![]() It's a process involving experts from across the world. Trump and Kim's words will probably have an effect on the state of the Doomsday Clock this year, but changing the clock isn't as simple as adjusting its hands and issuing a statement. "What are we going to do if starts bombarding Seoul? What's our response? Nuclear weapons? Really? So yeah. "It's within easy artillery reach," Rosner explained. Seoul is just 35 miles from from the North Korean border region. He also pointed out that South Korea's capital city is within artillery range of the Demilitarized Zone. Speaking of Kim Jong-Un, he continued, "we're dealing with an adversary who, we know, is unpredictable and has done things no one expected. "Sometimes things are said, they're misinterpreted…and then people are moved to action," Rosner said. This was a point the Bulletin hammered home in the statement it released alongside the most recent update to the Doomsday Clock. When those things were said, was there a game plan in mind of how things would play out? From everything I've heard, the answer is no. "It was in the same spirit as North Korea's great leader. ![]() We asked him what went through his head when he watched Trump's statement. Motherboard reached out to Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Science and Security Board Co-Chair Robert Rosner to explain the process. ![]() According to the scientists, they pushed the clock ahead half a minute in 2016 in response to Trump's climate change denials, nuclear proliferation and rising tensions between global superpowers.Äespite the fiery rhetoric of both Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong-Un, the scientists will not be moving the clock forward, but only because they don't meet to decide until November. Right now, the clock stands at two-and-a-half minutes to midnight, 30 seconds closer to destruction than it was the previous year. The clock is run by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a conglomeration of experts on nuclear policy, climate change, and other global threats. But, despite their concerns, there are no current plans to push the hands of that clock closer to doomsday, which is represented by midnight. The people in charge of the Doomsday Clock, a metaphorical timepiece that keeps track of how close the Earth is to destruction, are just as frightened. Lewis isn't the only scientist worried about Armageddon. "That or we're all going to die in a nuclear hell-fire brought on by two lunatics enabled by toadies sycophants and boot-lickers. It's *probably* a good sign that he's frightened and unsure what to do," tweeted Jeffrey Lewis, Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and founder of Arms Control Wonk. "FWIW, Trump is a blowhard who blusters when unsure what to say. The statement set off alarm bells in the nuclear weapon watchdog community.
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