I’d forgotten that this was something people still did! That metaphorical ‘Doomsday Clock,’ that the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists uses to represent the threat of nuclear war, was moved to five minutes to midnight, the closest to doomsday it’s been since North Korea’s 2007 nuclear weapons test.

Except, unlike in 2007 when the threat of nuclear war came as a result of somebody doing something stupid, the Bulletin decided to move the clock because they have just now decided that world leadership is failing in its attempts to limit the production of nukes.

Says the organization’s website:

Failure to act on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty by leaders in the United States, China, Iran, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Israel, and North Korea and on a treaty to cut off production of nuclear weapons material continues to leave the world at risk from continued development of nuclear weapons.

The Doomsday Clock began in 1947, set at seven minutes to midnight. It was at its closest to midnight in 1953, after weapons tests by the U.S. and the Soviet Union, and at its furthest 1991 following the Cold War.

Yes, that is the sound of a fear-mongering tactic from 1947 trying to get your attention over nothing in particular.

[Source: TheBulletin]