AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

John Tilemann is the director of research for the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament. He is a former career diplomat and was chief of staff to IAEA directors-general Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei. Read his original article for the AIIA here.

“Last week the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ (BAS) Science and Security Board’s annual review of global existential threats left the Doomsday Clock for a second year at two minutes before the apocalypse of midnight. This is the highest level of concern since the testing of hydrogen bombs by the USA and the Soviet Union in 1953. It is a fair conclusion following a woeful year for advocates of nuclear sanity and restraint. The report calls for pressure on world leaders to turn back the clock but offers little insight on how this might be achieved.”