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Déjà vu in the Middle East

Mr. Vu Quoc Dung, Internationale Gesellschaft für Menschenrechte

Maybe it's déjà vu? When you only imagine you've seen something before.

The President The first speaker is the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam, His Excellency Mr. Vu Khoan.

How can we deal with a conflict which is basically internal in character, particularly when our ability to influence events has become limited and we are overcome with the fatigue born of déjà vu?

The report reflected the fact that since 2001, scientists have become more certain that humans are responsible for a large part of global warming. Otherwise, though, this report had a definite sense of déjà vu .

A similar sense of déjà vu has pervaded economic forecasting since the global economic crisis began a half decade ago. Yet policymakers remain convinced that the economic growth model that prevailed during the pre crisis years is still their best guide, at least in the near future.

Mr. Vu Khoan (Viet Nam) On behalf of the Vietnamese delegation, I wish to warmly congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the presidency of the fifty second session of the General Assembly. I am confident that under your wise guidance this session will be crowned with many fine results.

LONDON This December, world leaders will gather in Paris for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, where they will attempt yet again to hammer out a global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the inevitable sense of déjà vu that will arise as negotiators struggle to reach a compromise, they must not give up.

LOS ANGELES A strange sense of déjà vu is gripping Washington these days, as the debate over ratification by the United States Senate of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with Russia heats up. Spats have broken out between the Obama administration, future presidential contenders, senators, and arms control and defense experts.

The freedoms that they were so accustomed to, and maybe even took for granted, have now been snatched away. But, for older journalists like me, there is a strong sense of déjà vu the controls hark back to the times of the partyless absolute monarchy that existed here before 1990, when self censorship was the order of the day.

LONDON When former Czech President Václav Havel knocked on the door of the Chinese embassy in Prague to demand the release of the writer Liu Xiaobo, I had an eerie sense of déjà vu. Thirty three years ago, Havel helped initiate Charter 77, the landmark document that crystallized the ideals of all the dissidents and many others trapped behind the Iron Curtain.