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MOUNTING CONCERNS ABOUT the possibility of a nuclear war, along with US President Donald Trump’s “unpredictability” have pushed the symbolic Doomsday Clock to two minutes before midnight, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists said Thursday.
The clock – which serves as a metaphor for how close humanity is to destroying the planet – was moved forward by 30 seconds, to as near as it has ever been to the hour of the apocalypse.
“In 2017, world leaders failed to respond effectively to the looming threats of nuclear war and climate change, making the world security situation more dangerous than it was a year ago – and as dangerous as it has been since World War II,” said a statement by the group of intellectuals across the fields of international affairs, science, environment and security.
The last time the clock was at two minutes to midnight was in 1953 when the United States and Soviet Union were testing hydrogen bombs.
“In this year’s discussions, nuclear issues took center stage once again,” Rachel Bronson, president and CEO of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, told reporters.
She described 2017 as “perilous and chaotic,” a year in which “we saw reckless language in the nuclear realm heat up already dangerous situations”.
She mentioned the series of tests by North Korea, an enhanced commitment to nuclear weapons in China, Pakistan and India, and “unpredictability” embodied by the US president in tweets and statements.
The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947. Its time has changed 20 times since then, ranging from two minutes to midnight in 1953 to 17 minutes before midnight in 1991.
Last year, it moved from three minutes before midnight to two-and-a-half minutes.
Nuclear ramp-up
North Korea’s nuclear program “made remarkable progress” last year, the group statement said.
Meanwhile, “hyperbolic rhetoric and provocative actions by both” the United States and North Korea “have increased the possibility of nuclear war”.
Robert Rosner, professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Physics at the University of Chicago, singled out the Trump administration for its “inconsistency,” which he said worsens nuclear risks and “constitutes a major challenge for deterrence… and global stability”.
“Our allies and adversaries alike are being forced to negotiate a thicket of conflicting policy statements from a US administration weakened in its cadre of foreign policy professionals and unable to develop, coordinate and clearly communicate a coherent foreign much less nuclear policy,” Rossner told a press briefing.
He added that the US administration – which is set to unveil its nuclear policy next week – “appears likely to increase the types and roles of nuclear weapons in US defense plans and to lower the threshold for nuclear use”.
The nuclear ramp-up is not limited to the United States and North Korea.
“We are seeing that all the major weapons states are investing in nuclear arsenals,” and these arsenals are “being updated and imbued with enhanced capabilities, said Rossner.
Strained US-Russian relations are also a threat, said Sharon Squassoni, professor of practice at the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy at The George Washington University.
“For the first time in many years, in fact, no US Russian nuclear arms control negotiation are under way,” she said.
Instead we could see a return to a nuclear arms race.
She also singled out Russia for engaging “in provocative and illegal behaviors thought to be part of Cold War history, whether these are egregious violations of state sovereignty in Ukraine, or aggressive military maneuvers on the borders of NATO that could precipitate crises”.
Climate change
Nuclear concerns were not the sole reason for the clock’s move toward midnight. Climate change was a leading factor, too.
In 1953, “climate change was a distant hypothetical threat,” said Sivan Kartha, senior scientist at the Stockholm Environmental Institute.
Since then, carbon dioxide has increased sixfold, and the environment has warmed about one degree Centigrade.
Last year saw extreme heat across the globe, “cataclysmic damage” from hurricanes in the Caribbean, and devastating wildfires, he said.
“And the Arctic ice cap, which we rely on to reflect sunlight and keep the Earth’s temperature stable, reached its smallest ever winter maximum.”
A global “abuse of information,” fueled by reliance on the Internet, is also making solutions harder to reach, said Lawrence Krauss, professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and Physics at Arizona State University.
“There has been a loss of trust in political institutions, in the media, in science, and in facts themselves,” he said.
All of which exacerbate the difficulty of dealing with the real problems the world faces.
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My wife had 2 miscarriages last year. Lost twins at 24 weeks. And another baby at 10 weeks. The pain still haunts us.
@Hurt Stoogie: That sounds awful, hope you and your wife are are okay after the trauma.
@Hurt Stoogie: sounds like you both had a very tough year
Hope 2018 holds better luck for you
@Hurt Stoogie: Sorry for both your loss.
@gjpb: thank you.
@Censorship is modern day book burning: thank you
@Hurt Stoogie: very sorry to hear that. A miscarriage at any stage is extremely difficult but 24 weeks, I can’t even imagine.
@Jane: thanks Jane. Yes, it was horrific.
@Hurt Stoogie: absolutely tragic, I’m very sorry to hear that. I can’t even imagine the grief and pain.
@Hurt Stoogie: Thats awful. Not easy to get through that. Give her plenty of hugs and take care of yourself too.
@Hurt Stoogie: so sorry for your losses. Life can be so cruel at times. Hope this year is a better year for you and you get your rainbow baby.
Having a miscarriage is such a painful devastating thing to happen to anyone & they have my sincere sympathy! Be respectful & don’t use this platform for the abortion referendum!
@Colette Kearns: well said. Thank you.
@Colette Kearns: If it’s only a baby when it’s ‘born’ then I guess a miscarriage is nothing at all then
@Mártan Ó Conghaile: did you not read her comment ?
@Siobhán Ni Mhurchú: He did. Just doesn’t give a toss. Spotted an opening to further the ‘agenda’ and he’s going for it.
@Mártan Ó Conghaile: Yes I don’t understand the logic either. Why is it that only miscarriage is considered as a tragedy (which it truly is a very painful tragedy to lose a child) but when a mother decides to abort, it is not considered as tragedy and a loss of a child.
@Ania_on_coffee: did you not read her comment? Take your agenda elsewhere
I think most people do not understand what a miscarriage really means, it is so much more , not holding a newborn in wonder, the cuddles , the smiles,the loss of a toddler, the first tooth, first day at school, the birthdays marked by date but not cake and candles, Christmases, an emptiness, never getting to hold baby in your arms but carrying baby in your heart forever, always wondering what might have been and who this baby would have become, sometimes you are given the babies footprints in ink, tiny prints from a tiny baby whose feet never touched the ground and maybe that is all a mother will have of a baby who to so many, never existed , to die before you are born , a baby who was but never was.
I lost a child at this stage , and my next pregnancy at 8 weeks. I still believe the 8th should be repealed
@Chris Hennessy: one has nothing to do with the other. This wasn’t an article on abortion or the constitution. Conflating the pain of a miscarriage with the decision to abort, or not, is disrespectful to the pain that you suffered, and the pain that others go through – whether that is the pain of a miscarriage or the pain of making a decision on abortion.
@Chris Hennessy: If you lost a child which is the proper and humane way to describe a miscarriage, why would you consider a developing child in any other terms unless ‘foetus’ is a matter of convenience for a gender issue ?.
@Hurt Stoogie: please do not presume to educate me on what meant by my comment. I was replying to the comment made by @ censorship
@Gerald Kelleher: I never mentioned foetus or gender issues. Merely stated the fact that I lost a child at this exact stage and my next pregnancy too. And replied to the comment above
@Chris Hennessy: I totally agree and I’m sorry for ur loss
@Chris Hennessy: Its not an interrogation Chris and certainly not disrespectful, just that our constitution is not meant to carry the weight of a decision where a miscarriage or pregnancies in severe medical difficulties becomes meshed with a gender issue that will try hard to strain language beyond breaking point. I have three healthy children and didn’t have the shared experience of the disappointment involved in a miscarriage but at the same time I do know the concern for a child once it becomes known that they are on their way and this concern lasts throughout their lives to some degree.
@Gerald Kelleher: “disappointed ” is the wrong word to use there .. “heartbreak ” would be more appropriate I think .
@Gerald Kelleher: so your problem is the language used????
@Censorship is modern day book burning: so like, u are correct, u are not being smart. In my own words I did say I lost a child (two in fact) . I did not however say that I am ok with children’s lives being ended without consent. Maybe the subtleties evade you. But being in favour of repealing the 8th does not mean that a person is pro abortion
@Chris Hennessy: language is powerful. Words are very powerful.
@Hurt Stoogie: I agree . For years I have heard the different lobbies throw emotive language around, and it seems that the language is designed to win an argument rather than to sympathise empathise or understand. I have been on the recieving end of well meaning language that has cut to the quick.
@Chris Hennessy: You were talking normally about losing a child to a miscarriage and that has been the way for as long as our society has existed. The referendum will diminish the relationship between mother and developing child in an act of self-deception if it becomes a gender issue alone for at the same time a mother is losing a child to a miscarriage, a woman is terminating a foetus out of choice. I really believe that some people want it both ways so society can divide mother/child and woman/ foetus when it suits and that is bad news for everyone. My view but that’s it.
@Chris Hennessy: Great constructive dialogue for once.
So if not for abortion why do you won’t the 8th repealed?
Again not being smart just trying to understand.
@Gerald Kelleher: I was stating factually , my experience. I did not mention my feelings , and you cannot nor should not assume them. ‘talking normally’ may be your interpretation but it certainly is not mine. I do not believe that a referendum or piece of legislation can ever diminish a relationship between any parent and child. Be that parent a mother or a Father.
@Censorship is modern day book burning:I don’t ever forsee a situation where I could abort. But by the same token I don’t ever forsee me bringing back a white coffin from England. But for happenstance I have never had to go abroad for medical circumstances. If my medical difficulties had been slightly different during my pregnancies I may well have faced an even more traumatic journey than to the local maternity ward. We need to support our citizens and not make a life altering event even more horrific
@Gerald Kelleher: you understand the difference between feelings and facts right? The referendum if passed will make absolutely no change to how people feel during a pregnancy. To say otherwise is absolute bolloxio
@Dave O Keeffe: true. Legislation does not change feelings. Only what someone may have to go through
@Dave O Keeffe: You want a fact – there is no such thing as ‘removal of the foetus’, it is turning a developing child into a corpse unless you really want to deny the ‘foetus’ of the basic right all living creatures have when its life goes out . The self-deception using dehumanizing language that was meant to serve humane purposes ends up serving lifestyle choices and may suit the weak minded but when it comes to facts I have yet to see those who are mentally strong enough for the genuine facts when humane language is removed.
@Chris Hennessy: his problem is the inconsistency in considering the unborn human when wanted and an embryo when it isn’t. Devastated at the loss of a child when miscarriaged but prepared to terminate a pregnancy when inconvenient.
@Chris Hennessy: being in favour of repeal indicates you have no ethical objection to abortion, pro abortion
@Al Coholic: More or less and thanks.
@Chris Hennessy: aren’t you so lucky that you got to have these men tell you how you should or shouldn’t feel about events that happened to you? I’m sorry that you had to go through what you did.
@Dell: indeed Dell, thank you .
@Dell: This is not a gender issue so it takes some stretch to create a gender division when people know full well of an awful contradictory situation where a mother/child can be pitted against woman/foetus . Many know that you cannot have it both ways .
An article on the pain of miscarriage has nothing to do with the current debate on potential amendments to the constitution.
The pain of a miscarriage should not be used to debate the 8th amendment in anyway.
@Hurt Stoogie: With all due respect, mate I’m sorry for your lost but once something is in the public domain, people can comment where they see fit.
I’m not being smart but if you don’t like it you don’t have to read/ engage… that’s much more constructive solution than censoring other people.
Always preferable to control one’s self than try exert control over others.
@Hurt Stoogie: I disagree, the humane language which is in place to protect mothers and couples after a miscarriage so they could move on will be gone for ‘choice’ becomes mixed up with miscarriage in the dehumanizing language. How do you say you feel the pain for a lost child while at the same time society can knowingly allow for the willful ending of a child’s life ?.
@Censorship is modern day book burning: how how dare u
That mother went through nine months of torture to deliver that baby to find it’s dead but obviously u don’t understand that
So f.u.c.k u and ur comment and don’t u ever ever dare try and treat a woman like that and hold on u couldn’t care probably because u don’t have a baby
This is up for opinion hopefully people will feel the same anger as me
@Censorship is modern day book burning: he gave his opinion and views on the topic of the article and asked for it not to be turned into an abortion debate .Nothing wrong with his comment at all .
@Gerald Kelleher: because we can be both empathetic and humane. It isn’t black and white. Life is lived in shades of grey and is multi faceted
@Darren Farrell: actually I am a father but more to my next point…what you even talking about??
Now try be coherent with your response and make a salient point…if you even can
@Censorship is modern day book burning: I dunno I’m just angry as I had a friend that lost a child and its horrible to see that sadness and that little white coffin
I’m sorry for my comments and the
Language i was annoyed plz accept my apologies
@Darren Farrell: Fair enough mate, sorry for whatever your going through & hope yeh pull out of the tail spin soon.
@Censorship is modern day book burning: cheers mate how old is u son/daughter
@Chris Hennessy: In respect to pregnancies where medical difficulties arise, there is humane language that eases the pain but that is not the same thing as ‘shades of grey’ for our constitution is there to protect the life of all our citizens including the life of a woman even at the expense of the developing life inside her. I don’t believe other countries have thought this through carefully enough and they may have the same discussion some day that we are having now.
@Gerald Kelleher: forgive me if it doesn’t feel much like a discussion. More like Catholic brow beating and condemnation
@Chris Hennessy: you’re the only one that mentioned te church
@Chris Hennessy: Nothing to do with the Catholic Church and nothing to do with gender even though I have seen many attempts to force the referendum into that corner.
@Darren Farrell: tis a little fella, jus went 6 in December bro
@Gerald Kelleher: I don’t mean Catholic as in church . More like Catholic as in a cultural mindset
@Darren Farrell: I’m so sorry to hear that Darren.
@Chris Hennessy: You mean as a Christian which holds motherhood and the appearance of a baby as the most positive thing possible. There is no cultural mindset my dear, a balance between head and heart is more like it .
@Chris Hennessy: It has nothing to do with a catholic mindset. The right to life is a human rights issue. There are very many athetists like myself out there who don’t believe in abortion. The truth is the language changes to suit the situation. It’s a baby or child even at 8 weeks when it’s a miscarriage but it’s s foetus when people talk about abortion. The danger is the horrible abortion language will seep into the language of miscarriage. The reason there is deafening silence around miscarriage is that the pro choices don’t want the human language of child loss to muddy their agenda. Miscarriage is devastating at any stage of pregnancy and it doesn’t matter if it’s your first it 6th baby the pain is the same and you never forget. Especially around the babies due date.
@Catherine Sims: I wrote this piece. These were my babies. Lest their be any confusion, I am pro choice. The silence around miscarriage has absolutely nothing to do with agenda. Your comment on the other hand is entirely agenda driven. This is not a piece about the 8th.
@Are U Rosie too: it’s a baby when it’s born dead also. We had twins. They died in the womb. My wife still had to give birth. Twice. Keep your ignorance to yourself.
I lost two babies at ~10-12 weeks. People just expect you to “get on with it”. That’s my experience of Irish people. “Man up, and cop on”
@FrustratedASDMum: You are not wrong. Its grief plain and simple and anyone that tells you “get on with it” doesnt know what grief is. My cousin lost 6 babies at 10 to 12 weeks and it did affect her greatly and she has 2 kids now. She is very happy but she has never forgotten the babies she lost..
@FrustratedASDMum: so sorry for your loss
@FrustratedASDMum: this infuriated me at the time the ‘it wasn’t meant to be’ – it was. My loss was very real. My baby had a heartbeat. The ‘well at least you know you can get pregnant, some people can’t’ – yes how fantastic pity I can hold on to it long enough so my baby can survive outside the womb, and the piece de la resistance ‘you can always try again – yes because this will replace the child I lost and magic me better again.
I feel it’s a case that until you’ve experienced it you can’t understand it.
@Are U Rosie too: looks like it’s a baby whenever it suits
A very emotionally painful experience and I’m sorry this happened. Unfortunately in Ireland 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage, medically there is also an highly increased chance of subsequent miscarriage if there is not a significant gap between pregnancies. The body needs time to recover and heal after such a trauma.
@Censorship is modern day book burning: ‘Jesus Christ that’s horrific, proper heroine…13 week old baby she had to deliver by herself then hold dead in her hand. Wonder what she’d say to people who say abortion at 12 weeks is okay because it ain’t a baby…’ She’d probably tell you not to use her pain as cheapo publcity for an increasingly desperate pro-life lobby.
@andrew: that’s exactly what she’d say Andrew. She’d also say that the 8th amendment, which has nothing to do with my losses or my views on calling my growing babies my growing babies, needs to be repealed in it’s entirety. My losses in no way impact my views on that.
I wrote this piece. It’s 5 years old now. It has absolutely nothing to do with the 8th amendment, which incidentally is an absorbent piece of legislation. This is a personal piece. These were my babies and I had no choices here.
It’s a baby as soon as you find out you’re pregnant. I lost a baby at 13 weeks and it drove me cracked people saying things like ‘it’s not a baby yet”
I went through hell for the first couple of months I was so unbelievably sick then to lose the baby after 13 weeks and that nearly killed me too. But it was a life I was growing and a life I had lost, I nearly lost my own life because I didn’t understand what can happen in a miscarriage. Believe me It was a baby to me. I also have a daughter with special needs, two very traumatic pregnancy’s, don’t think I could put myself through it again. I am so thankful for my little girl. I never talk about my miscarriage because people just don’t understand how hard it is to go through unless you have experienced it yourself.
Why are comments being removed?
@Henry Matthews: Censorship is modern book burning was trolling, usually threads where he trolls get deleted, he’s had at least 40 different accounts banned since November.
@Alt Right Crybaby: so my comment telling him off for trolling was also deleted!!
@Alt Right Crybaby:he’s a right dose.
@Tom Doyle: Very infantile.
@Are U Rosie too: Tell her that it wasn’t her baby not me…
The poor women hopefully god up there will take care of the baby
Its an awful thing for anybody to go through.
My wife had a miscarriage 3 months ago. It was a little baby boy who died at 17 weeks. There was no bleeding or any indication that anything was wrong. We went for the 20 week scan for a checkup only to be told that there was no longer a heartbeat. We were both devastated.
It’s extremely tough for any woman to go through this, but it’s also extremely tough for the man (sometimes we forget this). We’re still only learning to live with the loss, but we’ll never get over it.
My thoughts and prayers are with anybody who has experienced this.
“Holding the tiny body in the palm of my hands, counting perfectly formed fingers, looking into eyes that would never see, my heart broke into a million pieces” – really powerful piece that captures both the sadness of miscarriage and the humanity of the unborn child.
@Censorship is modern day book burning: it’s a baby when it’s born.Try to keep up,pet.
Please stop making this about abortion. Having experienced the devastating grief that miscarriage brings and ha going felt exactly like the author of this article it’s deeply insensitive and insulting. Miscarriage is not a get out of jail free card it is utterly devastating and it isn’t even I the same stratosphere as termination. It’s like comparing an apple to an egg. They’re not the same. Stop. There is such a stigma attached to miscarriage in this country and comparisons like this do nothing to alleviate it. Can we not have a conversation about pregnancy and women’s health without turning it in to a debate on the 8th amendment.
@andrew: Cmere & I tell you something mate, I said “I wonder” , whereas you put words in her mouth…why don’t you keep your words out of other people’s mouth & FYI I & everyone else have a right to comment on ANYTHING once it’s in the public domain!
@Censorship is modern day book burning: Stay classy.
@Censorship is modern day book burning: very cheap low nasty trolling shot. But judging by your comments on other forums , it’s to be expected of you. Try setting aside the whole 8th thing for 5 minutes and show some genuine sympathy and support to a couple who are suffering.
Same goes to @geraldkelleher
@Clare Love: Yesterday’s a bomb went off in Kabul killing over a hundred people, according to your logic I shouldn’t comment on that. 14 people have been murdered in the latest Dublin feud, according to your logic I shouldn’t comment on that, basically according to your logic People shouldn’t comment on anything that has a negative impact on people.
Listen, I’m not living like a monk & Taking a vow of silence just because you read comments you don’t like
So sad even difficult to read, but very good article
@Are U Rosie too: “Its a baby when its born”..so depending on where its located dictates its name and human rights status.
@Censorship is modern day book burning: if you want to have an emotional debate,then you’ll win hands down.If you want to have a medical one,then you’ll get your arse whipped.
@andrew: I’d say a censoring totalitarian like yourself would love nothing more than than to throw me into a concentration camp/Gulag…
@Clare Love: Exactly. There’s always a gutter nearby for you to throw yourself into
@Henry Matthews: She has been here in few guises. Rosie is not PC and earlier as Shanti. She is a nasty piece of work..
@Sinead Hanley: You’ve made an absolute fool of yourself before with that ridiculous claim of yours.Now, you’re doing it again.Grow up and stop trying to be liked on here.It’s pathetic..Shanti doesn’t hardly comment on here anymore.Maybe it’s to do with people making false allegations against them.Or maybe it’s to do with some people making up stories..
@Hurt Stoogie: that’s exactly what i said.
@Sinead Hanley: i know it’s previous …it also went as fabulous…I think it is also daisy; possibly veronica….and allowed to continue as long as the journal gets enough clicks out of it …just like this article is about miscarriage …which my wife and I have and are going through..is here so people can change it into a debate about how abortion is the answer to all our wrongs….shameful and cheap …
*****Abhorrent
@Ethna Quirke: Sorry for your losses Ethna. I have lost 5 pregnancies also. 3 miscarriages at 6 weeks, 7 weeks and 9 weeks and a late miscarriage at just under 19 weeks where I had to deliver our baby girl. The last pregnancy was ectopic so I understand hugely the pain and loss that you have felt too. It is terrible that you were treated terribly. I had similar experiences too. I wonder if we were in the same hospital.
So glad you had your rainbow baby. Look after yourself and your family.
@Are U Rosie too: do you have any semblance of humanity in you? …go troll somewhere else you idiot..
The pigs who hijacked Hurt Stoogie’s post, whatever side of the debate they stand on, really are the utter dregs of the earth.
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