Dana Taylor

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For the first time in over half a century, there are no nuclear arms controls in place between the world's two largest nuclear powers, the U.S.

and Russia, with a rising China growing its nuclear arsenal.

While it continues to assert its power on the international stage, we ask, is this the beginning of a new Cold War era?

Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt.

I'm Dana Taylor.

Today is Tuesday, February 10th, 2026.

The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the U.S.

and Russia, also known as START, expired last week.

And with it, a long-dormant fear of the threat of nuclear annihilation.

Should we be worried?

Joining me now to dig into the critical geopolitical, economic and military concerns at the heart of this story is Ankit Panda, a senior fellow with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Ankit, thank you so much for joining me.

I want to start with some broad strokes here.

Can you please lay out what the START Treaty was and why it was so critical to maintaining international security while it was in effect?

You published a book last year that I think might best set the stage for the precariousness we face today with no nuclear nonproliferation treaty in place.

The book is called The New Nuclear Age, the Precipice of Armageddon.

In this complex geopolitical environment with Russia still at war with Ukraine and a rising China as a nuclear power, how worried should we be about the treaty's expiration and what would ideally take its place?