Doomsday’s clock has been changed to 10 seconds – Reuters

The doomsday clock has been moved to ten seconds and now the hand points to 90 seconds to midnight – a time of unprecedented danger, scientists say. Midnight on the clock symbolizes a global nuclear cataclysm, and the closer the arrow, the closer the world is to disaster, according to nuclear experts. The decision was broadcast live in Washington on Tuesday. About that BBC reports.
This watch appeared in 1947 as a project of the creators of the first atomic bomb, its testimony is periodically published on the cover of the University of Chicago magazine “Bulletin of Atomic Scientists”.
The arrows of God’s translation are decided by the magazine’s board of directors and invited experts, including more than a dozen Nobel laureates.
In its entire history, the clock has changed position only 25 times. The current offset is 90 seconds to midnight – the closest to disaster in the clock’s entire existence. According to scientists, this is mainly, but not entirely, related to the Russian-Ukrainian war.
“We are living in a moment of unprecedented danger, and the Hour reflects it. 90 seconds to midnight is the closest time to cataclysmic time the clock has ever shown, and it’s a decision our experts are making. very seriously,” Rachel Bronson, president and CEO, told the magazine.
The last time the hand moved was in 2020, when it showed 100 seconds to midnight.
In the learned counsel statement accompanying this decision, it is said: “The war between Russia and Ukraine has raised serious questions about how states interact, blurring the norms of international behavior that are the basis of a successful response to various global risks.And even worse, Russia’s thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons remind the world that escalation of conflict – by accident, intent or miscalculation – is a terrible risk.
Experts point out that due to the Russian invasion, the nuclear reactors of Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia actually ended up in a war zone in violation of international protocols, which threatens a large-scale release of radioactive materials.
“The likelihood of the conflict spiraling out of control remains high,” the scientists note.
In response to a question from a reporter for the Russian state news agency TASS about how the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine affects arms control and the risk of nuclear war, the professor from the University of Maryland, Steve Furter, said the United States and Russia have a strong interest in avoiding nuclear war and minimizing the risk of nuclear war.
“U.S. military assistance to Ukraine may complicate these efforts, but…I think from the perspective of the long-term risks of nuclear war, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, it is important that Ukraine can withstand an invasion and repel Russian forces. And therefore, we must do everything possible to support Ukraine in this area,” Fretter explained.
During the cold war in 1953, the clock showed 2 minutes before midnight. Then a dangerous situation arose in 1962 during the Caribbean crisis, but then everything was resolved rather quickly and Chasy had no time to react.
Scientists are drawing attention to the fact that the last remaining nuclear arms treaty between Russia and the United States — START-3 nuclear arms reduction treaty — is under threat.
“If both parties resume negotiations and find a basis for further reductions, the contract will expire in February 2026,” the experts said in a statement. “It nullifies mutual surveillance, increases distrust, encourages nuclear weapons and increases the likelihood of exchanging nuclear strikes.”
In addition to the war in Ukraine, scientists consider the significant expansion of China’s nuclear potential to be of particular concern, as well as the increase in medium and long-range missile tests by the DPRK, the growth of Iranian capabilities in this field and the development of a nuclear arsenal in India.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev suggested that the leaders of the United States and Germany stop the ticking of the nuclear clock, but first – realize that their Ukrainian arrow has rusted.
“Let watchmakers Biden and Scholz stop the atomic clock for a while. For that, they have to understand that their Ukrainian needle has been rusting for a long time,” Medvedev told RIA Novosti, answering the question of what to do to roll back. at least a little the hands of these clocks.