Iran should honor UN resolutions. And so should Israel.

Hizb’allah, too? 1559 anyone? Rather selective on our choice of who should honor what, aren’t we?

The Pali’s as well? Lebanon? Syria? Anybody?

I think Neo’s right on this one…the UN is a sad caricature of liberal “one-worldness”: a collection of thugs, corrupt politicians, and power-hungry kleptocrats masquerading as a “world body,” with peace as its only interest. Feh!

Here’s the thing - most people forget that, for example, UN Security Council Resolution 242 included these words:

“Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict;

Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force; ”

In other words, this is a TWO-PART thing, with responsibilities on both sides, not just the Israeli side.

Until the “Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of ISRAEL..”, takes place, Israel is not obligated to withdraw from “territories occupied..”

As you know, when Israel, and later Jordan, concluded peace treaties with Israel, all of those 2 countries territorial claims were satisfied by Israel.

As a couple people pointed out, Israel can honor all the resolutions you please but if they continue to be attacked it means nothing. Without the ability (or will) to enforce peace on both sides the UN is just blowing hot air. (The root of “enforce” is “force.”)

The US tried to get the UN to enforce UN resolutions against Iraq. How well did that work? Saddam spent 10 years giving the world the finger while the horror of dying Iraqi children fueled world animosity toward the US. (Google it, if your memory is selective.)

So does Iran have any reason to take the UN seriously? The UN talking tough is a joke… and the idea is that the UN is supposed to manage this stuff instead of individual nations such as the US? Our talking tough gets immediately condemned by just about everyone. (Maybe they are afraid we actually mean it.) After Iraq it’s at least slightly possible that we’d be taken seriously. Before Iraq, not so much.

Iran perfectly understands that UN resolutions, even “binding” ones, are completely meaningless. They can’t enforce *anything* without the force of the United States, and have proven that when push comes to shove they don’t *want* us to enforce anything.

Because it, like, you know, involves force.

Duh.