by Brett Wilkins | Feb 5, 2026 | Article, China, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Reprint, Russia
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Feb. 04, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday implicitly confirmed that New START—a key arms control treaty between the United States and Russia—will expire Thursday, prompting renewed demands for what one group called “a more coherent approach from the Trump administration” toward nuclear nonproliferation.
Asked about the impending expiration of New START during a Wednesday press conference, Rubio said he didn’t “have any announcement” on the matter, and that President Donald Trump “will opine on it later.”
“Obviously, the president’s been clear in the past that in order to have true arms control in the 21st century, it’s impossible to do something that doesn’t include China because of their vast and rapidly growing stockpile,” Rubio said.
🇺🇸🇷🇺🇨🇳 Secretary of State Marco Rubio:I don’t have any announcement on New START right now. I think the President will opine on it later. The President has been clear in the past that in order to have true arms control in the 21st century, it’s impossible to do something that… pic.twitter.com/8pxi3bfdsy— Visioner (@visionergeo) February 4, 2026
New START, signed in 2010, committed the United States and Russia to halving the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers in their arsenals. While the treaty did not limit the size of the countries’ actual nuclear arsenals, proponents pointed to its robust verification regime and other transparency features as mutually beneficial highlights of the agreement.
“We have known that New START would end for 15 years, but no one has shown the necessary leadership to be prepared for its expiration,” said John Erath, senior policy director at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation and former longtime
by Ashley Smith | Jan 25, 2026 | China, Donald Trump, EU, Gaza, Imperialism, Iran, Latin America, News Analysis, Russia, Trump Administration, US imperialism, Venezuela, War
President Donald Trump’s National Security Strategy (NSS) is the crudest articulation yet of his authoritarian nationalist project. It promises to smash the so-called rules-based international order Washington has superintended since the end of the Cold War. The U.S., of course, repeatedly violated that order’s stated principles, like sovereignty and self-determination, most recently with the…
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by David Goeßmann | Jan 11, 2026 | China, Climate Change, Climate Crisis, Donald Trump, EU, Fossil Fuels, Germany, greenhouse gases, Interview, Renewable Energy
Since Donald Trump took office, the U.S. government has been more aggressively boosting fossil fuels to exert geopolitical dominance. President Donald Trump stated unequivocally that the military assault on Venezuela and the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife are aimed at gaining control of the country’s oil reserves. Meanwhile, oil company shares are soaring, a dividend on the…
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by Derek Seidman | Jan 9, 2026 | Chevron, China, Donald Trump, ExxonMobil, Fossil Fuels, Halliburton, Latin America, Monroe Doctrine, News Analysis, Nicolás Maduro, Oil, Oil Companies, Trump Administration, Venezuela
For months, U.S. President Donald Trump proclaimed that his pressure campaign against the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, backed by dozens of illegal killings through drone strikes, was about fighting drugs and cartels. But at his press conference after the U.S. abduction of Maduro, Trump couldn’t stop talking about oil. “We’re gonna take back the oil,” Trump brazenly said.
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by Michael T. Klare | Jan 8, 2026 | Arms Race, China, New START Treaty, News Analysis, nuclear arms race, Nuclear War, Nuclear Weapons, Nukes, Russia, Vladimir Putin
For most of us, Friday, February 6, 2026, is likely to feel no different than Thursday, February 5th. It will be a work or school day for many of us. It might involve shopping for the weekend or an evening get-together with friends, or any of the other mundane tasks of life. But from a world-historical perspective, that day will represent a dramatic turning point, with far-reaching and potentially…
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by Rodrigo Acuña | Dec 16, 2025 | China, Colombia, Donald Trump, Latin America, News, Nicolás Maduro, Trump Administration, US foreign policy, Venezuela, War
President Donald Trump has escalated threats against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in recent weeks, and reports now say the Trump administration is preparing for the days after a potential Maduro overthrow. What might happen in such a scenario? In November, Michael Crowley at The New York Times pursued this question by reminding readers that, during Trump’s first term, U.S.
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