The world is closer to nuclear war today, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Scientists have maintained a ‘Doomsday Clock’ for decades, with the position of the minute hand indicating how close to ‘midnight’ or nuclear war the world is.
The world is now three minutes to midnight, the closest it has been to a nuclear confrontation since 1953. The detonation of the hydrogen bomb in that year pushed the clock to two minutes to midnight. The announcement comes not long after former leader of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev warned that western policy towards Russia was making nuclear war more likely.
The scientists in charge of the Doomsday Clock have criticised politicians for not taking action to protect the world from potential nuclear catastrophe. They also cited the lack of action on climate change as an aggravating factor in the decision.