The fact that the Agreement prohibiting nuclear explosions in the atmosphere was signed in 1963 did not mean that the nuclear threat would disappear, just as the signing later of the ABM Treaty did not mean that either. These were just steps in the right direction, demonstrating an awareness of the danger that existed and of the possibility for more substantive understandings given greater political will. NR/plj A/C.l/40/PV.9 11 (Mr. Sucre Figarella, Venezuela) While all due credit should be given to those initiatives, we believe that it is illusory, as others have said, to regard the control of conventional or nuclear weapons as being an independent and separate instrument for reducing international tension. There is still the dilemma that weapons are a consequence of a state of political upheaval that requires a defensive and offensive system to preserve the security of States and that, until that upheaval subsides the danger of a more sophisticated world war will always exist. When one analyses this conclusion in relation to the role that the United Nations itself can play through its various disarmament agencies and the legal instruments that have been signed, we must bear in mind that the decisive question of peace or war depends largely on the great Powers• acquiring a practical sense of coexistence. Hence we are faced with the great absurdity of our time: while the United Nations has the overriding mission of leading nations, large and small, towards universal peace, the rivalries among the great Powers constitute and uncontrollable factor, and therefore that mission is unattainable. We are here to make peace and to avoid war. However, above and beyond the host of formal regulations and well-intentioned and technically justified debates, there is another crueller reality which escapes the best of rules because it obeys its own 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing the relationship between international politics and the threat of war, highlighting the limitations of treaties and agreements in reducing tensions and promoting peace. The author emphasizes the importance of the great powers acquiring a practical sense of coexistence to achieve universal peace. The text does not mention specific economic, environmental, or technological issues, but rather focuses on the broader context of international relations and the pursuit of peace.

**Category**
International relations, Politics