UN Secretary-General: “the Doomsday Clock is a global alarm clock”
Posted: 9th February 2023
By François Diaz-Maurin | February 6, 2023
UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivers remarks at the opening meeting the Tenth Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in August 2022. On Monday, before the General Assembly, the secretary-general highlighted his nuclear concerns and extended them to the full range of existential threats the world faces. (Image UN Photo/Loey Felipe)
In opening his annual remarks to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, UN Secretary-General António Guterres emphasized the need for member countries to address the dire international security situation, as described in this year’s Doomsday Clock statement. Members of the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board “surveyed the state of the world—the Russian invasion of Ukraine, runaway climate catastrophe, rising nuclear threats, the undermining of global norms and institutions. And they came to a clear conclusion,” Guterres said. “The Doomsday Clock is now 90 seconds to midnight, or total global catastrophe.”
“This is the closest the clock has ever stood to humanity’s darkest hour—closer than even during the height of the Cold War,” he added.