UN General Assembly
1998

economic development. In turn, a more developed economy and improved living standards help strengthen political and social stability and thus preserve peace. Two opposing tendencies have characterized the world security situation since the fifty-second session. On the one hand, numerous events have shown a continuing trend of peace and improved relations among countries, 28 as evidenced by fact that the peaceful settlement of certain decades-long conflicts is under way and that relations among nations, including major Powers, continue to improve. On the other hand, we are witnessing on a daily basis bloodshed and confrontation in many regions, from the Middle East to Africa, from the Balkans to South Asia, and so on. The arms race continues unabated. One terrorist act follows on the heels of another. The list of countries to be “punished” is not getting any shorter, and the direct victims continue to be the elderly and women and children. Our planet is thus not yet out of the reach of the Damocles sword of insecurity. The painful lessons of the twentieth century — a