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A sign of things to come from the UN?

The United Nations over the last week or so has been making quite a name for itself in appearing to having changed much from being the kind of organization it used to be. For quite some time, the UN has been perceived as hostile not only to American aims, but rabidly anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. But then, Franco-American cooperation on Syria in the Security Council regarding the investigation into the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in February of this year, a unanimous censure of Iran in the Security Council over comments by the president of that country that Israel should be ?wiped off the map?, and the creation ? without opposition ? of a UN memorial day for the Holocaust by the General Assembly seem to point to a change of tone. Is the change real, or just a ploy to ease pressure on the ever-beleaguered international organization? France has had interests in Lebanon and Syria thanks to its colonial past in the Middle East, but the unlikely cooperation between Paris and Washington over the murder of Hariri points less to UN reform, and more to a recognition that the Assad regime in Damascus isn?t good for the interests of France, and represents a threat to regional stability aside from the American charges of support by Damascus for insurgents in Iraq. The Security Council censure of the Islamic Republic of Iran is unique in part because it is the Security Council where the United States is constantly resorting to using its veto powers to block one-sided resolutions against Israel, and here the council spoke in a unanimous voice, with an Arab member (Algeria) sitting on it, that the comments by Iran that another member, even Israel, were not only wrong, they are dangerous. Finally, the creation of a UN Memorial Day for the Holocaust, set for January 27 each year, by the General Assembly is by far one of the most historic moves for the international organization. The resolution to create the day is the first ever proposed by Israel to have reached the floor for consideration, let alone passing, and no nation objected to the creation of such a day which will seek to teach the world the lessons of the Holocaust against the Jews and hopefully result in increased willingness to prevent acts of genocide in our times and in the future. While the UN is hardly an organization with a record justifying giving it the benefit of the doubt, the change of tone at least this week seemed genuine and there is a lot to be said for that.