National Post (National Edition)
Doomsday Clock closest to midnight since Cold War
NEW YORK • The Doomsday Clock, a potent symbol of scientific concerns about humanity’s possible annihilation, was advanced by 30 seconds on Thursday, to two minutes to midnight, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced in Washington.
The last time the clock was moved so close to midnight was in 1953, during the Cold War.
“In 2017, world leaders failed to respond effectively to the looming threats of nuclear war and climate change, making the world security situation more dangerous than it was a year ago — and as dangerous as it has been since World War II,” the bulletin’s science and security board, which oversees the clock, said in a statement.
It cited the risks from North Korea’s nuclear program; discord between Russia and the United States; tensions in the South China Sea; the buildup of the nuclear arsenals of Pakistan and India; and uncertainty over the Iran nuclear deal.
The scientists also warned that the sustained reductions in greenhouses gases needed to prevent disastrous warming of the planet had not yet occurred, and cited the dangers that technology disruption is causing for democracies, including disinformation campaigns intended to manipulate elections and undermine confidence in democracy.
The scientists cited, among other destabilizing factors, the harsh rhetoric President Donald Trump has exchanged with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un; Trump’s disavowal of the Iran deal; the hiring of climate-change deniers at the Environmental Protection Agency; and the administration’s plans to remake and expand the nation’s nuclear arsenal.
“Neither allies nor adversaries have been able to reliably predict U.S. actions — or understand when U.S. pronouncements are real, and when they are mere rhetoric,” the scientists found. “International diplomacy has been reduced to namecalling, giving it a surreal sense of unreality that makes the world security situation ever more threatening.”
The clock was last set at two minutes to midnight in 1953, after the Americans and then the Soviets tested thermonuclear weapons for the first time, within six months of each other.
The clock has been adjusted many times since it debuted in 1947. Since 2010 — years before Trump’s presidency — the needle has moved ever closer to midnight: 5 minutes in 2012, 3 minutes in 2015, and 2 1/2 minutes last year.
The safest moment was in 1991, right after the Cold War had ended.
Lawrence Krauss, a cosmologist at Arizona State University and a member of the board, acknowledged that in the “fake news” era, some critics were likely to accuse the scientists of having a political agenda.
“People can say it’s a scam, but the point of this is to encourage public discussion,” he said.