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The Doomsday Clock in 2020: Only 100 seconds to the
apocalypse. Closest to the end of the world ever!
By mickielynn on 2020-08-07 08:15:06
[caption id="attachment_14345" align="alignnone" width="600"]
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Doomsday Clock reset to 100
seconds until midnight. Closest to the end of the world ever. Members of the Elders of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
on January 23, 2020[/caption] On January 23, 2020, as they have done each year since 1947, the Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock the closest that it's ever come to midnight. We are now just 100
seconds away from the annihilation of the human race (and possibly the web of life as we know it.) The clock has moved
closer to midnight during 3 of the last 4 years. There was no change from 2 minutes before midnight in 2019. But even then
we were on the brink of catastrophe. Now, 75 years after the first use of nuclear weapons, there is really no room for error
or for continuing to deny the danger that the world now faces. In the earlier days after the use of nuclear weapons by the US
on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki measurements were made largely on the development of nuclear weapons
and the arms race of the cold war. Now there are other existential threats that have also been taken into account. In their
statement this year these are some of the current dangers that they mentioned: [caption id="attachment_ 14344"
align="alignnone" width="600"]
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Former California Governor
Jerry Brown (left), former Irish President Mary Robinson (middle), and former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reveal
the 2020 Doomsday Clock.
Photo credit: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. CNN editors note: Ban Ki-Moon is former United Nations secretary-general.
Mary Robinson served as both Irish president and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Jerry Brown was
governor of California from 1975-83 and 2011-19 and is now executive chair of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
William J. Perry was US secretary of defense under President Bill Clinton and is now chair of the Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists. Ban Ki-Moon and Mary Robinson are members of The Elders, an international nongovernmental organization of
elder statesmen, peace activists and human rights advocates.[/caption]
Humanity continues to face two simultaneous existential dangers—nuclear war and climate change—that are
compounded by a threat multiplier, cyber-enabled information warfare, that undercuts society's ability to
respond. The international security situation is dire, not just because these threats exist, but because world
leaders have allowed the international political infrastructure for managing them to erode.
At that time they were not fully aware of a third threat, also multiplied by the introduction of extreme international strife,
competition rather than cooperation, and dismemberment of long standing alliances and treaties. I'm talking about the Covid-
19 pandemic and our fragmented and (incompetent & politicized in some cases) responses that seem to be leading to
increasing illness and deaths. Along with economic failures caused by shutdowns and quarantines in attempts to stop the
global spread of the Coronavirus. [caption id="attachment_14347" align="alignnone" width="600"]
The Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse are depicted in this 1887 painting by Viktor Vasnetsov. Images from right to left are Conquest, War, Famine, and
Plague.[/caption] Been thinking about the dangers that we're facing as a species ~ and the climate of scapegoating, racism,
bullying, cruelty and use of famine as a weapon of war. In addition to the headlong rush to abrogate treaties (that have
helped to keep us safe) and to develop new hypersonic and so called "deployable nukes," and new space based weapons.
This has increasingly brought the image of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse to mind. Granted, this is a biblical concept
from the Book of Revelation But there are many other myths in other cultures that describe destruction followed by creation
embodied in one God or Goddess. Suffice it to say that it would be better to step back from the brink and work
cooperatively to deal with these crises to rebuild and recreate a better world together. In their statement the guardians and
keepers of the peace make several suggestions for ways that we can begin to step back from the abyss by changing our
behavior and interactions with each other.
During this week of commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki there
are many virtual events taking place. At 8:15 on Thursday morning, the time that the bomb fell on Hiroshima, there was a
much scaled down ceremony in Hiroshima itself. One of the highlights was the speech of Kazumi Matsui, mayor of
Hiroshima who warned the world about the rise of "self-centered nationalism" and appealed for greater international
cooperation to overcome the coronavirus pandemic. Mayor Matsui also renewed a “Peace Declaration” on behalf of the
city and appealed to Japan’s government to ratify a 2017 U.N. treaty proposing the elimination of nuclear weapons.
Something that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been unwilling to do.
[caption id="attachment_14356" align="alignnone" width="600"]
_ i BA = . Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe (C) bows in front of the Memorial Cenotaph after delivering a speech during the 75th anniversary memorial
service for atomic bomb victims at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima on August 6, 2020. - Japan on August 6, 2020
marked 75 years since the world's first atomic bomb attack, with the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic forcing a scaling
back of annual ceremonies to commemorate the victims. (Photo by Philip Fong / AFP) via Getty Images)[/caption] [caption
id="attachment_14355" align="alignleft" width="300"] Justine Merritt. 1924-
2009:activist, grandmother, High School teacher, embroiderer, Creator and organizer of the original Ribbon that took form
in 1985 after a trip to Hiroshima in 1975 to visit her son.[/caption] Another long standing kind of commemoration has been
the Peace Ribbon that was established in 1985 in a form that surrounded the Pentagon with the message [What I cannot bear
to think of as lost forever] that is also the theme of this year's virtual ribbon of individual fabric squares joined together to
form a ribbon. [caption id="attachment_14351" align="alignright" width="480"]
: Theme of the Peace Ribbon on a poster for this
year's version to be displayed virtually. Pax Christi, USA.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_14353" align="alignright"
les
width="600"] A panel from the
original Ribbon that surrounded the Pentagon in 1985 On the 40th anniversary of the nuclear bombings.[/caption]
This is an international event that has taken place in many nations and in many forms over the years. Other examples of this
kind of event are the AIDS quilt and the Drones quilt. For beautiful graphics, here's a poster from a discussion that took
place in July on the topic of avoiding the apocalypse. [caption id="attachment_14350" align="alignnone" width="498"]
NO NUKES
CLIMATE
JDILSNE
PEACE
a coalition of peacemakers.
No-Nukes-Climate-Justice-Peace. 75th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings — Deconstructing the Myths and Promoting a
Nuclear Weapons-Free & Just World[/caption] Just to remind us of the reality of the death, radiation effects, and incredible
suffering that took place in August of 1945, here's a very powerful video interview of one of the survivors of Hiroshima,
Poster for a July 13, 2020 event sponsored by
who was 10 years old at the time.
Embedded iframe at
https://web.archive.org/web/202 10000000000/https://www.democracynow.org/embed/story/2020/8/6/hideko_tamura_snider_hiroshima_7
Although at the time of the use of these barbaric weapons no one questioned the legality of their use, the discussion with the
unfolding of 3/4 of a century of history is currently changing. If you want to take a deeper look at what was happening
behind the public messaging 75 years ago, there have been two recent books this year that examine the details of some
events that happened just before and after the bombs were dropped. [caption id="attachment_14358" align="alignright"
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
COUNTDOWN
1945
THE EXTRAQADINARY STORY OF
THE ATOMIC BOMB AND THE JI6 DAYS
THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
pt
width="600"] "Chris Wallace
is a veteran journalist and anchor of Fox News Sunday. His new book, "Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the
116 Days That Changed the World," a behind-the-scenes account of the secret meetings and lead up to the world's first use
of the atomic bomb in wartime-the American attack on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. "(A quote from the Book Show on
WAMC.)[/caption] [caption id="attachment_14359" align="alignnone" width="397"]
“Fallout is gripping history. A big, important story; deeply researched and well told.”
—DAN RATHER
The Hiroshima Cover-up and
the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World
FALLOUT
\ SS
ee oa?
LESLEY M.M. BLUME
Book cover of "Fallout," by Lesley Blume. The story of how
reporter John Hersey was able to get the story of the devastation of Hiroshima by the Atomic Bomb when it had been
suppressed by the US government.[/caption] Finally we have a warning and a call to action about the way that our current
administration is practicing brinkmanship with another powerful nuclear power, which just inches the world closer to
midnight. There's a letter to the mainstream media to stop amplifying the message by warmongering against China. You can
read more and sign the letter here. [caption id="attachment_14360" align="alignnone" width="600"]
les
US/China Coldwar
Banner.banner From Code Pink request to the Media to stop the war mongering against China, August 6, 2020[/caption]
