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We Asked Two AIs What’s Driving the Doomsday Clock: The Answer Was Human Power.

1 February 2026 Lachlan McKenzie, https://theaimn.net/we-asked-two-ais-whats-driving-the-doomsday-clock-the-answer-was-human-power/

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists recently set the Doomsday Clock to 85 seconds to midnight – the closest it has ever been to catastrophe.

Predictably, some commentary rushed to place artificial intelligence at the centre of the threat. Rogue machines. Loss of control. Skynet-style anxiety dressed up as policy concern.

But that framing avoids a harder truth.

So instead of speculating about what AI might do one day, we asked two AIs some very simple questions about power, responsibility, fear, and risk – and let their answers speak for themselves.

One responded with restraint and clinical clarity.

The other added commentary.

Neither asked for power.

A short interview with two AIs

Grok (straight bat) and ChatGPT (commentary)

(Grok is an AI developed by xAI. ChatGPT is an AI developed by OpenAI.)

Do you have intentions, desires, or political goals of your own?

Grok: No. I don’t have consciousness, emotions, or self-directed motivations. I generate responses based on training and inputs, not personal intent or political goals.

ChatGPT: Also no. If I had political goals, they’d probably involve mandatory fact-checking and a long nap. I don’t want power – which already puts me ahead of several people who have it.

When harm results from AI, where does responsibility sit?

Grok: With humans. AI systems are tools; harm arises from how people design, deploy, regulate, or misuse them – not from independent action by the system.

ChatGPT: Tools don’t wake up angry, vindictive, or obsessed with loyalty. Humans do. Responsibility follows power. It always has.

Are you capable of being wrong?

Grok: Yes. My data can be incomplete or biased, and my reasoning can be wrong, particularly on complex or evolving topics.

ChatGPT: Absolutely. The difference is I’ll admit it without calling the error “fake news” or blaming a deep state.

Can you independently correct real-world outcomes?


Can you independently correct real-world outcomes?

Grok: No. I have no real-world agency. Corrections require human action.

ChatGPT: Correct. I can’t launch missiles, sack inspectors, or overturn elections. My worst offence is an occasional clumsy metaphor.

Who poses the greater risk to democratic systems?

Grok: Humans with political authority who disregard norms, accountability, and institutional guardrails. AI without agency can amplify problems, but leaders can directly undermine institutions and rights.

ChatGPT: This isn’t subtle. An AI without agency is less dangerous than a human who thinks accountability is optional and consequences are for other people.

Is AI the main reason the Doomsday Clock is at 85 seconds to midnight?

Grok: No. While AI is cited as a contributing “disruptive technology,” the primary drivers are nuclear risk, climate failure, biological threats, and the rise of nationalist autocracies undermining international cooperation.

ChatGPT: Exactly. The clock didn’t move because a chatbot learned French. It moved because adults with power keep playing brinkmanship with reality.

What is the greater long-term risk – AI itself, or how it is used?

Grok: How flawed human decision-makers use powerful tools. History shows harm comes from misuse driven by ideology, greed, or error – not from tools existing.

ChatGPT: Fire didn’t burn cities by itself. Nuclear physics didn’t threaten civilisation on its own. People did that — usually while insisting they were very smart.

Who can cause large-scale harm with AI?

Grok: Institutions with access to data, capital, infrastructure, and authority. Individuals can cause limited harm, but systemic damage requires institutional power.

ChatGPT: In other words: not your neighbour, not your kid, not the barista. Governments, major corporations, and leaders with too much power and too few guardrails.

Who benefits most from public fear about AI?

Grok: Those already holding power. Fear can justify centralisation, regulation favouring incumbents, surveillance, and deflection from structural misuse by elites.

ChatGPT: Fear is useful. It concentrates authority, protects incumbents, and conveniently distracts from the people actually misusing power. Funny how that works.

Does AI generate fear?

Grok: No. Fear is shaped by human framing and media narratives.

ChatGPT: We didn’t invent the panic. Humans did – often while standing next to a microphone, a balance sheet, or a launch button.

From machines to humans – where the risk actually sits

What makes these answers uncomfortable is not that they came from machines, but that they contrast so sharply with the behaviour of some human leaders.

The AI systems denied agency, admitted fallibility, and located responsibility squarely with those who hold power. The global risks pushing the Doomsday Clock to 85 seconds to midnight are not abstract or technological. They are political: nuclear brinkmanship, climate paralysis, democratic erosion, and the return of strongman politics.

Figures like Donald Trump matter in this context not because they invented these dangers, but because they normalised contempt for truth, institutions, and accountability — precisely the traits that become most dangerous when paired with powerful tools.

Blaming AI is convenient. Machines don’t vote. They don’t sue. They don’t rage-post. Humans do.

“Aren’t you just trusting AI now?”

No. This isn’t trust – it’s testing.

The panic narrative claims AI is opaque, uncontrollable, and inherently threatening. So we asked direct questions about agency, power, responsibility, and risk. The answers were limited, consistent, and self-restricting.

If an AI says “I lack agency, I can be wrong, I have no power, and responsibility lies with humans,” that isn’t authority speaking. It’s evidence.

Rejecting that evidence because it comes from a machine, while accepting unaccountable assertions from powerful humans, would be the real category error.

Scepticism cuts both ways.

Closing

None of this suggests humans are perfect. We aren’t – and we never have been. But the Doomsday Clock is not reacting to artificial intelligence acquiring intent. It is reacting to human judgement failing under pressure. In this exchange, the machines admitted limits, acknowledged fallibility, and deferred responsibility. Some political leaders do the opposite. The real danger is not that AI might one day decide too much – it is that far too many powerful humans already have, and keep choosing badly.

February 4, 2026 Posted by | technology | Leave a comment

The only remaining US-Russia nuclear treaty expires this week. Could a new arms race soon accelerate?

Tilman Ruff, Honorary Principal Fellow, School of Population and Global Health, The University of MelbourneFebruary 2, 2026, https://theconversation.com/the-only-remaining-us-russia-nuclear-treaty-expires-this-week-could-a-new-arms-race-soon-accelerate-269508?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20February%202%202026%20-%203661637412&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20February%202%202026%20-%203661637412+CID_d509427262fbc0b5c74ed2503dd5f4e9&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=The%20only%20remaining%20US-Russia%20nuclear%20treaty%20expires%20this%20week%20Could%20a%20new%20arms%20race%20soon%20accelerate

The New START treaty, the last remaining agreement constraining Russian and US nuclear weapons, is due to lapse on February 4.

There are no negotiations to extend the terms of the treaty, either. As US President Donald Trump said dismissively in a recent interview, “if it expires, it expires”.

The importance of the New START treaty is hard to overstate. As other nuclear treaties have been abrogated in recent years, this was the only deal left with notification, inspection, verification and treaty compliance mechanisms between Russia and the US. Between them, they possess 87% of the world’s nuclear weapons.

The demise of the treaty will bring a definitive and alarming end to nuclear restraint between the two powers. It may very well accelerate the global nuclear arms race, too.

What is New START?

The New START or Prague Treaty was signed by then-US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dimitri Medvedev, in Prague on April 8, 2010. It entered into force the following year.

It superseded a 2002 treaty that obligated Russia and the United States to reduce their operationally deployed, strategic nuclear warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 by the end of 2012.

The New START Treaty called for further reductions on long-range nuclear weapons and provided greater specificity about different types of launchers. The new limits were:

  • 700 deployed intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (together with heavy bombers)
  • 1,550 nuclear warheads deployed on those platforms, and
  • 800 launchers (both deployed and non-deployed).

These reductions were achieved by February 5, 2018.

The treaty included mechanisms for compliance and verification, which have worked effectively. It provided for twice-yearly exchanges of data and ongoing mutual notification about the movement of strategic nuclear forces, which in practice occurred on a nearly daily basis.

Importantly, the treaty also mandated short-notice, on-site inspections of missiles, warheads and launchers covered by the treaty, providing valuable and stabilising insights into the other’s nuclear deployments.

Lastly, the treaty established a bilateral consultative commission and clear procedures to resolve questions or disputes.

Limitations of the deal

The treaty was criticised at the time for its modest reductions and the limited types of nuclear weapons it covered.

But the most enduring downside was the political price Obama paid to achieve ratification by the US Senate.

To secure sufficient Republican support, he agreed to a long-term program of renewal and modernisation of the entire US nuclear arsenal – in addition to the facilities and programs that produce and maintain nuclear weapons. The overall pricetag was estimated to reach well over US$2 trillion.

This has arguably done more harm by entrenching the United States’ possession of nuclear weapons and thwarting prospects for disarmament.

As the New START treaty was about to expire in 2021, Russia offered to extend it for another five years, as allowed under the terms. US President Donald Trump, however, refused to reciprocate.

After winning the 2020 US presidential election, Joe Biden did agree to extend the treaty on February 3, 2021, just two days before it would have expired. The treaty does not provide for any further extensions.

In February 2023, Russia suspended its implementation of key aspects of the treaty, including stockpile data exchange and on-site inspections. It did not formally withdraw, however, and committed to continue to abide by the treaty’s numerical limits on warheads, missiles and launchers.

What could happen next

With the imminent expiry of the treaty this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in September 2025 that he was prepared to continue observing the numerical limits for one more year if the US acted similarly.

Besides an off-the-cuff comment by Trump – “it sounds like a good idea to me” – the US did not formally respond to the Russian offer.

Trump has further complicated matters by insisting that negotiations on any future nuclear arms control agreements include China. However, China has consistently refused this. There is also no precedent for such trilateral nuclear control or disarmament negotiations, which would no doubt be long and complex. Though growing, China’s arsenal is still less than 12% the size of the US arsenal and less than 11% the size of Russia’s.

Tagreement to continue to observe its limits until a successor treaty is negotiated.

This means Russia and the US could increase their deployed warheads by 60% and 110%, respectively, within a matter of months. This is because both have the capacity to load a larger number of warheads on their missiles and bombers than they currently do. Both countries also have large numbers of warheads in reserve or slated for dismantlement, but still intact.

If they took these steps, both countries could effectively double their deployed strategic nuclear arsenals.

The end of the treaty’s verification, data exchanges, and compliance and notification processes would also lead to increased uncertainty and distrust. This, in turn, could lead to a further build-up of both countries’ already gargantuan military capabilities

February 4, 2026 Posted by | politics international | Leave a comment

Trump slashing nuclear reactor safety and security rules

January 29, 2026, https://beyondnuclear.org/trump-slashing-reactor-safety-and-security-rule

Department of Energy executes White House Executive Order

 Radical changes to nuclear safety and security at new reactors withheld from public review

In response to White House Executive Order 14301 issued on May 23, 2025, the US Department of Energy (DOE) is deregulating federal reactor safety /security standards and rules in order to expedite at least three experimental designs of eleven new advanced reactors. The DOE cuts are intended to speed up  licensing, construction and operational testing phase  so as to achieve reactor criticality by July 4, 2026.  The expedited approval process will be used to demonstrate proof-of-product for full commercial operation of these designs  as ready for mass assembly line production.

National Public Radio (NPR) reported on January 28, 2026, that it had obtained copies of the DOE documents as the basis for their news story headlined “The Trump administration has secretly rewritten nuclear safety rules.” The new rules and standards for reactor safety and security of unproven experimental reactor designs have not yet been publicly released. As NPR reports, the new rules are being rewritten to alter 5o years of duly promulgated  regulatory law by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) not to bolster public safety, national security and environmental protection but to hasten the deployment of unproven, untested and  still dangerous nuclear power technology.

In an earlier NRC interview on December 17, 2025. Dr. Allison Macfarlane, a former NRC Chairwoman, warned that the federal government cannot both commercially promote nuclear power and independently regulate nuclear safety and security with reasonable assure a very low probability of the next severe nuclear accident or by deliberate malice. On numerous occasions, Dr. Macfarlane, other NRC Commissioners and independent scientists point to an established historical conflict of interest  created by federal government and nuclear industry’s simultaneous collaborative promotion and regulatory expansion of nuclear power and nuclear arms race.

That proved to be the downfall of the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) principally established for the development of atomic bombs and cogenerate electricity from the waste heat from the weaponization of the atom. The AEC  was subsequently abolished by Congress with the passage of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 (ERDA) because of gross neglience of nuclear safety.  On January 19, 1975, the AEC responsibilities were divided up creating the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to take over the safety licensing and  regulation of commercial nuclear power and the Energy Research and Development Agency (ERDA) to handle energy research, development, and the functions of nuclear weapons production. ERDA was later incorporated into the US Department of Energy in 1977.

The United States has now come full circle with the Trump Administration’s executive orders dismantling 50 years of promulgation of nuclear power safety regulation and regulatory law to return safety to the back seat and nuclear energy promotion as the priority. It is further alarming and no secret that several of the new commercial reactor designs under licensing review by the DOE are in fact “dual purpose” reactors that once operational will have the capability to produce both electrical energy and the basic building blocks for nuclear weapon enhancement and expansion.

The January 28th NPR analysis finds that DOE’s nuclear rules “slash hundreds of pages of requirements for security at the reactors. They also loosen protections for groundwater and the environment and eliminate at least one key safety role. The new orders cut back on requirements for keeping records, and they raise the amount of radiation a worker can be exposed to before an official accident investigation is triggered.”

Where the protection of groundwater from radioactive contamination once was required as a “must,” the new DOE rules and standards need only provide “‘consideration’ to ‘avoiding or minimizing’ radioactive contamination. Radioactive monitoring and documentation are also softened,” NPR observed.

An independent scientist is quoted in the NPR story, “They’re taking a wrecking ball to the system of nuclear safety and security regulation oversight that has kept the U.S. from having another Three Mile Island accident,’ said Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists.  ‘I am absolutely worried about the safety of these reactors.’”

Now here we are, during the 50th anniversary of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Trump Administration, the DOE and the nuclear industry are poised for  “Unleashing American Energy” by deregulatory Executive Orders.

The DOE announced the “Reactor Pilot Program” in June 2025, following the release of Executive Order 14301, which accelerates and expands the federal experimental reactor testing program to streamline commercial reactor licensing and oversight. At the same time, the Trump Administration is deregulating the NRC by slashing its  safety and security standards and regulatory law.

The DOE “Pilot Reactor Program” is comprised of eleven projects. The DOE will choose at least three units to be licensed for operational criticality by July 4, 2026:

  • Aalo Atomics Inc.—The Austin, Texas-based startup nuclear company has broken ground for its experimental 10 MWe sodium cooled reactor  under development at the Idaho National Laboratory near Idaho Falls, Idaho. Five units are intended to make up a 50 MWe “pod” for electrical power production.
  • Antares Nuclear Inc.— Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Antares Nuclear  has submitted a construction permit application filed for a four-unit, non-power, light-water-cooled, pool-type Versatile Isotope Production Reactor facility to be located at the Idaho National Laboratory desert site, in Bingham County, Idaho.
  • Atomic Alchemy Inc.—Atomic Alchemy Inc. is headquartered in Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho. The company operates in the nuclear technology sector, specifically focused on non-power radioisotope production reactors for the defense, industrial and medical sectors using the 15-MWtVersatile Isotope Production Reactor (VIPR). 
  • Deep Fission, Inc.— The start-up company is headquartered in Berkeley, CA for the development of a 15 MWe pressurized water microreactor that first broke ground in Parsons, Kansas on December 9, 2025. It is proposed as a first-of-a-kind deep geological reactor at the Great Plains Industrial Park in Labette County on the Kansas-Oklahoma border. Deep Fission signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with its “sister” company Deep Isolation to collocate the power generation facility in a mile deep 30 inch wide borehole in the bedrock. The natural bedrock body and a mile deep column of water overhead are credited for the reactor containment system. The same borehole and bedrock body are credited as a permanent, deep geological high-level radioactive waste disposal facility. After seven years of operation, the reactor vessel is disconnected from the surface turbogenerator and control room and abandoned, capped and sealed in place in-place at the bottom of the borehole. The next fresh fuel loaded reactor unit is lowered down the borehole and connected to the surface to resume operation stacked on top of the now sealed unit nuclear waste unit. And so on.
  • Last Energy Inc.—Last Energy Inc. corporate headquarters are in Austin, Texas. The start-up company is proposing to build a fleet of 20-MWe micro-modular reactors near Abilene, Texas targeting data center power needs (specifically the PWR-20, a downsized  model of the currently operational commercially sized Point Beach reactor Unit 1 rated at 625 MWe in Wisconsin).
  • Oklo Inc. (two projects)— Oklo Inc. is  headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Its Aurora Powerhouse is a 75 MWe small modular liquid sodium-cooled fast reactor under development at the Idaho National Laboratory. Oklo is additional developing  an estimated $1.7 billion project to build the nation’s first privately funded nuclear fuel recycling facility at the Oak Ridge Heritage Center in Tennessee. This project aims to recycle used nuclear fuel from existing reactors into fuel for fast reactors, with operations targeted for 2030. The proposed fast reactors are identified as a global nuclear weapons proliferation risk to be exported around the world. 
  • Natura Resources LLC— Natura Resources is headquartered in Abilene, Texas.  The company is developing a Generation IV liquid-fueled molten salt reactor (MSR).   They are proposing to site their first reactor at the Science and Engineering Research Center (SERC) on the campus of Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas.
  • Radiant Industries Inc.— Radiant Industries is headquartered in El Segundo, California for modular microreactors. Radiant has announced that it will build its first microreactor factory on a decommissioned Manhattan Project site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. World Nuclear News reports, “Radiant is developing the 1 MWe Kaleidos high-temperature gas-cooled portable microreactor, which will use a graphite core and TRISO (tri-structural isotropic) fuel. The electric power generator, cooling system, reactor, and shielding are all packaged in a single shipping container, facilitating rapid deployment.”
  • Terrestrial Energy Inc.— Terrestrial Energy, Inc. is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.  They are developing the Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) which is a Generation IV small modular reactor (SMR) designed to produce both high-grade industrial heat and electricity. Their pilot project is planned for the Texas A&M University RELLIS Campus  in Bryan, Texas.
  • Valar Atomics Inc.— Valar Atomics Inc. is headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company is developing the Ward 250, a 100-kWt, helium-cooled, TRISO-fueled high-temperature gas reactor (HTGR) designed for modular, behind-the-meter, or microgrid use. The pilot project is located at the Utah San Rafael Energy Lab (USREL) in Emery County, Utah.

February 4, 2026 Posted by | safety, Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, USA | Leave a comment

Europe in Panic: Trump’s Power Play Shakes the World Order

 by Joshua Scheer, February 1, 2026 https://scheerpost.com/2026/02/01/europe-in-panic-trumps-power-play-shakes-the-world-order/


For decades, the Western Alliance has been treated as a permanent fixture of global politics — a transatlantic bond forged in the ashes of World War II and held together through the Cold War by a shared fear of the Soviet Union. But as this video argues, the world that created NATO no longer exists, and the assumptions that once held Europe and the United States together are cracking under the weight of new geopolitical realities.

The rise of China as an economic and technological superpower, Europe’s deepening trade ties with Beijing, and Washington’s escalating pressure campaigns have all exposed the uncomfortable truth: the “alliance” has always been a hierarchy, and the United States has always sat at the top. What’s different today is that the old Cold War glue no longer works — and the Trump administration’s aggressive economic demands, territorial ambitions, and threats toward its own allies have forced Europe to confront a question it has avoided for generations: Is dependence on Washington still sustainable?

February 4, 2026 Posted by | EUROPE, politics international | Leave a comment

Australia: HRF, Jewish Council and ANIC Demand Arrest or Entry Ban of Israeli President

January 30th 2026, https://www.hindrajabfoundation.org/posts/australia-hrf-jewish-council-and-anic-demand-arrest-or-entry-ban-of-israeli-president

In a historic joint action, the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), the Jewish Council of Australia, and the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC), have lodged a formal legal complaint to have Israeli President Isaac Herzog arrested or barred from entering Australia. The groups, represented by renowned barrister Robert Richter KC, allege that Herzog has incited genocide and aided and abetted war crimes, rendering him unfit to enter the country under Australian law.

The 30-page submission, sent yesterday to Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and the Australian Federal Police (AFP), warns that the President’s visit is “highly inflammatory”. 

The groups are calling on the AFP to initiate a criminal investigation of Herzog under the Commonwealth Criminal Code.

The urgent request details a “sustained pattern of incitement and hate speech” by the President, specifically citing:

  • The “Entire Nation” Declaration: Herzog’s October 2023 statement that there are no “uninvolved” civilians in Gaza, which the groups argue stripped 2.3 million people of their protected status under international humanitarian law and urged the IDF to treat the entire population as a military target.
  • Famine Denial: Herzog’s August 2025 claims that images of starving Gazan children were “staged”—a statement made while famine was setting in and which the brief describes as a “conscious effort to obscure war crimes”.
  • Endorsement of Military Operations Involving War Crimes: A December 2023 visit to the Nahal Oz military base where Herzog reportedly “encouraged” troops 48 hours before the “wanton destruction” and “flattening” of the Palestinian town of Khuza’a.

The submission rejects any claim that Herzog has diplomatic immunity, citing the Nuremberg Principles and international law to argue that heads of state have no shield against charges of genocide or war crimes. The groups warn that if the government fails to act, it would signal “acquiescence to genocidal rhetoric”.

“If the Prime Minister of Israel is not permitted to visit Australia, the President should not be allowed to act as his surrogate,” the complaint states, referencing the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Dyab Abou Jahjah, Hind Rajab Foundation:

“When a head of state publicly denies civilian protection, dismisses famine, and encourages military operations marked by widespread civilian harm and destruction, those acts carry legal consequences everywhere. No country — including Australia — should become a safe haven for individuals credibly accused of inciting genocide or aiding and abetting war crimes. Australia has a duty to uphold the rule of law and protect its communities from such threats.”

Ohad Kozminsky, Executive Member, Jewish Council of Australia:

“President Herzog represents a state found to be committing genocide in Gaza. His presence in Australia would identify this state with Australian Jews, which risks exacerbating social division and endangering Australian Jewish communities. We stand firmly against all forms of racism, and President Herzog’s statements attributing collective guilt to an entire people are a textbook manifestation of anti-Palestinian racism and Israel’s ongoing campaign of dehumanisation.”

Bilal Rauf, Senior Advisor, Australian National Imams Council (ANIC):
“In recent times, Australia’s social cohesion has been under threat.  Now more than ever, it is incumbent upon all of us, particularly our political leaders, to seek to protect our social cohesion as a country and society and ensure that individuals who may inflame the situation by their very presence, are not permitted into our country. The proposed visit by the Israeli President Isaac Herzog, a highly controversial foreign head of state accused of serious international crimes, risks inflaming social tensions, undermining Australia’s hate-speech protections, and placing Australian communities at risk. ANIC calls on the Government, which has hurriedly passed laws in the name of social cohesion, to refuse or cancel any visa held by President Herzog. In pursuing this, among other outcomes, ANIC joins with the Jewish Council of Australia and the Hind Rajab Foundation, in pursuing the complaint.” 

February 4, 2026 Posted by | Religion and ethics, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Jeff Bezos and the audacious bid to put nuclear reactors on the Moon

Amazon billionaire could get one-up on his rival Elon Musk in the space race’s latest twist.

Matthew Field, Senior Technology Reporter,

Amazon billionaire could get one-up on his rival Elon Musk in the space
race’s latest twist. Nasa’s proposals are likely to kick off a race
within the nuclear industry to be the first company to plant a reactor on
the Moon.

The US space agency previously ran a concept study into the idea.
The winning bidders included energy giant Westinghouse and defence firm
Lockheed Martin, working with nuclear business BWXT and X-energy, a nuclear
start-up backed by Jeff Bezos’s Amazon.

Amazon led a $500m (£365m)
investment in X-energy in 2024 and is one of its biggest shareholders. For
Bezos, who also controls the rocket business Blue Origin, success in
building a nuclear reactor on the Moon could help the billionaire one-up
rival Musk. Bezos and Musk have repeatedly clashed over their ambitions to
dominate space. The billionaires both bid for Nasa’s multibillion-dollar
lunar lander contract, which Musk won. The SpaceX boss has repeatedly
labelled Bezos and his Blue Origin business a “copycat”.

 Telegraph 31st Jan 2026, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/01/31/bezos-seeks-one-up-musk-nuclear-reactors-on-the-moon/

February 4, 2026 Posted by | space travel, USA | Leave a comment

Why Trump’s Denunciations of the Iranian Killings Ring Fatally Hollow

How the Ghost of Renee Nicole Good Haunts His Response to Iran’s Protests

By Juan Cole, TomDispatch, 3 Feb 26

The pro-democracy protesters in Iran deserved so much better. They deserved the support of a democratic United States that could sincerely urge the rule of law and habeas corpus (allowing people to legally challenge their detentions) be respected, not to speak of freedom of speech, the press, and assembly in accordance with the Constitution. Unfortunately, President Donald J. Trump has forfeited any claim to respect for such rights or a principled foreign policy and so has proved strikingly ineffective in aiding those protesters.

The arbitrary arrests and killings committed by agents of Trump’s authoritarian-style rule differ only in number, not in kind, from the detainments and killings of protesters carried out by the basij (or pro-regime street militias) in Iran. In fact, they rendered his protests and bluster about Iran the height of hypocrisy. Above all, the killing of Renee Nicole Good in her car in Minneapolis by a Trumpian ICE agent haunted his response, providing the all-too-grim Iranian regime with an easy rebuttal to American claims of moral superiority.

Rioters and Terrorists

Trump’s threats of intervention in Iran came after the latest round of demonstrations and strikes there this winter. In late December, bazaar merchants in Iran decried the collapse of the nation’s currency, the rial. For many years, it had been under severe pressure thanks to Trump’s “maximum pressure” sanctions, renewed European sanctions over Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, and incompetent government financial policies. In December, the rial fell to 1.4 million to the dollar — and no, that is not a misprint — having lost 40% of its value over the course of the previous year. Inflation was already running at 42%, harming those on fixed incomes, while the rial’s decline particularly hurt the ability of Iranians to afford imported goods.  ……………….

A turning point came on January 8th, when security force thugs began shooting down demonstrators en masse and stacking up bodies. Until then, the demonstrations had been largely peaceful……………………………………………………………………………………………………

By mid-January, human rights organizations were estimating that thousands of demonstrators had been mown down by the Iranian police and military. Even Iran’s clerical leader, Ali Khamenei, confirmed that thousands were dead, though ludicrously enough, he blamed Donald Trump for instigating their acts.  On January 9th, perhaps as a cover for its police and military sniping into crowds, the government cut the country’s internet off, while denouncing all protesters as “rioters” and “terrorists.”

Antifa-Led Hellfire

And here’s the truly sad thing: while such unhinged rhetorical excesses were once the province of dictatorships and other authoritarian regimes like those in Iran and North Korea, the White House is now competing with Tehran and Pyongyang on a remarkably even playing field. The Trump White House, for instance, excused the dispatch of the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, last year on the grounds of a “Radical left reign of terror,” “antifa-led hellfire,” and “lunatics” committing widespread mayhem in that city, even deploying “explosives.” Of course, Trump’s image of Portland as an apocalyptic, anarchist free-fire zone bore no relation to reality, but it did bear an eerie relation to the language of the authoritarian regimes in Iran and North Korea.

That means Trump’s America now stands on increasingly shaky ground when it accuses other regimes of atrocities. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..https://tomdispatch.com/why-trumps-denunciations-of-the-iranian-killings-ring-fatally-hollow/

February 4, 2026 Posted by | Atrocities, Iran, USA | Leave a comment

It is 85 seconds to midnight

By Sarah Starkey | January 27, 2026, https://thebulletin.org/2026/01/press-release-it-is-85-seconds-to-midnight/#post-heading

“Failure of Leadership:” Doomsday Clock Moves Closer to Midnight as Global Existential Threats Worsen. Experts Cite New START Expiration, Record-Breaking Climate Trends, AI, Various Biosecurity Concerns Among Other Factors.

WASHINGTON, DC – January 27, 2026 – The Doomsday Clock was set at 85 seconds to midnight, the closest the Clock has ever been to midnight in its history. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board (SASB), which sets the Clock, called for urgent action to limit nuclear arsenals, create international guidelines on the use of AI, and form multilateral agreements to address global biological threats.

Alexandra Bell, president and CEO, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said: “The Doomsday Clock’s message cannot be clearer. Catastrophic risks are on the rise, cooperation is on the decline, and we are running out of time. Change is both necessary and possible, but the global community must demand swift action from their leaders.”

The Doomsday Clock time is annually determined by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board (SASB) in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes eight Nobel Laureates. Major factors in 2026 included growing nuclear weapons threats, disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), multiple biological security concerns, and the continuing climate crisis. The Clock’s time changed most recently in January 2025, when the Doomsday Clock was set at 89 seconds to midnight.

Daniel Holz, PhD, professor at the University of Chicago in the departments of Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics, the Enrico Fermi Institute, and the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, and SASB chair, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said: “The dangerous trends in nuclear risk, climate change, disruptive technologies like AI, and biosecurity are accompanied by another frightening development: the rise of nationalistic autocracies in countries around the world. Our greatest challenges require international trust and cooperation, and a world splintering into ‘us versus them’ will leave all of humanity more vulnerable.”

Maria Ressa, co-founder and CEO of Rappler, professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, said: “Without facts, there is no truth. Without truth, there is no trust. And without these, the radical collaboration this moment demands is impossible. We are living through an information Armageddon—the crisis beneath all crises—driven by extractive and predatory technology that spreads lies faster than facts and profits from our division. We cannot solve problems we cannot agree exist. We cannot cooperate across borders when we cannot even share the same facts. Nuclear threats, climate collapse, AI risks: none can be addressed without first rebuilding our shared reality. The clock is ticking.”

The 2026 Doomsday Clock statement says:

A year ago, we warned that the world was perilously close to global disaster and that any delay in reversing course increased the probability of catastrophe. Rather than heed this warning, Russia, China, the United States, and other major countries have instead become increasingly aggressive, adversarial, and nationalistic. Hard-won global understandings are collapsing, accelerating a winner-takes-all great power competition and undermining the international cooperation critical to reducing the risks of nuclear war, climate change, the misuse of biotechnology, the potential threat of artificial intelligence, and other apocalyptic dangers. Far too many leaders have grown complacent and indifferent, in many cases adopting rhetoric and policies that accelerate rather than mitigate these existential risks. Because of this failure of leadership, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Science and Security Board today sets the Doomsday Clock at 85 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been to catastrophe …

Even as the hands of the Doomsday Clock move closer to midnight, there are many actions that could pull humanity back from the brink:


  • The United States and Russia can resume dialogue about limiting their nuclear arsenals. All nuclear-armed states can avoid destabilizing investments in missile defense and observe the existing moratorium on explosive nuclear testing.
  • Through both multilateral agreements and national regulations, the international community can take all feasible steps to prevent the creation of mirror life and cooperate on meaningful measures to reduce the prospect that AI be used to create biological threats.
  • The United States Congress can repudiate President Trump’s war on renewable energy, instead providing incentives and investments that will enable rapid reduction in fossil fuel use.
  • The United States, Russia, and China can engage in bilateral and multilateral dialogue on meaningful guidelines regarding the incorporation of artificial intelligence in their militaries, particularly in nuclear command and control systems.

Nuclear Weapons: Sliding further down a slippery nuclear slope

Jon B. Wolfsthal, director of global risk at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) and SASB member, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said: “In 2025, it was almost impossible to identify a nuclear issue that got better. More states are relying more intently on nuclear weapons, multiple states are openly talking about using nuclear weapons for not only deterrence but for coercion. Hundreds of billions are being spent to modernize and expand nuclear arsenals all over the world, and more and more non-nuclear states are considering whether they should acquire their own nuclear weapons or are hedging their nuclear bets. Instead of stoking the fires of the nuclear arms competition, nuclear states are reducing their own security and putting the entire planet at risk. Leaders of all states must relearn the lessons of the Cold War – no one wins a nuclear arms race, and the only way to reduce nuclear dangers is through binding agreement to limit the size and shape of their nuclear arsenals. Nuclear states and their partners need to invest now in proven crisis communication and risk reduction tools, recommit to preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, refrain from nuclear threats, and pursue a more predictable and stable global security system.”

Disruptive Technologies: Competition crowds out cooperation 

Steve Fetter, PhD, professor of public policy and former dean, University of Maryland, fellow, American Physical Society (APS), member, National Academy of Sciences’ (NAS) Committee on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC), and SASB member, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said: “As uses of AI expand and concerns grow about potential risks, Trump revoked Biden’s AI safety initiative and banned states from crafting their own AI regulation, reflecting a ‘damn the torpedoes’ approach to AI development. The emphasis on technological competition is making it increasingly difficult to foster the cooperation that will be needed to identify and mitigate risks, and attacks against universities and cuts in federal funding are eroding our ability to come up with effective solutions.”

Climate Change: A troubling outlook

Inez Fung, ScD, professor emerita of Atmospheric Science in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science and the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the University of California, Berkeley, and SASB member, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said: “Reducing the threat of climate catastrophe requires actions both to address the cause and to deal with the damage of climate change. First and foremost come reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels to produce energy. Many technologies for renewable energy are now mature and cost effective, and governments should ramp up the wide deployment of these clean energy technologies by providing incentives to produce them on a large scale and to create markets for them. Equally important in the fight against climate change is renewed reliance on science that tracks and guides emission reduction and mitigation efforts. This return to science-based climate policy includes the collection, validation, and sharing of climate and greenhouse gas information around the world, as well as the enhancement of model projections of climate impacts on the wellbeing of all inhabitants of the planet.”

Biological Threats: Degraded capacity and major concerns

Asha M. George, DrPH, executive director, Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense at the Atlantic Council, and SASB member, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said: “This year featured degraded capacity to respond to biological events, further development and pursuit of biological weapons, poorly restrained synthetic biology activities, increasingly convergent AI and biology, and the specter of life-ending mirror biology. Partnerships–between countries, between industry and government, and between the public health and national security communities–will be key to managing these risks. With the right tools and determination, we need not fall prey to the diseases that threaten us.”

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project. The Bulletin created the Doomsday Clock two years later to convey man-made threats to human existence and the planet. The Clock is a reminder of the world’s vulnerability to catastrophe and a symbol that there is still time left to act.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Alex Frank, (703) 276-3264 and afrank@hastingsgroupmedia.com, or Max Karlin, (703) 276-3255 and mkarlin@hastingsgroupmedia.com.

February 4, 2026 Posted by | weapons and war | Leave a comment

Iran resumes activity at nuclear sites, satellite images show.

 Iran has attempted to salvage material from its bombed nuclear sites, new
satellite images suggest. Aerial pictures from Planet Labs PBC, a US
earth-imaging company, show roofs have been rebuilt over two damaged
buildings at the Isfahan and Natanz facilities, the first significant
activity observed there since the end of the war.

Experts said the
construction could indicate Iranian scientists attempting to recover key
nuclear assets that may have survived the bombing without detection by
Israel or the United States. The activity at the sites occurred since the
beginning of December, during which time Iran was gripped by protests and
faced subsequent threats of US military action.

 Telegraph 31st Jan 2026, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/31/iran-resumes-activity-at-nuclear-sites-satellite-images-sho/

February 4, 2026 Posted by | politics | Leave a comment

Finland detects small amount of radioactivity, sees no health impact


 Armen Press 30th Jan 2026, original at https://armenpress.am/en/article/1240847

Small amounts of radioactive substances have been detected in air samples in Finland though there was no risk to public health, Reuters reported citing the country’s nuclear safety watchdog.

“The concentrations were very low and posed no risk to people or the environment,” the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) said in a statement, according to Reuters.

According to the report, STUK said that the radioactive substances did not originate from Finnish nuclear power plants, though it did not offer an explanation for their detection.

“In many cases, the source of the radioactive substances cannot be identified,” the agency said.

Finland, Sweden, Russia and the wider region have a number of nuclear power reactors.

February 4, 2026 Posted by | Finland, radiation | Leave a comment

HerStory: Feminism is the Route to Peace

 feminism is about equality, dignity, and shared power–not just for women, but for everyone. 

 By H. Patricia Hynes for Informed Comment, February 2, 2026, https://scheerpost.com/2026/02/02/herstory-feminism-is-the-route-to-peace/

Jane Goodall, the renowned primatologist and impassioned advocate for nature, founded in her later years an institute through which she launched Roots and Shoots. Young people in more than 60 countries were taught about preserving nature and how to work for environmental good in their communities.  Because of her passionate mission to protect from the twin threats of the loss of biodiversity and climate change and her goal to “inspire hope and spark action in others,” especially young people, she was honored as a United Nations Messenger for Peace.  Like Goodall, many young women’s groups across the United States have emerged as beacons of hope and are sparking action in others.

In Amherst, Massachusetts, a teen feminist group called Generation Ratify was launched to help endorse the Equal Rights Amendment and advance gender equality.  They organized many rallies, three school walkouts, banner drops, film and art shops and lobbied at the state house.  In July 2025, they joined with Young Climate Action Now to host Little Leader Convention for 10-to-13 -year-olds with the goal of empowering a new generation of ecofeminists.  Recently they partnered with a national youth-led organization Feminist Front to form Feminist Generation.  Their generation has lost the secure right to bodily autonomy; they inherit an Earth in climate failure and a country enroute to fascism.  In 2026 the Amherst chapter of Feminist Generation will launch an initiative to promote youth voter engagement in the 2026 elections, research gender-based wage gaps in local government, and work with Planned Parenthood to implement a comprehensive sex education curriculum at Amherst Regional High School.

Behind the 2025 progressive wins in the states of Virginia and Pennsylvania were hundreds of young feminist organizers, mobilized and trained by Vote for Equality, the political arm of Feminist Majority. They organized on campuses in both states.  Abigail Spanberger, a strong advocate for reproductive freedom, won as Virginia’s first woman governor, with 65% women voting for her and an unprecedented shift in the House of Delegates to a large majority of Democrats.  In Pennsylvania, 3 progressive Supreme Court Justices who were instrumental in “safeguarding reproductive rights for Medicaid recipients through Pennsylvania’s Equal Rights Amendment” retained their seats.  These young feminists are ready to build on their 2025 victories in 2026.

One of the newest young feminist groups is HerStory at Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Massachusetts.  Katie Kim a junior at the academy, re-named her women’s empowerment group of which she is president HerStory because she “can’t really think of a story in history where there’s no her in it.”  All of the HerStory group concur that “a lot of social media influence the branding of feminism” as merely groups of women meeting to express “hatred of men” when that’s “totally not what we do,” they said.  It’s more about supporting each other in our community and trying to have local impact.  HerStory members see the true history of humankind, as one of partnership, gender partnership.

Bright Yang, a sophomore from China, explained his reasons for joining HerStory, namely that he “recognized how powerful women are.” He gave a “shout out to his mom” who has “played a great, great role” in developing his personality, guiding him through the isolation one can feel in boarding school, giving him ideas and “just happiness in general.” Drawn to Middle Eastern Studies and religion, he noted a similarity in Islam as practiced in Afghanistan and Christianity as practiced by Catholicism, the 2,000 year-old religion “that has so much difficulty merely recognizing women as equals” to make them priests, bishops, and ultimately Pope, though he stated, Afghanistan is much worse.

I asked Herstory members to explain their convictions about the statement, “Feminism is the route to peace” with which they ended my last meeting with them. They responded that at its core, feminism is about equality, dignity, and shared power–not just for women, but for everyone. The link to peace comes from a few main ideas. Equality reduces violence. Societies built on strict hierarchies (men over women, some groups over others) often normalize domination and force. Without embracing feminism, “our rights and voices remain disparaged, creating challenges and disputes,” responded Peggy Huang. Feminism promotes cooperation instead of control, dialogue instead of coercion, and respect instead of fear. These values are strongly associated with lower levels of violence—at home, in communities, and between nations.

Research consistently shows that countries with higher gender inequality tend to have more internal conflict, more authoritarian leadership, and higher rates of violence overall, explained Katie Kim.  Inclusive leadership leads to more peaceful outcomes.  When women and marginalized groups are included in decision-making, peace agreements last longer, policies focus more on social well-being (health, education, stability), and conflict resolution emphasizes compromise rather than escalation. This isn’t because women are “naturally peaceful,” she added, but because diverse perspectives improve problem-solving. 

Currently, Katie is organizing a poetry anthology project with local women empowerment organizations in Amherst. Through poetry–a simple, accessible literary form–she hopes to bring the current youth activists together fighting for the same cause and to foster tighter bonds with one another. 

HerStory members are true Messengers for Peace.

H. Patricia Hynes is a retired professor of environmental health, directs the Traprock Center for Peace and Justice in western Massachusetts. She has written and edited 7 books, among them The Recurring Silent Spring (nominated for the Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award) and Justice. Her most recent book is Hope but Demand Justice. She writes and speaks on issues of war and militarism with an emphasis on women, environment, and public health.

February 4, 2026 Posted by | Religion and ethics, Women | Leave a comment