Dying, Egypt, Dying: The UN Rolls Over

The 30th (are you that old?) session of the UN General Assembly is about to begin, and there is no doubt that the battle this fall, and perhaps forever after, will be between the forces of collective poverty and collective wealth.

Peace and war, national justice and tribal tyranny, sea beds, Mars, and even such perennial UN puddings as Rhodesian chrome will no doubt be thus weighed and measured, for are they not all the spawn of this very struggle? In debate after debate, in conference after conference, it has been evident that the demands made by poor countries on rich countries and the means of satisfying such demands are the central issue. And it follows that the schemes urged on the poor by the rich, schemes dealing with environment protection, population control, airplane hijacking, and the murder of baby seals, are to be treated solely in this light, (The rich countries being those of Europe, including sometimes the Soviet Union and North America above the Rio Grande. Japan too. The poor are the rest.)

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Nicholas King

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The 30th (are you that old?) session of the UN General Assembly is about to begin, and there is no doubt that the battle this fall, and perhaps forever after, will be between the forces of collective poverty and collective wealth.

Peace and war, national justice and tribal tyranny, sea beds, Mars, and even such perennial UN puddings as Rhodesian chrome will no doubt be thus weighed and measured, for are they not all the spawn of this very struggle? In debate after debate, in conference after conference, it has been evident that the demands made by poor countries on rich countries and the means of satisfying such demands are the central issue. And it follows that the schemes urged on the poor by the rich, schemes dealing with environment protection, population control, airplane hijacking, and the murder of baby seals, are to be treated solely in this light, (The rich countries being those of Europe, including sometimes the Soviet Union and North America above the Rio Grande. Japan too. The poor are the rest.)