Airstrip One

The Unilateralist Iron Fist inside the Multilateralist Velvet Glove

Here's Robert Kagan explaining why the UN Security Council is not the foundation of international law. The Bush administration seeks UN approval because it makes their relationships with their allies easier, but if this is unobtainable, then it's dispensable.

That is the difference between the EU/transnationalists who view the United Nations as the only basis for international law and action and those of us who wonder how long it would take for the blood to run in genocides and massacres before it was thought that they should possibly do something.

You can just imagine this current crew of appeasers saying to the respective victims of Pol Pot/Hitler/Stalin/Mao/Hussein/Suharto/Amin/the Hutus/Mugabe/Ne Win/Hirohito/Mengistu (add who you want)...."we'd love to help you, but we couldn't get a resolution, and that's the law, so you're on your own".