Boston, January 7 (RHC)-- Renowned U.S. philosopher and political commentator Noam Chomsky warns that the world is racing towards “environmental catastrophe” and “nuclear war” in 2014. Answering a question in an interview with Salon.com about the contemporary issues which particularly concern him, the U.S. scholar answered that there are two major problems from among a long list that are worth mentioning.

Noam Chomsky said that there are issues that seriously threaten the possibility of decent human survival. One of them is the growing threat of environmental catastrophe, "which we are racing towards as if we were determined to fall off a cliff, and the other is the threat of nuclear war, which has not declined, but is very serious and in many respects is growing.”

He added that these threats are emanating from world’s most powerful countries while indigenous societies are trying to avoid them. Chomsky said: "It’s beyond irony that the richest most powerful countries in the world are racing towards disaster while the so-called primitive societies are the ones in the forefront of trying to avert it."

Talking about the scope and depth of the U.S. spying scandal, Chomsky said that he was not shocked by the revelations made by Edward Snowden, a former contractor the National Security Agency, the NSA, and CIA. “Governments are power systems,” Chomsky said, noting that "they are trying to sustain their power and domination and they will use what means are available to do this.”"