Consider the General Assembly resolution regarding Ukraine that passed:
The resolution calls on “all States” to “desist and refrain” from any attempt to carve off pieces of Ukraine. (It seems safe to assume that Canada, Belgium and the Marshall Islands will take heed). The resolution further calls on “all States, international organizations and specialized agencies” to reject the March 16 referendum in Crimea.
The vote on this resolution was 100 in favor, 11 against. That is certainly a sweeping majority of yeas versus nays. And if the UN had no more than 111 member states, it would be an emphatic majority opposed to Russia carving up Ukraine. Russia would indeed be isolated in this crowd.
But the UN has 193 members. On this resolution, there were 58 that abstained, and apparently there were 24 no-shows. In other words, while 100 states voted in favor of preserving the territorial integrity of Ukraine, there were 93 states that did not vote in favor. Those actively voting against the resolution included many of the usual bottom-of-the-barrel suspects: Belarus, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Zimbabwe and North Korea, along with Armenia and Russia itself. Among those abstaining were such major countries as China and India.
After calling on all states to refrain from grabbing chunks of Ukraine, the fact that just one of 193 member states of the United Nations did not grab chunks of Ukraine will be considered a massive success! A 99.45% success rate!
