{"id":1663691,"date":"2022-09-29T07:34:24","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T11:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1663691"},"modified":"2022-09-29T07:36:54","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T11:36:54","slug":"doomsday-clock-hasnt-changed-under-biden-despite-escalating-nuclear-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doomsday-clock-hasnt-changed-under-biden-despite-escalating-nuclear-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"Doomsday Clock Hasn\u2019t Changed Under Biden Despite Escalating Nuclear Threat"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdoomsday-clock-hasnt-changed-under-biden-despite-escalating-nuclear-threat%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1663691&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>This week proved that the gravest threat to the human race is still the human race. We appear to be marching closer to doomsday \u2014 even if scientists won\u2019t say it yet.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Politico <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/09\/27\/putin-nuke-russia-ukraine-intel-surveillance-00059020\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> that the U.S. and allied intelligence agencies will beef up surveillance of the Kremlin\u2019s nuclear arsenal in response to another round of what have now become routine threats from President Vladimir Putin. As he announced his country\u2019s first war mobilization since World War II with the calling up of 300,000 reservists, Putin made clear that the country\u2019s use of nuclear weapons was a real possibility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Russia feels its territorial integrity is threatened, we will use all defense methods at our disposal, and this is not a bluff,\u201d Putin said, days before the Kremlin <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/russia-ukraine-kyiv-moscow-referendums-1780c30715ce49723629d05c5e2f3238\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sponsored <\/a>sham elections in Ukrainian territory to pave the way for Russian annexation.<\/p>\n<p>White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/09\/25\/us\/politics\/us-russia-nuclear.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">repeated <\/a>across three Sunday morning television shows that the U.S. would respond to any use of nuclear weapons with \u201ccatastrophic consequences\u201d for the Kremlin.<\/p>\n<p>Without him spelling out the details of the deliberately ambiguous phrase, a U.S. response could range from tougher economic sanctions to tit-for-tat nuclear retaliation, the latter of which risks escalation to a nuclear Armageddon.<\/p>\n<p>Upon completion of the staged referendums in four Ukrainian territories, Putin\u2019s predecessor, who is now deputy chairman of Russia\u2019s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, issued yet another warning that nuclear weapons might be deployed. Putin\u2019s threats, Medvedev <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/europe\/russias-medvedev-warns-west-that-nuclear-threat-is-not-bluff-2022-09-27\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote <\/a>in a Tuesday Telegram post, are \u201ccertainly not a bluff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe that NATO will not directly intervene in the conflict even in this situation,\u201d Medvedev said. \u201cOverseas and European demagogues are not going to perish in a nuclear apocalypse. Therefore, they will swallow the use of any weapon in the current conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the heightened rhetoric from a frustrated Moscow now engaged in a months-long war, the infamous \u201cDoomsday Clock\u201d remains unchanged from January 2020 at <a href=\"https:\/\/thebulletin.org\/2022\/01\/press-release-at-dooms-doorstep-it-is-100-seconds-to-midnight\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">100 seconds to midnight<\/a>. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which sets the made-up clock, refused to inch the hands closer to global catastrophe in March after the major war broke out between Russia and Ukraine. Putin even began the invasion with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/world\/russia-launches-attacks-ukraine-as-putin-warns-countries-who-interfere-consequences-you-have-never-seen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">warning<\/a> that other nations who intervene will \u201cface consequences that you have never seen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Six months later, a spokesman for the Bulletin told The Federalist that no changes would be made until the group\u2019s scientists meet in November and discuss what time it will be in January. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs the war continues, the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists continues to monitor developments in Ukraine and will take them into account for future Doomsday Clock announcements,\u201d said John Pope, the group\u2019s chief audience officer. <\/p>\n<p>The artificial clock was created after World War II and has remained a fixation among journalists to cheer Democratic policy outcomes while fearmongering over Republicans. For example, The Washington Post ran the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/speaking-of-science\/wp\/2017\/01\/26\/the-doomsday-clock-just-moved-again-its-now-two-and-a-half-minutes-to-midnight\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">headline<\/a>, \u201cThe Doomsday Clock just advanced, \u2018thanks to Trump&#8217;\u201d just six days after President Donald Trump\u2019s 2017 inauguration.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, amid the back-and-forth saber-rattling between the world\u2019s largest two nuclear powers (with a <a href=\"https:\/\/fas.org\/issues\/nuclear-weapons\/status-world-nuclear-forces\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">combined inventory<\/a> of 11,405 warheads), NASA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/press-release\/nasa-s-dart-mission-hits-asteroid-in-first-ever-planetary-defense-test\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">successfully <\/a>smashed a spacecraft into an asteroid for the purpose of saving the world in the distant future. <\/p>\n<p>On Monday, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission crashed a high-speed projectile into a small space rock 7 million miles away. The objective of the mission is to determine the capability of redirecting an asteroid if it were hurling toward Earth. While the final results of the mission likely won\u2019t be conclusive for weeks, the spacecraft\u2019s successful collision marks a turning point in human history, which is now equipped to save the planet from extraterrestrial threats. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the first time, humanity has demonstrated the ability to autonomously target and alter the orbit of a celestial object,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/09\/26\/science\/dart-nasa-asteroid-dimorphos-contact.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">celebrated <\/a>Ralph Semmel, the director of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, after the crash. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s ironic that the same week NASA conducted what appears to be so far a successful mission related to saving the planet, the specter of nuclear apocalypse has reached a new realm of possibility. On the other hand, one has to wonder how long the human race could realistically co-exist with more than 13,000 nuclear warheads in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>The first nuclear bomb was detonated in July 1945 on a vast expanse of New Mexican desert. Within a month, the only two bombs ever deployed on the battlefield were dropped in Japan to end the Second World War. The explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki not only forced the Japanese into capitulation, but they also introduced a new era of unprecedented destruction looming over the globe. An eerie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snopes.com\/fact-check\/einstein-world-war-iv-sticks-stones\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">story <\/a>about Albert Einstein spells out the predicament:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>Professor Albert Einstein was asked by friends at a recent dinner party what new weapons might be employed in World War III. Appalled at the implications, he shook his head.<\/p>\n<p>After several minutes of meditation, he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what weapons might be used in World War III. But there isn\u2019t any doubt what weapons will be used in World War IV.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd what are those?\u201d a guest asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStone spears,\u201d said Einstein.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>While the proliferation of nuclear weapons since 1945 has served as a deterrent to global conflict by raising the costs of a third world war to nothing short of self-extermination, it would also seem a miracle to last 100 years without another detonation. <\/p>\n<p>Over the course of human history, there has been no shortage of conflict. The first two world wars happened within only 21 years of each other. Can we really go five times that without another global conflict breaking out? While the consequences of a nuclear war are certain, the avoidance of one will always be far from it. We can stop an asteroid, but not incompetent leaders.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week proved that the gravest threat to the human race is still the human race. We appear to be marching closer to doomsday \u2014 even if scientists won\u2019t say<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":1663693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1663691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1663691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1663693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1663691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1663691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1663691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}