UN General Assembly
1972

13. It is not that I am unaware of, or appreciate any the less, the encouraging progress that we are achieving, little by little, along the intricate path of reconciling differences and in the search for the easing of tensions. But I cannot fail to deplore the fact that this slow progress towards the realization of our ideals of peace and security is being attained amidst contradictions and paradoxes, for there continue to weigh on the horizons of the world, albeit apparently less heavily, the dense clouds of nuclear confrontation; a kind of suspended sentence of doom hovers over mankind as a whole. Neither the doctrine nor the practice of strategic balance, nor arbitrary compositions among the poles of international power, have succeeded in extinguishing the fires of regional conflicts. The attempt to coexist within a strategic arrangement or, in other words, the contemporary "balance of prudence" referred to by the Secretary-General [A/8701lAdd.l, p. ./] determines the outstanding bilateral diplomatic activity in which the great Powers are currently engaged and reflects the complex problems of today's international reality.