The United Nations (UN) Security Council was the international forum for the first skirmishes in the Cold War. Whereas negotiations involving the great powers were held behind closed doors, the Security Council was the first venue in which debates transpired in public. The Soviet Union and the United States took the Security Council very seriously. The United Kingdom normally played a supporting role to the United States, and France and China (represented by Taiwan until 1972) were often bystanders.

Kari Alenius, in this groundbreaking study, attempts to unravel the techniques deployed by the various actors in the drama. He examines in considerable detail the various facets of rhetoric that were deployed. Rhetoric can be seen as consisting of three parts: the personality of the speaker; pathos or attempts to involve the listener emotionally in the argument; and the logic of the argument. Alenius uses the metaphor of the fairy tale...

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