The Oversight Vacuum: A New Era Begins
As the New START treaty expires at midnight, the world enters uncharted diplomatic waters.
BROCKVILLE — At precisely 12:01 AM, the final remaining guardrails of the 20th-century nuclear order dissolved. For the first time since 1972, the United States and Russia are no longer bound by mutual inspection protocols or warhead caps.
While the Trump administration maintains that a "bilateral deal was a relic," European allies have spent the day in emergency sessions. The lack of a successor treaty means intelligence agencies must now rely solely on satellite reconnaissance, a "blind spot" that experts warn could lead to rapid escalation during a crisis.
THE ECONOMIC FALLOUT: Markets reacted with predictable volatility. Gold peaked at $5,000 per ounce this morning, a milestone long predicted by currency hedgers. In the agricultural sector, wheat futures rose 4% as shipping lanes in the Black Sea remain shadowed by the uncertainty of the expired treaty's "security zones."
CANADIAN RESPONSE: Prime Minister Mark Carney held a brief press conference from Ottawa, defending the recently announced $33.5 billion defense hike. Carney stated that Canada must "prove its security value" to maintain its preferential trade status with a tariff-leaning U.S. administration. Critics, however, point to the widening federal deficit as a domestic ticking clock.
FRONT LINE TECH: In a surprising move, SpaceX has officially geofenced all Starlink terminals in occupied regions of Ukraine. The company cited a desire to prevent "dual-use infrastructure" from enabling autonomous drone swarms. The move has effectively frozen artillery co-ordination for several key regiments.
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