The “doomsday clock” has reached its darkest hour: it’s just 90 seconds from the apocalypse

Nuclear scientists on Tuesday announced their “Doomsday ClockCiting the actions of, near midnight as before Russia of nuclear weapons in the midst of its offensive Ukrainethe war of loop No Israel Factors driving global disaster risk include nuclear weapons and worsening climate change.

He Bulletin of the Atomic ScientistsJust like last year, turn on the clock 90 seconds to midnight, the theoretical point of destruction. Scientists set a watch based on risksexistential” for land and its inhabitants: nuclear threats, climate change and disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence and new biotechnology.

“Flashpoints around the world are the threat of nuclear escalation, climate change is already causing death and destruction, and disruptive technologies such as AI and biological research are moving faster than they can be safe.

“, he declared Reuters Rachel BronsonThe Bulletin’s president and CEO, who added that keeping the clock unchanged from last yearIt is not a sign that the world is standing still“

A non-profit organization based in Chicago A clock was made in 1947, during the stress of Cold War which followed Second World War, to warn the public how close humanity was to destroying the world. On Tuesday, he noted that trends continue to point towards disaster, with the fact that China, Russia And USA They are spending huge sums of money to expand or modernize their nuclear arsenals, increasing the risk of nuclear war due to a mistake or miscalculation.

A large-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russiawhich will celebrate its second anniversary next month, has since raised tensions with the West to their most dangerous levels. Cold War.

“A permanent end to Russia’s war in Ukraine appears remote, and the use of nuclear weapons by Russia in that conflict remains a serious possibility. Over the past year, Russia has sent numerous worrying nuclear signalsBronson said.

Bronson Citing the decision of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin

To suspend Russian participation in a new treaty in February 2023 beginning with USAwhich limited the strategic nuclear arsenals of both countries. USA And Russia They have about 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons, enough to destroy the planet several times over.

Bronson The announcement was also cited Putin In March 2023, the deployment of Russian strategic nuclear weapons Belarus and the approval by the Russian parliament in October 2023 of a law that withdraws ratification of the global treaty banning the testing of nuclear weapons. Russian analyst Sergey Karaganov He also spoke last year of the need to threaten a nuclear attack to intimidate and “calm” enemies in Europe. Moscow.

According to Alexander Glazer

No Princeton University And a member of the Bulletin Council of Experts on Nuclear Technology and Climatology, conventional nuclear arms control is now at an end, while a three-way nuclear arms race is taking shape. China, Russia And USA.

“The outlook is quite bleak on the nuclear side this yearGlasser added.

Israel are at war with Hamas Since the Gaza-based Palestinian Islamist group launched attacks in southern Israel in October 2023.

“As a nuclear state, Israel’s actions are clearly relevant to the doomsday clock debate. Of particular concern is that the conflict will spill over into the region, creating a larger conventional war and attracting more nuclear or near-nuclear powers.Bronson noted.

In 2007, climate change was added as a clock adjustment factor.

“In 2023, the world entered uncharted territory as it experienced the hottest year on record and global greenhouse gas emissions continued to rise.” he explained Bronson. “Both global and North Atlantic sea surface temperatures broke records, and Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest daily extent since the arrival of satellite data.”

Bronson said that while 2023 was a record year for clean energy with $1.7 trillion in new investments, investments in fossil fuels were nearly $1 trillion. Bronson called current efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions “grossly inadequate to avoid the dangerous human and economic impacts of climate change, which disproportionately affect the world’s poorest people.”

The Bulletin was founded in 1945 by scientists viz Albert Einstein And J. Robert Oppenheimer.

(C) Reuters.-