On Feb. 5, 2026, New START — the last remaining arms control treaty between the U.S. and Russia — will expire.
“The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) was signed April 8, 2010, in Prague by the United States and Russia and entered into force on Feb. 5, 2011. New START continues the bipartisan process of verifiably reducing U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals begun by former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. New START is the first verifiable U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control treaty to take effect since START I in 1994.The United States and Russia agreed on Feb. 3, 2021, to extend New START by five years, as allowed by the treaty text, until Feb. 5, 2026.”(arms control.org)
Without the limits provided by New START, there will be nothing to impede a new arms race, increasing the risk of nuclear weapons use. This is an issue that impacts each and every one of us directly. Collectively, as a planet, we have survived 80 years without the use of nuclear weapons. Today’s nuclear weapons are up to 83 times more powerful than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons are already more than capable of destroying civilization as we know it. Together, the U.S. and Russia hold almost 90% of the world’s nuclear arsenals. Every nuclear weapon, and every new weapons system, increases the possibility of a mistake, a rash decision, or a moment of insanity with unthinkable consequences. If we allow this treaty to expire, it’s possible that our countries could expand an arms race held in check by New START.
No amount of strategic thinking can get around the fact that nuclear weapons remain pointed at America’s towns and cities right now, and at towns and cities around the world. This will be so as long as they are allowed to exist.
Nuclear weapons do not keep us safe. Rather, they keep us only the push of a button away from global catastrophe and annihilation. A button our president has the sole authority to push. The path to peace is made up of concrete steps toward making conflict less likely, by agreeing to begin the process of dismantling nuclear weapons for good, not endlessly pursuing global military dominance.
Jan. 22nd marked the 5th anniversary of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The TPNW was developed by the 2017 Nobel Prize winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). 122 countries voted to adopt the Treaty at the UN in July 2017. It entered into force after the 50th nation ratified the Treaty in January 2021. The TPNW is now supported by fully half of the world’s 193 nations, having been signed by 95 nations and ratified by 74 nations. The majority of Americans support nuclear disarmament. The ICAN pledge has been signed by numerous cities, towns, counties and states as well as members of Congress and other elected officials in the US.
Back from the Brink focuses on five policy shifts in the U.S.: 1) adopt a No First Use policy, 2) End Hair-Trigger alert, 3) End Sole Authority of the President, 4) Cancel Enhanced Weapons development, 5) Pursue Global Elimination.
91% of Americans want limits on nuclear weapons. Genesee Valley Citizens for Peace encourages people to become actively engaged in ending nuclear weapons before nuclear weapons end us.
Holly Adams