The United States' top military officer warned Tuesday that the world is at risk of becoming immune to the suffering caused by global conflicts, and urged the United Nations to bolster its peacekeeping efforts to manage crises.

General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said it would be a "historical shame" if the world doesn't maintain its sensitivity to the suffering wrought by international crises.

"The world is at genuine risk of becoming immune to suffering, and if that happens I don't know where it stops," Dempsey told a gathering of several dozen ambassadors and military attaches at a UN event in New York City.

Dempsey will be stepping down as the US top military official on October 1 after four years as President Obama's top military adviser. He warned that today's challenges have no clear cut boundaries and transcend geography, diplomacy, economics and ideology.

"In my 41 years of military service, I've never witnessed such significant shifts in the international security environment as we are seeing all around us today," he said. "The complex array of threats and, let's call it geopolitical jockeying, requires all of us to contend with an unpredictable landscape."

Peacekeeping operations must keep pace

Dempsey called for greater political backing from the UN member states for peacekeeping efforts, which he believes are stretched too thin. UN peacekeeping operations currently involve more than 120,000 troops deployed across 16 separate operations worldwide.

"Peacekeeping operations are under greater strain than ever before," Dempsey said. "Simply stated, a disproportionate responsibility is being borne by some few to ensure the stability and security of so many. This imbalance is unsustainable."

Dempsey also urged the creation of well-trained rapid response units to help contain developing crises.

"The rapid deployment of units within 30, 60 or 90 days - for a finite period - can help resolve developing crises, prevent expanded conflict and in the process save more innocent lives," Dempsey said.

President Obama is set to co-host a summit on peacekeeping with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly meeting in late September.

bw/lw (AP, AFP, Reuters)