The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) has set the Doomsday Clock to "two minutes to midnight" to reflect fears of a nuclear confrontation with North Korea, as well as the failure of world leaders to address climate change and other factors. The clock is now set as close to doomsday as it was in 1953:
The team of scientists singled out a series of nuclear tests by North Korea. They dramatically escalated tensions on the Korean peninsula and led to a war of words between North Korea and the US.
The BAS also referred to a new US nuclear strategy that was expected to call for more funding to expand the role of the country's nuclear arsenal. Rising tension between Russia and the West was also a contributing factor.
The "weakening of institutions" around the world in dealing with major global threats - including climate change - was another major concern, the scientists said. They also mentioned US President Donald Trump's "unpredictability", pointing to his often controversial tweets and statements.
We're back, baby!
(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday January 26 2018, @08:47PM (1 child)
Its the Schrodinger's Cat thing where if you rely on his political enemies you don't really know if the cat is alive or dead, or in this case if the missiles are about to be launched or not. If you rely on legacy news in the USA to get the news, you're better off just looking in the sky for missile contrails because you're wasting time paying attention to the legacy news.
Its also a multi-generational international-scale left wing slur to pathologize disagreement. The Soviets declared more sane political opponents insane than actual insane people; must have been an interesting group dynamic at the nuthouse, when like 75% of the residents are merely capitalists and only 25% are mentally ill. Trump is not really unpredictable or controversial, its just a traditional old slur used by the left against any opposition. By analogy its exactly like calling Obama a lazy n****r, it doesn't tell anyone anything actionable or factual about Obama and hilariously isn't even true in multiple interpretations, but it does tell you a lot about the politics of the guy saying (writing) it.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 26 2018, @10:38PM
I knew you're kinda kooky but this takes the cake.