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Letter: The Doomsday Clock is ticking faster

(Carolyn Kaster | The Associated Press) Robert Rosner, chairman of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, right, and Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists member Lawrence Krauss, left, stand next to the Doomsday Clock after unveiling it during a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018., announcing that the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock to two minutes to midnight.

The Doomsday Clock — the clock symbolizing the likelihood that humans will destroy themselves — was recently adjusted to 2 minutes to midnight, the closest to doom ever registered. President Donald Trump has removed Lt. General H.R. McMaster, a moderate, as national security adviser and has replaced him with former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, an extremely hawkish neo-conservative. Should the Doomsday Clock now be adjusted to 1 minute to midnight?

Bolton really, really wants to bomb Iran and has suggested that Israel should unleash nuclear weapons against that predominantly Shiite nation. Bolton also maintains that military force is the chief option for countering the North Korean nuclear threat. On Fox News, Bolton stated that Trump should persuade Chinese leaders that wiping out North Korea’s Kim regime is in their national interest.

With the super-hawkish Bolton officially re-empowered and with the impulsive President Trump as commander in chief, what could possibly go wrong?

Andrew G. Bjelland, Salt Lake City