In Larger Freedom: Decision Time at the UN
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In Larger Freedom:
Decision Time at the UN
Kofi Annan
OUR SHARED VULNERABILITY
As K A New York investment banker who walks past Ground Zero
every day on her way to work what today's biggest threat is. Then ask
an illiterate 12-year-old orphan in Malawi who lost his parents to
AIDS. You will get two very different answers. Invite an Indonesian
fisherman mourning the loss of his entire family and the destruction
of his village from the recent, devastating tsunami to tell you what he
fears most. Then ask a villager in Darfur, stalked by murderous militias
and fearful of bombing raids. Their answers, too, are likely to diverge.
Different perceptions of what is a threat are often the biggest
obstacles to international cooperation. But I believe that in the twenty-
first century they should not be allowed to lead the world's governments
to pursue very different priorities or to work at cross-purposes. Today's
threats are deeply interconnected, and they feed off of one another. The
misery of people caught in unresolved civil conflicts or of populations
mired in extreme poverty, for example, may increase their attraction
to terrorism. The mass rape of women that occurs too often in today's
conflicts makes the spread of HIV and AIDS all the more likely.
In fact, all of us are vulnerable to what we think of as dangers that
threaten only other people. Millions more of sub-Saharan Africa's
inhabitants would plunge below the poverty line if a nuclear terrorist
attack against a financial center in the United States caused a massive
downturn in the global economy. By the same token, millions ofAmer-
icans could quickly become infected if, naturally or through malicious
Ko F i A N N A N is Secretary-General of the United Nations.
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In Larger Freedom: Decision Time at the UN
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