UN General Assembly
1951

36. But had we any reason to fear a repetition of conditions as they existed during the last war? In 1948 it had become quite clear that the United Nations had not succeeded and, in all probability, would not succeed in the near future in conferring on the world the feeling of security we had expected, because the necessary co-operation between the great Powers had failed. The picture before us was that on the one side was a group in close military co-operation with large standing armies, and on the other side were the Western States, disunited and defenceless because they had reduced their forces to a minimum trusting that now a long period of peace had begun Only by joining hands and by restoring their collective defence was it possible for this group of States to regain a little of its lost security. This is no accusation against others for harbouring aggressive intentions, but still less should this accusation be made against the parties to the North Atlantic Treaty only on account of their desire to re-establish some kind of balance in the relative strength in the world.