UN General Assembly
1962

12. I can appreciate the exasperation which any Member of this Organization must feel when its national policies are attacked and condemned here in the Assembly, often in what it may regard as unnecessarily provocative and rancorous terms. I can understand, too, the irritation of major Powers when they become dissatisfied with the implementation of decisions which they have failed to veto in the Security Council. I realize also the keen disappointment felt by any Power or group of Powers when they have been outvoted in the Assembly on what they regard as matters of vital interest to them. In all such cases there is a temptation to block the implementation of the decisions concerned, and for that purpose to seek to impose a financial veto on them by withholding contributions. But if Members are swayed by such considerations, the consequences for this Organization must surely be disastrous. Galling as it may be from time to time to abide by the will of the appropriate majority ascertained in the manner laid down in our Charter, abandonment of that orderly democratic principle can only result in the paralysis of the Organization and consequent chaos. Today it is a question of the Congo. If we do not persevere there, patiently and steadily, if we are driven to retreat or to take precipitate action because of lack of funds, what country in what continent will turn to the United Nations in the future with confidence in the value of its assistance?