While the Olympics are beginning, a conflict that has been brewing for a while now between Georgia and Russia has finally erupted.  The Security Council has held a number of emergency meetings over the past 24 hours to attempt to come to a peaceful agreement, but any finalized wording has gained little traction.  One of the larger issues is that Russia holds veto power over any potential U.N. security resolution, while also obviously holding a vested interest in how the conflict ends.  While they have said they are open to a cease-fire, it would only come after a detailed political analysis and after other certain demands were met.  This has essentially changed diplomatic efforts from trying to find a solution that fits both parties, to finding a solution that Russia will agree to.

While I understand that giving the “Big 5″ members veto power was essentially a required compromise to allow the Security Council to even be formed, I think it presents such an affront to the idea of representational voting that the Council would be better off nonexistent.  Coupled with the fact that there are really no penalties to violating a UNSC resolution, it is nothing more than a political vehicle (although a cynic could argue that is what the U.N. is in whole).

As an aside, since 1984, China has officially vetoed 3 resolutions; France 3; Russia 4; The U.K. ten; and the United States 43.