Forget Syria: 5 cases where the U.N. wasn't impotent (The Week)

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The Week - The U.N.'s condemnation of Syria won't force Bashar al-Assad to end his bloody crackdown. But that doesn't mean the U.N. is always toothlessIt's easy to see why impatient critics are bemoaning the United Nations. The U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution Thursday condemning Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for human rights abuses, and backing Arab League efforts to end the country's deadly attacks on anti-Assad rebels and protesters. But the measure is non-binding — it "lacks bite," says Bloomberg. Couple that with Russia and China's veto of a stronger Security Council resolution aiming to force Assad to surrender power, and it's clear why commentators are calling the U.N. irrelevant. But the U.N. isn't always ineffective. Here, a sampling of five cases where the much-maligned international body truly made a difference:

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oped/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/theweek/20120217/cm_theweek/224582

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