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- Doomsday Clock closer to midnight than ever before as scientists issue sobering warning (the-independent.com)
Doomsday Clock Ticks Closer to Midnight, Signaling Heightened Global Risks
The iconic Doomsday Clock, a symbolic measure of global catastrophe, has moved four seconds closer to midnight, now standing at a perilous 85 seconds. This marks the closest the world has ever been to a theoretical apocalypse, with experts citing escalating global conflicts, climate change, and the growing threat of artificial intelligence as primary concerns.
Managed by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the clock was initially established in 1947 to reflect Cold War tensions. Its previous closest point in that era was two minutes to midnight in 1953. While the clock once signaled optimism, moving to a comfortable 17 minutes from midnight in 1991, it has been steadily advancing since, forcing scientists to measure danger in seconds rather than minutes.
Alexandra Bell, president and CEO of the Bulletin and a nuclear policy expert, emphasized a “global failure in leadership” as a key driver. “No matter the government, a shift towards neo-imperialism and an Orwellian approach to governance will only serve to push the clock toward midnight,” Bell told Reuters.
This recent shift follows last year’s move from 90 to 89 seconds, which experts intended as a “stark signal” of extreme danger. The four-second advancement this year underscores an even more urgent warning.
“In terms of nuclear risks, nothing in 2025 trended in the right direction,” Bell stated. She highlighted the collapse of diplomatic frameworks, the resurgence of nuclear testing threats, growing proliferation concerns, and three military operations unfolding under the shadow of nuclear weapons. “The risk of nuclear use is unsustainably and unacceptably high,” Bell concluded.
Bell specifically pointed to Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, the U.S. and Israeli bombing of Iran, and border clashes between India and Pakistan. Additionally, she cited persistent tensions in Asia, including on the Korean Peninsula and China’s threats toward Taiwan, alongside rising tensions in the Western Hemisphere since former U.S. President Donald Trump returned to office a year ago.
The New START treaty, the last remaining nuclear arms pact between the United States and Russia, is set to expire on February 5. While Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a one-year extension of the pact’s limits on deployed nuclear warheads, Trump has yet to formally respond, dividing Western security analysts on the wisdom of accepting the offer.
In a significant move, Trump ordered the U.S. military in October to restart the process for testing nuclear weapons, a practice largely halted for over three decades. Bell, a former senior official at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Arms Control, Deterrence and Stability, suggested that China would stand to benefit most from a return to such testing, given its continued expansion of its nuclear arsenal.
Trump’s actions have further contributed to global instability, including sending U.S. forces to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, threatening other Latin American countries, vowing to restore U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere, discussing the annexation of Greenland, and imperiling transatlantic security cooperation.
Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 continues without an end in sight, with Russia deploying nuclear-capable hypersonic missiles like the Oreshnik. A December video showed the deployment of the Oreshnik in Belarus, aiming to boost Russia’s ability to strike targets across Europe.
“Russia, China, the United States and other major countries have become increasingly aggressive and nationalistic,” Bell observed. This “winner-takes-all great power competition,” she argued, undermines the essential international cooperation needed to mitigate risks of nuclear war, climate change, misuse of biotechnology, potential AI-related hazards, and other existential threats.
Bell also criticized Trump’s domestic policies targeting science, academia, the civil service, and news organizations.
Maria Ressa, a 2021 Nobel Peace Prize recipient recognized for her journalistic efforts exposing abuses of power and the spread of disinformation in the Philippines, participated in the announcement. Ressa stated, “We are living through an information Armageddon – the crisis beneath all crises – driven by extractive and predatory technology that spreads lies faster than facts and profits from our division.”
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- Doomsday Clock closer to midnight than ever before as scientists issue sobering warning (the-independent.com)