Ankit Panda

Yeah.

So actually, just last week, we got press reports that Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, President Trump's, I suppose, envoys on the Ukraine question were in Abu Dhabi talking to the Russians, apparently about an extension of the limits in New START.

The treaty itself is gone.

The treaty can't be

extended it couldn't have been extended even if there had been an effort before its expiration but there are talks and my understanding is that what is happening at the moment is very much tied to the administration's broader efforts to end the ukrainian conflict and so i think there is a view that because the russians put this extension offer on the table extending the limits might be something the united states could use to sweeten the deal for russia on some type of settlement in ukraine

But it does appear that President Trump, as you suggested, is very much fixated on this idea that 21st century arms control will require three parties to be at the table.

And, you know, there's an obvious way that makes things more complicated, right?

A negotiation with three parties compared to two is just a more complex undertaking.

But there's just some facts that I think, you know, I should just state openly.

I mean, everything we know about what China is doing.

And, you know, don't get me wrong, China is a concern.

There are substantial changes happening there.

But China's nuclear forces are still a very small proportion of what the United States and Russia could bring to bear, you know, if they chose to.

deploy additional nuclear weapons.

And so the view that I've had is that putting the Russia-U.S.

process on ice while we wait for China to come to the table just doesn't strike me as prudent.

And China's negotiating position has been rather clear for a long time.

They have no interest in participating in a three-way negotiation.

But they've also pointed out in the past that the only condition under which they might imagine being able to join a negotiation like that

is a world in which Russia and the United States essentially build down to Chinese levels, right?