Tick.... tick.... tick

The hands of this clock has been at seven minutes to midnight still since February 27, 2002. You'd think that a clock maintained by some of the world's most renowned scientists would keep better time. But we should be thankful that it hasn't moved forward since then.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has kept the Doomsday Clock as a symbol of nuclear danger since 1947. Its Board of Directors moves the hands depending on their assessment of risk of nuclear danger. The last time the hands were closer to midnight was in 1983, when India and Pakistan were threatening each other and the Scientists feared that "Arms control talks [with the Soviet Union] have been reduced to a species of propaganda..."

North Korea has tested a small nuclear device. What happens now? Kim Jong Il has already shown that he doesn't give a damn if his people starve, so further economic sanctions will do nothing other than assure that thousands of farmers will die. South Korea and Japan will want their own bombs as a result. We are witnessing the beginnings of an arms race.

We shall see whether the hands of the clock move in the coming weeks.

In other news, Thailand..

Most of the news we are hearing from Southeast Asia today is about No. Korea. That is important, but for the benefit of a few on my flist, I wanted to bring this little piece from Thailand.

Lost in the news about the change in government is the fact that there continues to be massive flooding in the North. It has gotten so bad that the Chao Phya River, which runs through Bangkok and serves as a highway for goods and tourist boats, will soon inundate the city.

Experts at Kasetsart University (my friend works there in fisheries management) have come up with a plan to divert the waters by flooding more farmland in Ayutthaya instead. Since August, the flooding and heavy rains have killed 39 people and some 138,000 have been sickened by water-borne parasites and illnesses. Quoting AP:
"Officials were working to determine the cost of damage from the floods, which have destroyed 1.6 million rai (648,000 acres; 262,000 hectares) of rice fields and farmland and washed away 17,000 fish and prawn farms, the disaster center said." The toll on these people who were already living a tenuous exist must have been devastating.

When we were there, my friend pointed out places where the monuments at Ayutthaya had been repaired for the celebration of the anniversary of the Kings reign. The monuments are a treasured archeological site and I hope they are not damaged.