The Doomsday Clock has inched closer to the brink of catastrophe than ever before, reflecting heightened tensions among major global powers and a slew of emerging threats. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved the symbolic clock to 85 seconds before midnight, underscoring the perilous state of the world. This latest adjustment, announced on Wednesday, brings the clock four seconds nearer than its previous setting in 2025.
Established in 1947 by the Chicago-based nonprofit, the Doomsday Clock serves as a stark warning of humanity’s potential to bring about its own destruction, a concept born from the Cold War anxieties following World War II.
Among the key concerns prompting the clock’s advance are the unchecked development and integration of artificial intelligence in military applications, which could lead to misuse in creating biological threats or spreading disinformation on a global scale. The continued deterioration of nuclear arms control, ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, and the persistent threat posed by climate change further compound these fears.
“The Doomsday Clock symbolizes global risks, and what we are witnessing is a failure of leadership on a global scale,” emphasized Alexandra Bell, the president and CEO of the Bulletin, highlighting the urgency for international cooperation and decisive action.
“Of course, the Doomsday Clock is about global risks, and what we have seen is a global failure in leadership,” nuclear policy expert Alexandra Bell, the Bulletin’s president and CEO, said.
“No matter the government, a shift towards neo-imperialism and an Orwellian approach to governance will only serve to push the clock toward midnight.”
It was the third time in the past four years that the scientists moved the clock closer to midnight.
“In terms of nuclear risks, nothing in 2025 trended in the right direction,” Bell said.
“Longstanding diplomatic frameworks are under duress or collapsing, the threat of explosive nuclear testing has returned, proliferation concerns are growing, and there were three military operations taking place under the shadow of nuclear weapons and the associated escalatory threat.
“The risk of nuclear use is unsustainably and unacceptably high.”
Conflicts in Ukraine, Middle East cited
Bell pointed to Russia’s continued war in Ukraine, the US and Israeli bombing of Iran and border clashes between India and Pakistan for the move.
Continuing tensions in Asia, including on the Korean Peninsula and China’s threats toward Taiwan, as well as rising tensions in the Western Hemisphere since US President Donald Trump returned to office 12 months ago, were also cited.
Trump in October ordered the US military to restart the process for testing nuclear weapons after a halt of more than three decades. No nuclear power, other than North Korea most recently in 2017, has conducted explosive nuclear testing in more than a quarter century.
No country would benefit more from a full-scale return to such testing than China, given its continued push to expand its nuclear arsenal, according to Bell, a former senior official at the US state department.
For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.
