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 | Feb 4, 2026 | Podcast, Politics and Movements: International, Russia, Solidarity Without Exception, War in Ukraine
Over the last two decades, Vladimir Putin has transformed his government in Russia from a managed democracy into an authoritarian regime. Many now view it as neofascist. Abroad, it has launched war after war to rebuild Russia’s former empire, while at home it has crushed the democracy movement, repressed all protests against Putin’s imperialist war in Ukraine, and jailed thousands of political prisoners. Two Russian dissidents, Ksenia Kagarlitskaya and Ilya Budraitskis, join Ashley Smith in this episode of Solidarity Without Exception.
Resource links:
Freedom Zone
Posle Media
Ilya Budraitskis, Dissidents Among Dissidents
Credits:
Production: Ashley Smith
Post-Production: Alina Nehlich
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.
Ilya Budraitskis:
Welcome to Solidarity Without Exception. I’m Ashley Smith. Blanca m and I are co-hosts of this podcast. It is sponsored by the Ukraine Solidarity Network and produced by The Real News Network. Today we are joined by Russian activist Ksenia Kagarlitskaya and Ilya Budraitskis to discuss Vladimir Putin’s regime, his imperialist war in Ukraine, conditions inside Russia, and the prospects for anti-war and working class resistance. Ksenia Kagarlitskaya is the daughter of well-known Marxist Boris Kagarlitsky, who was jailed by Putin for his opposition to the war in Ukraine, she initiated the Freedom Zone, which is an activist campaign that supports Russian political prisoners. Ilya Budraitskis is a Russian theorist, activist and member of postal media, a left-wing anti-war platform founded after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. His collection of essays, dissonance among dissidents, ideology, politics, and the left and post-Soviet Russia was published by Verso in 2022. Both are in exile from Russia.
They, along with hundreds
by Marc Steiner | Feb 4, 2026 | Gaza, health care, Israel, Palestine, Podcast, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, The Marc Steiner Show
Hospitals in Gaza have been destroyed, medical supplies blocked, and doctors killed or detained—leaving children amputated without anesthesia, patients dying from infections, and families facing starvation and freezing conditions. Dr. Karameh Kuemmerle, Dr. Nidal Jboor, and Dr. Maysa Hawwash, founders of Doctors Against Genocide, explain what’s happening inside Gaza and the West Bank, why silence from governments and medical institutions is enabling mass death, and how doctors are organizing globally to end genocide.
Credits:
Audio Post-Production: Stephen Frank
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.
Marc Steiner:
Welcome to the Marc Steiner Show here in The Real News. I’m Marc Steiner. It’s great to have you all with us. And what’s not great or good nor acceptable is what’s happening in Gaza is what Israel is carrying out in the Gaza Strip and the utter devastation of the entire world. As of this broadcast, 72,000 people have been killed. Among them, over 20,000 children, over 171,000 have been wounded, maimed, or crippled. And countless numbers lie still under the rubble. It is devastation of unimaginable proportions. Let me add this, that in Israel itself, over three quarters of a million people have demonstrated in the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to demand the end of the war in Gaza. And today we bring you a conversation with three Palestinian doctors. We’ll talk with us about what’s happening in Gaza, what’s being done to stand up to it, how to end this war, and what’s happening to the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Our guests are the founders of Doctors Against Genocide, commonly
by Michael Fox | Feb 2, 2026 | Podcast, Politics and Movements: International, Under the Shadow, Venezuela
by Sharon Zhang | Jan 30, 2026 | Article, big tech, Palestine, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Reprint
This story was originally published on Truthout on Jan. 29, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
Well-known Gaza journalist Bisan Owda has been banned from TikTok, she says, just days after the finalization of the company’s sale to U.S. investors — including a firm headed by the notoriously pro-Israel Larry Ellison.
Owda announced the censorship of her account in a video on Instagram on Wednesday, saying that TikTok had banned her permanently. She had 1.4 million followers on the platform, she said, as a result of years of audience-building under Israeli occupation and genocide.
“I had 1.4 million followers there. I have been building that platform for four years now,” she said.
The account did appear to be banned on Wednesday and Thursday. However, late Thursday afternoon Eastern Time, Owda’s account appeared to be restored, but restricted. Some content seemed to not be available, and a banner appeared at the top of her feed that read: “Posts that some may find uncomfortable are unavailable.”
The Palestinian journalist has spent years documenting life in Gaza under Israeli occupation and, recently, amid Israel’s genocide. Her series with Al Jazeera’s AJ+ has won numerous awards, including a Peabody Award, an Edward R. Murrow Award, and even an Emmy. At the same time, pro-Israel voices have sought to silence Owda, including in a campaign in 2024 to pressure her Emmy nomination to be withdrawn.
In her Instagram video, Owda said that the ban was “expected” due to pressure from high-powered figures to censor Palestinian voices from TikTok.
She overlaid a video of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks at the UN General Assembly in September, in which he named TikTok as a “number one” priority of Israel.
She also shared a
by Marc Steiner | Jan 27, 2026 | Gaza, ICE, immigration, Israel, Palestine, Podcast, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Prisons and Policing, The Marc Steiner Show
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals handed the Trump administration a victory this month in its ongoing attempt to deport Syrian-born Palestinian activist, husband, father, and former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil. Khalil remains in the country for now and the legal battle is far from over, but the future of free speech in the US hangs in the balance. This week on The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Amy Greer, an associate attorney at Dratel & Lewis and a member of Mahmoud Khalil’s legal team, about the status of Khalil’s case.Guest:
Amy Greer is an associate attorney at Dratel & Lewis, and a member of Mahmoud Khalil’s legal team. Greer is a lawyer and archivist by training, and an advocate and storyteller by nature. As an attorney at Dratel & Lewis, she works on a variety of cases, including international extradition, RICO, terrorism, and drug trafficking. She previously served as an assistant public defender on a remote island in Alaska, defending people charged with misdemeanors, and as a research and writing attorney on capital habeas cases with clients who have been sentenced to death.
Additional links/info:
ACLU Press Release (1/15/26): “Appeals court in Mahmoud Khalil’s case decides federal court lacks jurisdiction until immigration court proceedings complete”
Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “‘Call Amy!’: Lawyer for Mahmoud Khalil reveals how he won his freedom”
Credits:
Production: David Hebden
Post-Production: Stephen Frank
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.
Amy Greer:
When the line starts moving and inching creeping forward, and we all stay silent because it’s like, that’s not our people, or that’s
