UN General Assembly
1952

52. The building up of armaments and the economic dislocation it produces merely worsens the situation, which is the result of the uneven economic development of the world, and makes it even more difficult to take any action to eliminate the present differences in the levels of economic development of the developed and under-developed countries. Moreover, the economic dislocation caused by the building up of armaments has in fact reached its present degree of intensity precisely because the basis of the world economy has been weakened by the division of the world into developed and under-developed countries. 53. World political tension, which brings in its wake additional expenditure on armaments and the consequent economic difficulties, has shown how serious this weakness is and how urgent it is that the United Nations should take action in the matter. It is no mere chance that the problem of the development of under-developed countries has become one of the most important questions during the very years in which a heightened political tension prevails throughout the world.