(OPINION) The Doomsday clock edging closer to midnight will show the world has reached the most dangerous moment ever, a nuclear scientist has warned.
Dr Pavel Podvig, an expert on Weapons of Mass Destruction at the UN, told The Sun that nuclear war is a “truly terrifying prospect” – and something that must be ruled out.
He warned of the dangers of “unstable personalities” being in charge of nuclear arsenals – including Russian despot Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.
The Doomsday Clock operates as a wake-up call for the world about global threats such as nuclear war, dangerous technologies and mass health concerns.
It will be updated today at 3 pm as scientists will reveal how close we are to the end of the world.
The time currently stands at 90 seconds away from midnight – the closest it has ever been to striking midnight, which symbolizes the end of the world.
Pavel also said that unpredictable “accidents” in warzones could lead to uncontrolled escalation and warned of the deaths of billions of people.
He told The Sun: “The number of nuclear weapons that exist, they would have the potential to end the life as we know it, and the numbers are truly terrifying.
“It runs from the tens of millions of people dead in that in the matter of hours. And I’ve seen estimates that suggest that the consequences, like the nuclear winter, would could lead to the death of billions of people.
“I’ve seen the simulations and estimates, and the numbers, and there could be 40 to 50 million people dead in the matter of a couple of hours.
“So it is [a] truly terrifying prospect… That’s something we want to rule out to make sure that this could never happen.”
But Pavel did say that a nuclear war is unlikely to happen – despite Vladimir Putin’s threats.
He told The Sun that it wouldn’t make “any military sense” for Russia to unleash nukes on the battlefield.
“We are not there at the point when the very existence of Russia is in danger. We are not anywhere [near] there.
“If you think about it the only way that nuclear weapons could be used in this kind of war they could be used basically to shock the opponents into surrender.
“And the problem with that is, of course, that this shock would have to be shocking enough, and that would have to involve killing tens, and maybe hundreds of thousands of people.”
Although the threshold for making a decision to unleash nuclear weapons is high, they exist and they can be used, Pavel said.
“We can talk about this threshold, and we can talk about the how difficult it would be to cross it,” he said.
“Still, I think the physical reality is that those weapons are there, and [they] can be used. They are there to be used, and the danger, of course, is that there are scenarios of escalation.
“I do believe that the concern is there, and the clock reflected that concern. We are at a dangerous point.”
