Conveying a narrative of globalization and political upheaval that has become familiar to western nations in the past year, João Vale de Almeida, the European Union’s (EU) ambassador to the United Nations since October 2015, spoke to a crowd of about 100 Yale community members at Kroon Hall on Nov. 30.
The ambassador offered two views of the current state of the international order: the benign view, in which humanity has reached unprecedented levels of global prosperity, democracy, and respect for human rights; and the darker view, in which the West is in decline, politicians and businesspeople are corrupt, and terrorism is everywhere.
“Both of these are, of course, wrong,” de Almeida said to laughter from the crowd. “Both of them describe parts of today’s reality, but they also translate or reflect not necessarily the reality, but the perception of the reality that many people have.”
http://news.yale.edu/2016/12/01/eu-s-ambassador-un-speaks-about-evolving-political-order?utm_source=YNemail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=yn-12-05-16
