PREPARING FOR NUCLEAR ARMAGEDDON.

• Position: SMOKING GUN

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists says there has never been a time when the danger of humankind "destroying our world with dangerous technologies of our own making" was greater. Citing the threat of climate change as well as nuclear war (which it has tracked since 1947), the group in January shaved ten seconds off its Doomsday Clock, setting it to ninety seconds to midnight. Here are some other metrics for the sickening international acquisition of weapons of mass destruction:

Estimated number of nuclear weapons by country in 2023 Russia 5,889 United States 5,244 China 410 France 290 United Kingdom 225 Pakistan 170 India 164 Israel 90 North Korea 30 Approximate total: 12,500 Percentage of the total possessed by the United States and Russia: Approximate number in military stockpiles worldwide (excluding those deemed "retired" and awaiting dismantlement): 9,600 Number deployed with operational forces: 3,744, including 1,670 in the United States Approximate number of deployed weapons worldwide considered to be on high alert and ready to use at a moment's notice: 2,000 Radius of the area that an average-sized U.S. nuclear weapon would instantly vaporize or otherwise destroy, in miles: 1

Radius within which every person would receive third-degree burns on exposed skin, in miles: 4

Distance from each blast where potentially lethal doses of radiation would spread, in miles: 100+

Number of people killed by the U.S. bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in August 1945: 80,000

Number of times more...