To follow the U.N.'s approach to the crisis in Syria is to be led through a ceaseless series of restatements of the agonizingly obvious and, in the end, to be little closer to seeing the end of that crisis than you were before the United Nations took what passes for action.
You can scarcely be faulted if you paid little heed to the fact that the U.N. once again has expressed alarm over the violent crackdown by Syrian President Bashar Assad against his own people. How often have we heard similar statements -- all equally empty?
But apparently undaunted, envoy Kofi Annan, reporting to the U.N. Security Council, declared the situation in Syria "bleak."
Really? What was his first clue? Thousands of dead Syrian civilians?
According to The Associated Press, Annan "expressed particular concern at media reports that government troops entered the central city of Hama on Monday after U.N. observers departed, firing automatic weapons and killing a significant number of people. 'If confirmed, this is totally unacceptable and reprehensible,'" Annan said.
Indeed.
Not to worry, though. Those observers are traipsing about in Syria to confirm the dreadful conditions.
But wait a minute. Haven't previous international condemnations of the Syrian violence indicated strongly that the world already is quite aware of how awful things are in that Middle Eastern country? Should anyone take actual comfort in the notion that some observers now are witnessing and reporting afresh on Assad's brutality? Is the 30th time the charm?
And hold onto your hats for this one: It appears that the Syrian government hasn't lived up to its earlier promise to get heavy weaponry out of populated areas. Who could have guessed that the leaders of a terrorism-sponsoring country would not abide by their word?
If blood were not being copiously shed in Syria, this might all be a really bad joke. But the only person likely to be laughing today is Assad, as the U.N. dithers and we are left to wonder once again why anyone believes that bureaucracy-laden international organization is an effective means of promoting justice and peace.