On January 24, 2019, in Washington, members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists gave their annual presentation of the Doomsday Clock. The group of scientists and scholars, including 15 Nobel laureates, moved the Doomsday Clock’s minute hand forward by 30 seconds setting it at 11:58 p.m. – two minutes before the symbolic apocalyptic midnight.     

The Doomsday Clock is a graphic presentation, a symbol showing how close humanity stands to the dangerous line – the midnight – the apocalypse, which, according to the authors of the Clock, may come in two cases - in the result of nuclear weapon use or because of powerful natural disasters. The Clock was first represented in 1947, on the pages of the above-mentioned Chicago-based publication. The origin of the Clock is traced to the international group of researchers, who had participated in the Manhattan Project - a large-scale program for the development of first nuclear weapons.   

Initially, 72 years ago, the Doomsday Clock’s minute hand was set at seven minutes before midnight.  

The Atomic Scientists repeatedly moved the Clock’s minute hand forward towards to the apocalyptic hour - even to “two minutes before midnight.” The minute hand was moved in 1953, after the US and the Soviet Union tested thermo-nuclear weapon.

Then the Clock were adjusted in 1962, during the Caribbean crisis (Cuban missile crisis). Shortly before the crisis the United States had deployed its Jupiter missiles in Italy and Turkey and targeted them at numerous strategic objectives of the Soviet Union.

Humanity was three minutes before the End of the World two times: in 1984 when then President Ronald Reagan called for defending the United States against a first-strike attack by developing a Strategic Defense Initiative system, which gained the nickname “Star Wars,” and in 2015, when Washington announced a significant upgrade of the nuclear triad of its global antimissile system (Barack Obama in 2009-2014).  

However, there were times when the Doomsday Clock’s minute hand was set much farther from midnight as a reaction to the progress that was achieved in control over nuclear weapons.

It was set at 12 minutes before midnight in 1963 after the signing of the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, (formally Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space, and Under Water), and in 1972 when the US and the USSR signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the  Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT-I)

In 1991, the minute hand was set at 17 minutes before midnight, when the signing of the Charter of Paris for a New Europe and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) formally brought the Cold War to an end. START became the first treaty on real reduction of strategic offensive arms signed by Moscow and Washington. Such a positive record setting of the Doomsday Clock never repeated. 

Some experts think it is unnecessary to use graphic symbols to show to what extent humanity is approaching the apocalyptic line.

As a weak point they mention very conditional nature of measuring the degree of nuclear standoff in the world especially when it is determined by a small group of people (not more than 20), even though these people are Nobel laureates. As one more shortcoming of this indicator they mention the fact that it does not take into account the level of military preparations to nuclear war, which is partially secretive.

Of course, one can do without showing the level of nuclear or climate threat. If the Clock is not a good way to show this danger what form should we use? Should it be a percentage, when a higher figure would mean approaching the same alarming threshold? Or should it be a specific color spectrum, where colors would symbolize one or another stage of nuclear confrontation or the consequences of a certain natural disaster?

Obviously, the Doomsday Clock is a purely symbolic device. Nevertheless, it shows, although conditionally and metaphorically, where the approximate current location of humanity in relation to such a tragic day is situated. Advocates of this project still believe that the Clock has a precautionary value, since it clearly advises everyone to be vigilant and to approach the dangerous line of nuclear Armageddon under no circumstances.

Thus, at the beginning of this year, this virtual timer began to show “two minutes before midnight. That means the same level of threat that existed in October 1962 during the Caribbean crisis or “Cuban missile crisis.”

Let’s compare: in the early 2017, the Clock’s minute hand showed two minutes and 30 seconds to midnight. It was set after Republican President Donald Trump came to power and immediately vowed to ensure the domination of his country in terms of nuclear weapons. He also said that from now on Washington would never discuss with anyone its antimissile weapons, which is organically related to the topic of nuclear weapons.

Some experts interpret the recent movement of the minute hand by 30 seconds towards midnight only by the fact that the United States unilaterally decided to fully release itself from the obligations under the INF Treaty in 2019, by creating a new ground-based nuclear cruise missile and by subsequently deploying it in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

In fact there are also other reasons why the Clock’s hand was moved closer to the indicated tragic Rubicon.

This is the aspiration of the US administration to terminate the INF Treaty and its unwillingness to extend the term of START-III.

This is also Washington’s violation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a result of the continued deployment of the US tactical weapons on the territory of five foreign states that do not have their own nuclear arsenal.

And this is the United States’ unilateral withdrawal from the “Iranian nuclear deal” and from the Kyoto Climate Protocol.

Under President Donald Trump the US received a particularly offensive nuclear doctrine, which significantly increases the possibility of the first use of nuclear weapon by the Pentagon and its readiness to use low-power nuclear warheads.

In American society, there is also noticeable concern that Trump and all future US presidents may order the Pentagon to use nuclear weapons by his unilateral decision, without the approval of Congress and declaring a state of war.

At the presentation of the Doomsday Clock update on January 24, the American followers of this virtual project released a statement. They pointed at a “new abnormality” which had arisen in the modern world, stemming from the uncontrolled development of nuclear missiles and the continuing deterioration of the global climate.

Although they carefully avoided mentioning the state that is directly and primarily responsible for the situation they described, numerous facts show that it is the United States which is the main source of the emerged “abnormal” situation, the country which unilaterally decided to break the international regime of control over nuclear weapons.