President Joe Biden wants to extend the New START arms control treaty with Russia for an additional five years.

I have questions.

With Russia’s long history of arms treaty violations (INF, Open Skies, original START, BMD, among others), what’s the value of extending this one or having a new arms control treaty with Russia? They can’t be trusted to honor it.

New START—and any other weapons control treaty, especially those involving nuclear weapons—does not include the People’s Republic of China. The PRC is actively modernizing and expanding its nuclear weapons arsenal, along with hardening its missile arm and increasing its mobility. What’s the value of any arms control treaty that does not include the PRC? Related to that, the PRC has repeatedly demonstrated its economic agreement unreliability since its accession to the WTO. On what basis would Biden think the PRC would be more reliable on military agreements, assuming Biden wants to include the PRC in one?

Our economy is so much stronger than Russia’s, and it’s still stronger than the PRC’s. We defeated the USSR with an openly done arms race—which also produce a broad range of technology advances of considerable value to our private economy. Why is Biden reluctant to engage in another arms race and once again defeat the rump USSR that is Russia and defeat the PRC?

Biden won’t answer these questions. Almost as bad, the press won’t ask them of him.