than offering reassurance, this chorus served mostly to highlight just how dismal the geopolitical reality has become, with suspicion and acrimony threatening to sink trust and cooperation even in the face of shared existential challenges. Is it too late? Has a new cold war already begun?