For more than 70 years, the United States has practiced what it calls extended deterrence, which includes the so-called “nuclear umbrella” for its NATO allies in Europe. Countries under the umbrella agree not to develop their own nuclear weapons with the understanding that the U.S. could use its nuclear weapons on their behalf in certain circumstances. In addition to some 80,000 U.S.
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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
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
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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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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