According to the “Doomsday Clock”, 90 seconds to midnight is all that separates the world from nuclear Armageddon!
In recent years, climate change has also been added, underscoring the growing risks to life on this planet.
The “Doomsday Clock” is a universally recognized indicator of the world’s vulnerability to global catastrophe caused by man-made technologies.
With two wars presently raging, one in Gaza which is over nine months old, and the other following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now over two years old, 90 seconds to midnight is all that separates the world from being utterly wiped out.
In this conversation on The Gist, Dr Manpreet Sethi, well known nuclear scholar who recently joined the board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists which sets the Doomsday Clock, said 90 seconds was indicative of the looseness with which some world leaders have threatened nuclear attack or retaliation.
As Dr Sethi notes, the Gaza war involves one country Israel, which has a nuclear arsenal but does not acknowledge having any. It is not clear how many nuclear weapons it has or in what situation these could be used.
In the case of Ukraine, Russia is a declared nuclear weapons power with a seat in the UN Security Council. It has invaded a non-nuclear weapons country and is now engaged in a proxy war with at last three nuclear powers ranged against it: the US, Britain and France (not to mention the NATO alliance).
She pointed to the relative stability that would describe the India-China strategic situation. This is because both countries primarily see nuclear weapons in deterrence terms and have declared “No First Use” policies.
This is not the case with Pakistan which routinely issues threats about using nuclear weapons against India. Nevertheless, this does not set the Doomsday Clock racing forward, nor the reports about the two countries nuclear arsenals continuing to increase.
Dr Sethi believes this is because India’s record speaks for itself while Pakistan in recent years, has made various moves to integrate further into the international nuclear architecture.
Tune in for more in this conversation with Dr Manpreet Sethi, nuclear scholar, on the Doomsday Clock.
