New START's Demise: Dawn of Unchecked Nuclear Arms Race

The February 2026 expiration of New START shatters the last restraints on U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals, holding 87-90% of global warheads, propelling the world into unconstrained escalation. Amid Trump 2.0's alliance fractures and U.S.-China bipolarity, this pivot from arms control to brinkmanship risks multipolar instability, eroding deterrence and amplifying miscalculation in flashpoints from Ukraine to the South China Sea.