from the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency indicate that the global arms trade has progressively expanded, in constant 1981 prices, from $US 20.3 billion in 1972 to $US 34.3 billion in 1982. Furthermore, of the $US BOO billion spent in 1983 on military activities, at least four-fifths, it is generally believed, was absorbed by conventional arms and armed forces. The super-Powers are also not averse to unleashing conventional warfare against their weaker neighbours, as evidenced by the murderous campaign of aggression by one super-Power against the brave people of Afghanistan. While we in this Committee unceasingly discuss the danger of nuclear war, thousands of innocent men, women and children are being mowed down by tanks, helicopter gunships, jet fighters and so forth, only because they are defending their homeland against aggression: Unfortunately, some countries of the third world have, for one reason or another, opened themselves to the manipulation of one or the other super-Power. In South-East Asia, one country has sought the assistance of a super-Power in order to advance its imperialistic interests in Cambodia. That country has been waging a BHS/gt A/C.l/40/PV.4 55 (Mr. Cheang, Singapore) bloody conventional war against Cambodian nationalists, threatening in the process the territorial integrity of Thailand as well as the stability of South-East Asia. Third-world countries, especially the small and weak, therefore face a more immediate and direct threat to their national security and survival from conventional conflicts than from a nuclear holocaust. The Permanent Representative of Zambia and President of the General Assembly, at its thirty-ninth session, Ambassador Paul Lusaka, correctly pointed out the deleterious nature of conventional armaments and warfare in an article entitled "The United Nations and Disarmament at Forty" in the journal Disarmament, summer 1985, when he wrote: "The emphasis on nuclear disarmament thus presented does not in any way 
**Analysis**
The text appears to focus on the arms trade, military activities, and the consequences of conventional warfare, which suggests that it may be related to issues of national security, conflict, and international relations. The discussion of the global arms trade, the involvement of super-powers, and the impact on third-world countries also implies a connection to international politics and diplomacy.

**Category**
International relations, Security