On Thursday, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the symbolic “Doomsday Clock” to two minutes to midnight a year after they moved it 30 seconds ahead to two-and-a-half minutes to midnight. The group’s decision last year to move the clock so far ahead for the first time since 1953 was based primarily on President Trump’s alarming comments regarding America’s nuclear capabilities. This year’s decision is based on much of the same, which now includes the Donald’s recent “button” tweetstorm targeting North Korea, as well as concerns over the administration’s climate change position.
According to the Washington Post, Trump wasn’t the only world leader singled out by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, though his words and actions did stand out:
In moving the clock 30 seconds closer to the hour of the apocalypse, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists cited “the failure of President Trump and other world leaders to deal with looming threats of nuclear war and climate change.”
The organization now believes “the world is not only more dangerous now than it was a year ago; it is as threatening as it has been since World War II,” Bulletin officials Lawrence M. Krauss and Robert Rosner wrote in an op-ed published Thursday by The Washington Post. “In fact, the Doomsday Clock is as close to midnight today as it was in 1953, when Cold War fears perhaps reached their highest levels.”
Krauss added that calling the current moment “dire” would “understate the danger,” especially since “North Korea’s nuclear weapons program appeared to make remarkable progress in 2017, increasing risks for itself, other countries in the region and the United States.” Whether or not news of the group’s decision will reach Trump in Davos, Switzerland remains to be seen.
(Via Washington Post)