Cold war comes home. Eight dead in Atlanta.

U.S. carrier group in the South China Sea

Hundreds of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders turned to social media to air their anger, sadness, fear, and hopelessness. The hashtag #StopAsianHate was a top trending topic on Twitter hours after the shootings that happened Tuesday evening. -- AP

This as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan are meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and high-ranking diplomat Yang Jiechi in Alaska today—the Biden administration’s first in-person meetings with Beijing. 

And what more appropriate place than frigid Alaska could there possibly be for the Biden administration's leading cold warrior Blinken, to push for a chill in any potential positive relations or cooperation between the world's two economic powers. With missile-loaded U.S. warships and aircraft back patrolling in the South China Sea, and a U.S. admiral talking openly about "preparing for war with China", the threat of the cold war turning hot has the atomic clock moving much too close to midnight. 

Hopefully, once the cameras and microphones are turned off, the staged polemics, airing of grievances, and threats of sanctions can be put aside for a few hours and something positive can be worked out on trade, environmental issues, and pandemic relief. It's not very likely, but a Covid-battered, war-weary world badly needs it. 

COLD WAR COMES HOME...The escalation of China-bashing by U.S. media and politicians, carried over from the last two administrations, has precipitated a growing wave of hate crimes directed at Asian-Americans. 

There's growing outrage over the fact that the terrorist suspect, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, was not immediately charged with hate crimes. Authorities said Long told police the attack was not racially motivated, and he claimed that he targeted the spas because of a “sex addiction.” Six of the seven slain women were identified as Asian.

Margaret Huang, president, and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups. The gunman “was very clearly going after a targeted group of people.” She also cringed at the comments of a sheriff’s captain who said of the gunman, “It was a really bad day for him.”