Why shouldn't they count? It's literally testing a nuclear weapon. The clock does not say: "Time since the last detonation of a nuclear weapon".
Edit: But one could argue that nuclear weapons get tested all the time without any kind of detonation. These should count too IMHO.
Edit: just read another article on the tests. They happen to design new weapons with them which makes them not tests to see if the nukes still work like I thought.
There are many ways of being evil, petting the dog does not make a truly evil character less evil.
A lot of real life evil people actually like animals at least when it suits them in my experience.
A bit off topic but there are games where you are absolutely evil but it's not easily recognizable. For example factorio.
Most people consider themselves not evil.