Why is Pelosi going to Taiwan? Do we really need more to stress about?

An ongoing proxy war in Ukraine isn't enough for her.

I watch the news and some days it feels like the 1950s again.

Another hot/cold war with Russia.

Talk of going to war with China over Taiwan.

What the hell?

Today the Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, is off on a trip to Asia and she is threatening to stop in Taiwan.

U.S. China relations are stressed enough. But even Joe Biden and the Pentagon are not thrilled with Pelosi going to Taiwan and pissing off the Chinese.

Pelosi has the full support of the Washington war hawks, of course.

"Speaker Pelosi should go to Taiwan and President Biden should make it abundantly clear to Chairman Xi that there's not a damn thing the Chinese Communist Party can do about it," Republican Senator Ben Sasse said.

Does Pelosi threatening to visit Taiwan represent a real division between Democrats?

It’s hard to tell.

On the one hand, Pelosi hostility towards China is nothing new.

But Biden has also said the United States is ready to go to war over Taiwan, although the White House has had to walk back his remarks.

And so maybe the fussing over Pelosi’s trip is just so much performance.

And it is interesting to me that former Bush national security advisor Condoleezza Rice, reacting to those who want to start trouble over Taiwan said, "Let's not make this into the Soviet Union 2.0. Let's remember that this was a China that was on an integrationist path and still has actually a lot at stake in what happens to the international economy."