Scientists have nudged back the minute hand of the Doomsday clock - Pres. Obama credited

[bigtree]

January 16, 2010

INTERNATIONAL scientists have nudged back the minute hand of the symbolic Doomsday clock as they praised US President Barack Obama for helping to pull the world back from nuclear or environmental catastrophe.

A key player in the new, global era of co-operation was Mr Obama, whose election in 2008 ushered in ''a change in the US government's orientation toward international affairs,'' said Lawrence Krauss, co-chairman of the group's board of sponsors, speaking at the ceremony to turn back the hands of the symbolic clock.

''Mr Obama brought with him to the White House a more pragmatic, problem-solving approach than his predecessor George W. Bush,'' the scientists said.

''Not only has Obama initiated new arms reduction talks with Russia, he has started negotiations with Iran to close its nuclear enrichment program and directed the US Government to lead a global effort to secure loose fissile material in four years,'' Mr Krauss said.

The last time the minute hand was moved was in 2007, when Mr Bush was president of the US. Then, the clock was bumped two minutes closer to midnight.

read: http://www.theage.com.au/world/no-apocalypse-yet-so-doomsday-clock-wound-back-20100115-mcju.html


In a statement supporting the decision to move the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock, the BAS Board said: "It is 6 minutes to midnight. We are poised to bend the arc of history toward a world free of nuclear weapons. For the first time since atomic bombs were dropped in 1945, leaders of nuclear weapons states are cooperating to vastly reduce their arsenals and secure all nuclear bomb-making material. And for the first time ever, industrialized and developing countries alike are pledging to limit climate-changing gas emissions that could render our planet nearly uninhabitable. These unprecedented steps are signs of a growing political will to tackle the two gravest threats to civilization--the terror of nuclear weapons and runaway climate change."

Created in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the Doomsday Clock has been adjusted only 18 times prior to today, most recently in January 2007 and February 2002 after the events of 9/11. By moving the hand of the Clock away from midnight--the figurative end of civilization--the BAS Board of Directors is drawing attention to encouraging signs of progress. At the same time, the small increment of the change reflects both the threats that remain around the globe and the danger that governments may fail to deliver on pledged actions on reducing nuclear weapons and mitigating climate change.

The BAS statement explains: "This hopeful state of world affairs leads the boards of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists--which include 19 Nobel laureates--to move the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock back from five to six minutes to midnight. By shifting the hand back from midnight by only one additional minute, we emphasize how much needs to be accomplished, while at the same time recognizing signs of collaboration among the United States, Russia, the European Union, India, China, Brazil, and others on nuclear security and on climate stabilization."

The statement continues: "A key to the new era of cooperation is a change in the U.S. government's orientation toward international affairs brought about in part by the election of Obama. With a more pragmatic, problem-solving approach, not only has Obama initiated new arms reduction talks with Russia, he has started negotiations with Iran to close its nuclear enrichment program, and directed the U.S. government to lead a global effort to secure loose fissile material in four years. He also presided over the U.N. Security Council last September where he supported a fissile material cutoff treaty and encouraged all countries to live up to their disarmament and nonproliferation obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty..."

read more: http://www.thebulletin.org/content/media-center/announcements/2010/01/14/doomsday-clock-moves-one-minute-away-midnight

[ElmoBlatz]

1. Russia isn't listening

Even though the President has started new arms control talks with Russia, Putin is flexing his muscles and developing new missiles and launchers

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8429913.stm

[Robb]

2. Yeah

...but until last month he was pointing 'em at the Central Asian 'stans, not us.

[NJmaverick]

3. Does anyone know if the clock moved during Bush's term

[bigtree]

4. The last time the minute hand was moved was in 2007

. . . when Mr Bush was president of the US. Then, the clock was bumped two minutes closer to midnight.

[blondeatlast]

9. And that's a BIG push forward. They don't move the clock without

serious consideration.

[Statistical]

8. It moved twice (2002 & 2007) when he took office it was 9 minutes till and when he left it was 5.

[MiniMe]

5. What was it before they moved it to 6 minutes before midnight?

I understand the move forward in 2007 since so many RWers wanted to nuke Iran.

[bigtree]

6. this is a good site to research that

http://www.thebulletin.org//content/media-center/announcements/2010/01/13/doomsday-clock-moves-one-minute-away-midnight

[Statistical]

7. Here is a list of all events in last 20 years.

Date MTM Time on Clock Change
1980 7 11:53pm −2 Further deadlock in US-USSR talks, increase in nationalist wars and terrorist actions.
1981 4 11:56pm −3 Arms race escalates, conflicts in Afghanistan, South Africa, and Poland add to world tension.
1984 3 11:57pm −1 Further escalation of the arms race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
1988 6 11:54pm +3 The U.S. and the Soviet Union sign treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear forces
1990 10 11:50pm +4 Fall of the Berlin Wall, dissolution of Iron Curtain, Cold War nearing an end.
1991 17 11:43pm +7 United States and Soviet Union sign the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
1995 14 11:46pm −3 Military spending continues at Cold War levels; concerns about post-Soviet nuclear weapons
1998 9 11:51pm −5 India and Pakistan test nuclear weapons; the US and Russia run into difficulties in further reducing stockpiles.
2002 7 11:53pm −2 United States rejects a series of arms control treaties and withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty; concerns about the possibility of a nuclear terrorist attack due to the amount of weapon-grade nuclear materials that are unsecured and unaccounted for worldwide.
2007 5 11:55pm −2 North Korea's test of a nuclear weapon<5>, Iran's nuclear ambitions, a renewed U.S. emphasis on the military utility of nuclear weapons, the failure to adequately secure nuclear materials, and the continued presence of some 26,000 nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia.<6> Some scientists assessing the dangers posed to civilization have added climate change to the prospect of nuclear annihilation as the greatest threats to humankind.<7>
2010 6 11:54pm +1 Worldwide cooperation to reduce nuclear arsenals and limit effect of climate change.


For more info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_clock

Also a good logo for getting peoples attention (6 minutes till end of the world):

[MiniMe]

11. Thanks very much

[M155Y_A1CH]

10. More credit for not Bush

Yea!!!!

[timeforpeace]

12. With Iran edging closer, this should be moving forward. Who are these "international scientists"?

[ProfessorGAC]

13. You Really Think They're A Threat To Use Them?

I don't. It's not good to see any further proliferation, but i just don't see Iran as actually pursuing these weapons to use them as much as a way to prevent any future incursions into their country. Sort of the ultimate deterrent.
GAC

[Statistical]

17. The clock measures the probability of end of civilization.

Hypothetically even if Iran uses a nuclear weapon in hostile manner the destructive power would be similar to Hiroshima bomb (50kt). Tens of thousands maybe hundred thousand dead.

Then the country would cease to exist as retalitory strike wiped the country out.
Then life would go on.

Iran has no possibility of moving the clock to midnight.

Now if Iran and Russia signed a binding security pack where a strike on Iran would be countered with full salvo from Russia that would be another story.

The clock doesn't measure the likelyhood of a nuclear exchange but rather a doomsday event.

[bigtree]

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