Why the UN is utterly useless Part 987,654,321

The UN provides the evidence right up front in Resolution 1701. As usual, Charles Krauthammer gets right to the heart of the problem:

The charm of any U.N. Security Council resolution lies in the preamble, which invariably begins by "recalling" all previous resolutions on the same subject that have been entirely ignored, therefore necessitating the current resolution. Hence newly minted Resolution 1701: Before mandating the return of south Lebanon to Lebanese government control, it lists the seven Security Council resolutions going back 28 years that have demanded the same thing.

We are to believe, however, that this time the United Nations means it. Yet, the fact that responsibility for implementation is given to Kofi Annan's office -- not known for integrity, competence or neutrality -- betrays a certain unseriousness about the enterprise from the very beginning.

Charles notes that despite assurances from Condoleezza Rice that Resolution 1701 had "enough Chapter 7 (i.e., legally enforceable) language to give it teeth", facts on the ground quickly called their effectiveness into question:

Hezbollah has declared that it will not disarm. The Siniora government in Beirut has acquiesced in a "don't ask, don't tell" deal in which Hezbollah retains its entire infrastructure south of the Litani -- bunkers, weapons, fighters -- with the cosmetic proviso that none will be displayed very openly. No strutting, but everything remains in place awaiting the order to restart the war when the time is right.

That arrangement is essentially a return to the status quo ante -- precisely what the United States had said it would not permit because that would represent a strategic disaster for the forces of democracy and moderation in the region.

Krauthammer points out that this puts Lebanon's nascent democracy in peril which was had "marked the high point (together with the first Iraqi election, which inspired the events in Lebanon) of the Bush doctrine". He notes that events on the ground since the Cedar Revolution (Syria, Iran and Hezbollah "working assiduously to reverse that great advance", emboldened them to instigate the war with Israel.

And now, with the psychological success of the war with Israel, Hezbollah may soon become the dominant force in all of Lebanon. In the south, the Lebanese army will be taking orders from Hezbollah. Hezbollah is not just returning to being a "state within a state." It is becoming the state, with the Siniora government reduced to acting as its front.

That is why ensuring that Hezbollah is cut down to size by a robust international force with very strict enforcement of its disarmament is so critical. For all its boasts, Hezbollah has suffered grievously militarily, with enormous losses of fighters, materiel and infrastructure. Now is its moment of maximum weakness. That moment will not last long. Resupply and rebuilding have already begun.

This is no time for the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to be saying, when asked about the creation of an international force, that "this really is a responsibility of the Secretariat." Maybe officially, but if we are not working frantically behind the scenes to make sure that this preposterously inappropriate body gets real troops in quickly, armed with the right equipment and the right mandate, the moment will be lost. And with it Lebanon.

Given the UN's history, the penchant for appeasement from most Western Democracies & widespread anti-semitic views from leftists & most Arabic nations who wield power at the UN, the odds are clearly stacked against success.