Fun with Iran and Syria

Iran's statements agaoinst Israel has compelled the UN to actually get riled up! The US couldn't do that when we had evidence of illegal weapons in Iraq, but dumb statements calling for Israel's destruction can. Interesting, if you ask me. Not only has the Security Council produced a statement denouncing Iran's statement, Secretary-General Kofi Annan directly rebuked Iran for its stance. Iran is taking an interesing counterstance: it has declared the Security Council's statement "unacceptable."

I really want the UN to want to go after Iran. Already the UN is a little peeved that Iran is not being responsible with its atomic energy program. This, coupled with the statements against Israel, might make the UN start thinking about action. Israel has also called on the UN to expel Iran. That would place Iran with the Republic of China as the only sovereign states not members of the UN. That would be very interesting indeed.

Things are also turning up with Syria. After a major investigation in the death of a former prime minister of Lebanon discovered that several top Syrian officials were involved in his assassination and the government endeavoring to cover up the relationship, the UN Security Council voted to approve a resolution demanding Syria's full cooperation in the investigation. This resolution is created as a militarily enforceable resolution. While this is interesting, the UN isn't known for following up on military action to enforce its resolutions.