The impossible quest for absolute security
Demands for perfect security by one nation, without regard for others, heighten anxiety and prompt unnecessary weapons buildup.
Washington
THE G-20 summit in Hamburg, the Russian-Chinese presidential meeting and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leadership summit underline new concerns driving such public gatherings of world leaders. Among the major obstacles to great-power cooperation that preoccupies leaders is how they perceive one another as selfishly advancing their individual national security regardless of the concerns of others.
At the G-20 summit, some delegates criticised the US policy of putting American economic interests first, above the need for global cooperation to limit climate change or sustain international free trade. German Chancellor Angela Merkel openly said that Europeans would have to assume the mantle of climate change leadership from what she depicted as a security-selfish US.
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