🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️ — The U.S. government says China has secretly conducted at least one "yield-producing nuclear test" in recent years, despite China's stated moratorium on nuclear testing.

➡️ Thomas DiNanno, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, revealed that China had conducted nuclear explosive tests, including one in June 2020.

➡️ He added that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) attempted to conceal the tests by using methods that reduced the effectiveness of seismic monitoring.

➡️ China, a signatory of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), has never ratified it and, like the U.S., has maintained a self-imposed moratorium on yield-producing nuclear tests.

➡️ The CTBT allows subcritical testing, which does not involve a full nuclear reaction. China’s last acknowledged nuclear test at critical levels was in 1996, while the U.S. last conducted such a test in 1992.

🇨🇦🇫🇷🇬🇱🇩🇰⚡️ — Canada and France inaugurated new consulates in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, today in support of the Kingdom of Denmark and Greenland amid escalating tensions with the U.S.

🇺🇸🇮🇹⚡️ — Vice President JD Vance meets with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Milan, Italy.

🇷🇺🇺🇦 On a 250 km long frontline, I managed to map 12 000 Russian and Ukrainian artillery strikes thanks to the snow cover

With this map, I'll analyse with precision the current trends and next movements on the frontline as well as the location of the frontline

First, we can see 3 main areas of bombing : Pokrovsk-Dobrbropolye, Gulyaipole-Ternuvata and Stepnogorsk.

These are the two main axes of attack: Russia is putting a big effort to attack Orekhov from both sides and to take Dobropolye in the first part of the year.

🔗 Clément Molin

🚫➕🤝🚀 — 📰 ZeroHedge | Uncharted Territory: US & Russia Now Have No Limits On Nuclear Weapons | February 5, 2026:

"On Thursday the world woke up entering uncharted territory as the US-Russia New START Nuclear Treaty has expired without renewal. The pact's last active day was February 4.

While there's yet hope that a comparable replacement could soon be forged between the globe's largest nuclear-armed powers and rivals, there are no current intensive talks happening on this front which have a 'legal' status related to international arms control.

(...)

Meanwhile, a Wednesday statement by Secretary of State Marco Rubio gives insight into why the White House has let New START expire: "Obviously, the president's been clear in the past that in order to have true arms control in the 21st century, it's impossible to do something that doesn't include China because of their vast and rapidly growing stockpile." 

#QVINTAÆTASArchive

🗄 Archive

🔗 Source:

🇺🇸⚔️🇮🇷 Iran Won't Abandon Uranium: $150–200B War + Global Economic Fallout

In the 12-day war of June 2025, Israel's daily operational cost was $725 million, covering mainly air sorties, fuel, and mobilization.

The total direct costs for the US and Israel ranged from $22–30 billion, with an average daily cost of about $2 billion when including all factors: military operations, air defense, physical damage, compensation, and interceptors.

In that conflict, Iran's missile capacity to inflict damage was limited. A new confrontation today would also involve naval forces and a vastly larger array of missiles, thousands of short-range ones that Iran certainly possesses.

Based on the numbers from the 12-day war, we can estimate that each day of operations now would cost $3-4 billion or more, especially considering that Iran has learned lessons from the previous war and is better prepared.

In 20 days of war, the figure could approach $100 billion.

But the costs don't stop there. If we take the minimum damage to a single base (like Al Udeid in Qatar), which ranged from $500 million to $1.5 billion, a massive, coordinated, and saturating Iranian attack on multiple US bases in the Gulf would cause astronomical damage.

We're talking about $80–100 billion in damage to US bases in the region alone. These figures are estimates drawn from think tank analyses (CSIS, JINSA, RAND) on Gulf base vulnerabilities and historical repair costs after attacks.

That alone would push a 20-day war toward $150–200 billion.

And remember: any prolonged escalation or impact on oil and gas, such as closure of the Strait of Hormuz, would multiply these figures exponentially.

Iran is in a comfortable position in the sense that it possesses the weapons to impose high costs in the event of a war, and, unlike June 2025, they are certain they will not be caught by surprise. It will be a hard war and it will not be brief.

🧵 Patricia Marins

🇨🇳❌🇺🇸 China warned the U.S. that if Washington pushes through with a new batch of weapons sales to Taiwan, it will cancel president Trump's planned visit to Beijing this April.

The Trump administration is developing a package of four systems for Taiwan to purchase on the heels of the record $11.1bn arms package it unveiled in December, according to eight people familiar with the situation.

China has raised serious concerns about the package ahead of Trump’s planned meeting with President Xi Jinping in April. Three of the people said China had told the US that the arms sales could derail the visit.

Xi raised the Taiwan arms sales issue with Trump in a call on Wednesday. According to the Chinese foreign ministry, he emphasised that the US “must handle the issue of arms sales to Taiwan with prudence”.

Several people familiar with the situation said the package could be as big as $20bn. But others cautioned that the final number was in flux and might be closer to the December figure. Some US officials argue that China is bluffing and will not cancel the visit, according to two of the people.

The package will include four systems. In addition to Patriots, used to destroy incoming missiles, the US will allow Taiwan to buy more NASAMS, an advanced surface-to-air missile, and two other weapon systems.

Several people familiar with the matter said the administration had been planning to notify Congress about the package this month. But some experts believe Trump will postpone the move until he returns from China.

Under the Taiwan Relations Act, the US is obliged to sell weapons to Taiwan to provide for its own defence.

“As it has been for more than 40 years, the policy of the United States is to maintain Taiwan’s defensive capability relative to that of China,” a White House official said. “Credible deterrence has ensured peace and stability for many years — and will for many more. We do not comment on the specifics of pending sales.”

The arms sale package comes as frustrations are mounting in Washington about political wrangling in Taipei that is delaying the approval of a defence budget that would provide funds to buy weapons from the US.

🔗 https://www.ft.com/content/06e27fb5-bc9e-4b3d-ac20-7b54757e044e