"The struggle against the nuclear-weapon cult and the threats it poses to international peace and security and development, like all struggles against belief systems which have outlived their times, is going to be long and arduous." -- K. Subrahmanyan in Nuclear Proliferation and Security
The New Start Treaty, the last of the major nuclear arms control treaties between the U.S.A. and the Russian Federation, expired on 5 February 2026. The demise of the New Start Treaty enables both states, which possess some 86 percent of the world's nuclear weapons, to move beyond the limits that the Treaty imposed. However, it is reported that U.S. and Russian negotiators in Abu Dhabi reached an agreement to continue observing the limits and verification rules of the New Start Treaty for at least six months.
The end of the New Start Treaty has drawn attention to the policies of the nine nuclear-weapon powers: USA, Russia, England, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel. At this time when there are growing tensions and narrow nationalistic policies, public pressure for negotiations in good faith on arms issues must grow.
On many critical issues, political leaders remain prisoners of old ways of thinking and old policy measures. The aim of general and complete disarmament under international control has fallen off the agenda of national governments and is rather in the distant background of most non-governmental organizations. Today, national concerns, short-term problems, and a certain fatigue with international causes have combined to produce a void of international leadership on most major issues. Thus, as the representatives of NGOs, we must strive to organize world-wide positive leadership. The dangers of the present situation require nothing less.
René Wadlow, Association of World Citizens
#The_UN_Goals #nuclear_disarm #together #nvaction #peace
