"We cannot but feel uneasy about the losses caused by humanity themselves. Apart from the losses of life and property in destructive wars, the environment and natural resources are also being destroyed by human hands"
About this Quote
The line has the measured gravity of a statesman trying to reframe blame without igniting defensiveness. “We cannot but feel uneasy” is diplomatic language doing real work: it softens an accusation (“humanity themselves”) into a shared discomfort, inviting collective responsibility while avoiding naming specific governments, industries, or ideologies. That’s the tell. This is politics aimed at consensus-building, not catharsis.
Nong Duc Manh’s intent reads as an argument for a broadened definition of security. By pairing “destructive wars” with the quieter, chronic damage to “the environment and natural resources,” he collapses the moral hierarchy that often treats ecological loss as secondary to human conflict. The subtext is strategic: if environmental degradation is framed alongside war’s devastation, it becomes harder to dismiss as a luxury concern or a problem for another ministry. It also implies that development, as commonly practiced, can resemble a kind of slow-motion warfare against the commons.
Context matters here: as a contemporary political leader from a fast-growing, industrializing country, he’s speaking from the tension between growth and cost. The phrasing doesn’t condemn modernization outright; it warns about “human hands” while keeping the agent deliberately broad. That ambiguity leaves room for international cooperation (and critique of wealthy polluters) without openly antagonizing domestic ambitions. The quote works because it’s both confession and negotiation: an ethical alarm bell rung in the key of statecraft.
Nong Duc Manh’s intent reads as an argument for a broadened definition of security. By pairing “destructive wars” with the quieter, chronic damage to “the environment and natural resources,” he collapses the moral hierarchy that often treats ecological loss as secondary to human conflict. The subtext is strategic: if environmental degradation is framed alongside war’s devastation, it becomes harder to dismiss as a luxury concern or a problem for another ministry. It also implies that development, as commonly practiced, can resemble a kind of slow-motion warfare against the commons.
Context matters here: as a contemporary political leader from a fast-growing, industrializing country, he’s speaking from the tension between growth and cost. The phrasing doesn’t condemn modernization outright; it warns about “human hands” while keeping the agent deliberately broad. That ambiguity leaves room for international cooperation (and critique of wealthy polluters) without openly antagonizing domestic ambitions. The quote works because it’s both confession and negotiation: an ethical alarm bell rung in the key of statecraft.
Quote Details
| Topic | War |
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