UN General Assembly
1973

123. Since 1945 the international scene has been dominated by the problems arising from the totally different social, economic and political systems of the East and West and from the aftermath of rapid decolonization. In East- West relations there have been periods of comparative calm and moments of acute peril. Coexistence has been preached. But it has meant different things to different people and the shock waves of tension between the Communists and the rest have spread, and the impact has been felt world-wide. Those who have wished to avoid the contagion of the rivalry of the great Powers have not always been able to do so. The rigid confrontation of the major Powers and the continuing escalation of force and counter- force was not only a source of grave danger in itself to the countries in the Northern Hemisphere but, worse perhaps, also paralysed the use of common resources and stultified the economic development of nations much further afield - nations that otherwise would have been able to do something to bridge the gap between the developed and the developing countries.