UN General Assembly
1980

78. The assessment of the international situation which I presented from this rostrum in the name of the Finnish Government last year was not optimistic and referred to the fact that the positive trends of detente and disarmament had lost their momentum, that the patterns of peaceful cooperation were eroding and that the use of force between nations as well as within them was on the increase. Subsequent events have not dispelled our fears. 79. Thus, the immediate prospects for the 1980s are not encouraging. The relations between the major Powers are far from satisfactory. The persistent conflicts in the Middle East and southern Africa, which breed frustration and violence, still await a peaceful solution. New sources of tension with global political impact have appeared in western and south-eastern Asia.