In Taiwan, as in Ukraine, the west is flirting with disaster | Simon Jenkins

It’s one thing to declare yourself ‘rather dead than red’, quite another to inflict that decision on the rest of us

Arguments in the foothills of war are always the same. Those for war shout loudest and beat their chests, eager for tanks to rumble and jets to roar. Those against are dismissed as wimps, appeasers and defeatists. When the trumpets sound and the drums beat, reason runs for cover.

The visit to Taiwan of the US congressional speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has been so blatantly provocative it s...