Nebenzia quoted Martin Luther King, calling on the US to stop "rattling weapons"

19 January 2021

 

Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia quoted Martin Luther King at a Security Council meeting, calling on the US side to stop the arms race in the Middle East. On the third Monday of January, the United States commemorates the black rights activist, who was born on January 15.


Rodney Hunter, the diplomat at the US Permanent Mission, criticized the actions of "the regimes in Syria and Iran" in the Middle East region during a Council meeting on UN-Arab League cooperation. He ended his speech with a quote from King: "Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that".

"On Martin Luther King Memorial Day, I would like to follow our American colleagues in recalling another quote of his, which they apparently do not like to repeat: "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom,'" Nebenzya said in turn. "It is necessary to stop rattling weapons and provoking an arms race in the region," he stressed.


In this regard, the diplomat reminded the Council of Russia's concept of collective security in the Persian Gulf. "This is an invitation to dialogue, in which the Arab League can play an important role," he pointed out. - 'It is an invitation to peace as opposed to an invitation to war".

 

GSV "Russia - Islamic World"

Photo: Zuma \ TASS

Based on materials from TASS