“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”
Feb 07, 2026
LLAW’s Nuclear World News’ Image & Lead Story Today . . .
A well considered and thoughtfully written article from “SlATE” extremely relative to the present status of potential Nuclear War, and how Trump’s delusions of grandeur and and self-aggrandizement affect the immediate future of the world. And the hell of it is, we our running out of time to remove Trump and his mental aberrations from office . . . A must read! ~llaw
Photo Credits listed in the article . . .
Complex, Beguiling, and Even Funky
The Real Reason Trump Wants to Let Our Nuclear Weapons Treaty With Russia Die
By Fred Kaplan
Feb 06, 20263:50 PM
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It’s been a bad habit for a long time, but it’s getting worse: President Donald Trump can’t utter a single statement without lying about his accomplishments or revealing, all too plainly, that self-glorification is what he cares about the most.
Take his post on social media Thursday, affirming—as was clear a few days earlier—that he was going to let New START, the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Russia, expire this week with barely a shrug.
He wrote: “Rather than extend ‘NEW START’ (a badly negotiated deal … that, aside from everything else, is being grossly violated), we should have our Nuclear Experts work on a new, improved, and modernized Treaty that can last long into the future.”
Slate Pears Game 175: Feb. 7, 2026
Read More
First, though the treaty—which was signed in 2011—no longer addresses all the salient issues of today’s nuclear landscape, it was in fact a brilliantly negotiated accord in its day, mandating the deepest cuts and tightest on-site-inspection clauses in arms-control history.
The real problem with New START, in Trump’s eyes, was the same problem that compelled him to denounce the Iran nuclear deal as “the worst deal ever” before he tore it up in 2018; he hates them because they were both signed by his loathed and envied predecessor, Barack Obama.
Russian President Vladimir Putin—who has, in fact, abided by New START’s numerical limits—proposed that he and Trump extend the accord by one year, but Trump declined. (The treaty allowed for a one-time five-year extension, which Putin and Joe Biden signed back in 2021, perhaps another reason—since he loathes Biden at least as much as he despises Obama—Trump would rather scuttle the whole deal.)
Then, in this same social media post, for no reason at all (this is the bad habit that I cited at the start of this essay), Trump recites some fibs. For instance: “I completely rebuilt [our] Military in my First Term, including new and many refurbished nuclear weapons.”
This is untrue. Obama approved the development of new nuclear weapons for the entire “strategic Triad”: land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and bombers, as well as new warheads and cruise missiles. (Ironically, he agreed to this as a way of getting Senate hawks to ratify the New START treaty. He was also snookered into this compromise. He agreed to “replace or modernize” the existing arsenal, thinking “modernize” could mean, for instance, upgrading the software on a guidance system. The senators took the term to be synonymous with “replace.”)
During his first term, Trump didn’t add a single new nuclear weapon or accelerate the ones that Obama put in motion. In fact, the first model of the new B-21 bomber took its first flight during Biden’s presidency.
Trump’s social media post goes on: “I … continue to rebuild our Military at levels never seen before.”
This is palpably untrue. The Pentagon is, by some measures, spending more money than almost ever before, but building—of ships, planes, missiles, or whatever—is not growing so much; it’s dwarfed by the rearmament during World War II or the presidencies of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.
He rambles on: “We are even adding Battleships, which are 100 times more powerful than the ones that roamed the Seas during World War II.”
This is Trump’s big fantasy, stemming from romanticized memories of watching Victory at Sea, the WWII documentary on TV. But no naval officer wants to revive such relics, and it’s extremely unlikely the gigantic boats will ever be built.
Then came this puzzler: “I have stopped Nuclear Wars from breaking out across the World between Pakistan and India, Iran and Israel, and Russia and Ukraine.”
One might have thought Trump had done enough distorting of his record as peacemaker by claiming that he’d “ended eight-plus wars” (most of which either haven’t yet ended or were ended by actors other than Trump). But this new boast, that he’d “stopped Nuclear Wars from breaking out” shows him engaging in new realms of self-delusion.
The latest round of skirmishes between India and Pakistan hardly escalated at all, much less to the brink of nuclear exchanges, before the fighting stopped. (When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi scoffed at Trump’s earlier claim of credit for negotiating the peace, Trump slapped him with 50 percent tariffs, a step he has since reversed.)
Nuclear war between Iran and Israel wasn’t remotely in the offing, in part because Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons. Maybe Trump was thinking that his bombing campaign, which he claimed “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program, preempted this possibility. But now satellite images reveal that Iran is repairing the damage done, suggesting he didn’t obliterate the sites after all.
As for Russia and Ukraine, one could argue that by halting weapons deliveries to Ukraine, Trump thwarted Ukraine’s counteroffensive, thus calming Putin’s fear of losing the war, a prospect he might have blocked by going nuclear—but the logical thread is dubious, and in any case this was an act of appeasement, not peace.
Then, Trump returns to New START. Rather than extending it for a year, he writes, “we should have our Nuclear Experts work on a new, improved, and modernized Treaty that can last long into the future.”
Ah, yes, a “better” New START, just as Trump talked about a “better” Iran nuclear deal back in 2018 after he ripped up the accord signed by the dread Barack Obama. But he never even tried to negotiate an improved Iran deal; he was hoping, perhaps assuming, that his campaign of “maximum pressure” would bring down Tehran’s regime. (It didn’t; it only accelerated its nuclear program.) It’s unclear what he’s aiming for in refusing to extend New START, but it’s just as unlikely he’ll initiate new strategic arms talks, in part because his administration has no “Nuclear Experts,” none with experience at negotiating arms treaties anyway.
A few days before Trump nailed the coffin on New START, Axios reported that the U.S. and Russia were “closing in on a deal” to extend the treaty. The story further reported that the idea had been proposed, at a recent meeting with Russian diplomats, by Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. And why not? Trump has been using this overmatched duo—his son-in-law and his fellow real-estate tycoon—as stand-ins for foreign service officers, gallivanting the globe, trying to make peace deals in Ukraine (fruitless), Gaza (Stage 1 but nothing more), and other hotspots. They know nothing about the old Russian Empire or the Middle East, so why not try their untutored hands at nuclear arms–control talks too? Trump rejected the idea for now, but if he does start new ones, he’ll probably send them to the table.
Related From Slate
Fred Kaplan
For the First Time in Half a Century, We Won’t Have a Nuclear Treaty With Russia. Trump Is Totally Unprepared.
In any case, New START’s impending expiration has been flashing on the horizon ever since Trump was sworn in for a second term. If he was really serious about negotiating a new, improved treaty, he could have started doing so months ago.
But Trump isn’t interested in the issues, not just on arms control but in general. The most recent case in point—and also the latest chapter in Trump’s quest for immortality—is a report that, during recent talks with Sen. Chuck Schumer, Trump said that he would restore the $16 billion that he’d withdrawn from the Gateway Tunnel—a project to connect New York and New Jersey—if Penn Station and Dulles Airport were renamed after him. (Schumer nixed the notion.)
That says it all. Trump had pretended that he’d killed the tunnel—along with its jobs and improvements in infrastructure—to save money. But in fact, it was all about political punishment (denying funds to blue states) and personal glory (restoring the money for glimmers of immortality).
LLAW’s Thoughts, Concerns, and Fears about Today’s Nuclear World and Beyond . . .
This article from “SLATE” magazine could be the most important and useful explanation of why we must immediately remove Trump from office and “lock him up”! It is a well considered and thoughtfully written honestly stated story of Trump’s insanity, accurately described by “SLATE”, all of it directly relative to the present status as “talks” with Iran, potentially leading to Nuclear War, and how Trump’s delusions of grandeur and and self-aggrandizement affect the immediate future of the world.
And the hell of it is, we are running out of time to remove Trump and his mental aberrations from office . . . A must read! ~llaw
LLAW’s Nuclear World News Today . . .
About Today’s Nuclear News, Files, Categories, and How it Works . . .
There are 7 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcano and caldera activity around the world that also play an important role in the survival of human and other life.
The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). If there was no news from a Category today, the Category will not appear. The Categories are listed below in their usual order:
- All Things Nuclear
- Nuclear Power
- Nuclear Power Emergencies
- Nuclear War Threats
- Nuclear War
- Yellowstone Caldera
- IAEA News (Friday’s only)
A Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.
LLAW’s Nuclear World News, Saturday, 02/07/2026
All Things Nuclear
NEWS
Live updates: The latest on the Trump administration as US-Iran talks are underway in Oman
CNN
… All iran. 8 Posts. US-Iran talks conclude with “willingness to continue … about a nuclear arms race between the two biggest nuclear superpowers.
Is a new Iran nuclear deal possible? – WVPE
WVPE
All Things Considered. Next Up: 6:30 PM Marketplace. 0:00. 0:00. All Things … That is because President Trump says he will act with, quote, “speed and …
Former National Security adviser on the nuclear talks between the US and Iran | WEMU-FM
WEMU
All Things Considered · 89.1 Jazz with Michael Jewett · Schedule · Playlists … about their nuclear program, maybe put some further limits on their …
Nuclear Power
NEWS
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Announces Major Reorganization – NAM
National Association of Manufacturers
The president aims to increase America’s nuclear power capacity fourfold in the next 24 years, to 400 gigawatts. · In May, he called on the NRC to …
U.S. accuses China of secret nuclear testing as it calls for broad new arms treaty after New START
NBC News
… nuclear powers. In short, a bilateral treaty with only one nuclear power is simply inappropriate in 2026 and going forward.” He reiterated U.S. …
China Secretly Testing Nuclear Weapons And Covering Its Tracks, U.S. Alleges (Updated)
The War Zone
“New START was signed in 2010 and its limits on warheads and launchers are no longer relevant in 2026, when one nuclear power is expanding its arsenal …
Nuclear Power Emergencies
NEWS
Ukraine war keeps nuclear safety on a knife-edge, UN watchdog warns | UN News
UN News – the United Nations
… power and relied on its emergency diesel generators for roughly an hour. ‘Ever-present risks’. “This latest grid event in Ukraine is a stark …
Ukraine’s Nuclear Power Plants Forced to Reduce Energy Due to Russian Attacks – Kyiv Post
Kyiv Post
… power outages, and emergency schedules have been introduced in most regions of Ukraine. The ministry emphasized that the main reason for the …
Russian Strikes Pummel Ukraine’s Power Grid – The New York Times
The New York Times
The damage prompted Kyiv to request emergency electricity … Mr. Shmyhal said the bombardment on Saturday had forced operators at nuclear power plants …
Nuclear War Threats
NEWS
U.S. restarts nuclear diplomacy with Iran amid escalating threats. Here’s what to know – PBS
PBS
U.S. restarts nuclear diplomacy with Iran amid escalating threats. … war in Gaza and Israel. @Zebaism. Support Provided By: Learn more.
The post-Cold War nuclear era might have just ended – The Washington Post
The Washington Post
During the war in Ukraine, Putin has repeatedly invoked nuclear threats, engaging in a scary game of blackmail. China’s trajectory may be even …
U.S. restarts nuclear diplomacy with Iran amid escalating threats. Here’s what to know
YouTube
For the first time since last year’s war with Iran, U.S. and Iranian … U.S. restarts nuclear diplomacy with Iran amid escalating threats.uclear Power
Nuclear War
NEWS
Iran, US hold talks in Oman as fears of war hang over region | News | Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
… nuclear sites when it briefly joined Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in June, days before a sixth round of similarly mediated indirect talks had …
Trump turns to US military leaders for diplomatic efforts on Iran and Ukraine – ABC News
ABC News
… nuclear program and positioning the Army secretary as a key negotiator on ending the Russia-Ukraine war. Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central …
The real reason Trump wants to let our nuclear weapons treaty with Russia die.
slate.com
Then came this puzzler: “I have stopped Nuclear Wars from breaking … Nuclear war between Iran and Israel wasn’t remotely in the offing, in …
Yellowstone Caldera
NEWS
Ibu Volcano (Indonesia) Activity Update Feb 5, 2026 – Continuing Eruption
Volcano Discovery
List and interactive map of current and past earthquakes near Yellowstone volcano. … Santorini is one of the most beautiful islands in the world, …
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