UN General Assembly
1998

popular support. So often they attempt to replace the absence of popular support by dependence on power whose sole purpose is the pursuit of domination and self- interest. Oppressive and dependent governments deny their people the opportunity to experience democracy by perpetuating intimidation and terror in society, and they 3 promote a culture of violence which inadvertently leads their opponents to resort to the same. The powers that breed and nurture such regimes can therefore not escape blame. Primarily responsible here are those powers whose intelligence services take pride in their dark record of overthrowing popular governments and supporting unpopular ones. This image of our world is indeed grim and repulsive. Until the day that the wise and the learned wrest the reins of power from the unwise and the capricious, this image cannot at all be transformed. Nonetheless, in my opinion, beyond the darkness and doom, genuine beauty can still be discerned in the deeper layers of history. I can assert with certitude that, on the whole, human life has blossomed spiritually and materially.