Today, the people of Syria are waiting. Waiting for the world to wake up and take action as their oppressive leader Bashir Al-Assad's regime has killed over 2700 people and continues to jail and torture civilians who only ask for the right to protest their government.

Russia and China have kept the Syrian people waiting for relief from the violence. Yesterday, the two permanent members of the Security Council rejected a resolution (which was watered down to gain their support) that called for an immediate end to violence and demanded that those responsible for perpetuating violence against the unarmed protesters be held accountable. Sanctions or other measures against the Assad regime would only come into affect if Syria failed to meet these demands.

A guest blog post by Joe Schwartzberg:

The following op-ed is largely inspired two provocative and highly recommended essays. One, "Will Obama Denounce MLK as Memorial [Is] Dedicated?" by David Swanson, is excerpted and modified from his book, War Is a Lie (http://www.warisalie.org) and was transmitted to me by CGS Board member Dick Bernard. The other, "To the Shores of Tripoli," by a left wing, generally dovish Israeli journalist, Uri Avnery, was sent by John Sutter, a long-time President of the San Francisco-based Democratic World Federalists.

Early in his essay, cited above, Swanson quotes the following remarkable passage from President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced an extreme bill, H.R. 2829, that holds U.N. funding, as well as U.S. leadership, prestige, and influence at the U.N., hostage if her outrageous demands aren't met.  Ros-Lehtinen is willing to sacrifice the benefits of U.S. leadership at the U.N. right at a time when the U.S. is successfully promoting its national security and foreign policy priorities on the world stage.

Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the UN, and Esther Brimmer, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, both made remarks recently highlighting the importance of the UN and noting the progress that the institution has made.

Rice spoke at the annual meeting of the United Nations Association of the United States. Below are some highlights. Check out Rice's full speech here.

Rice spoke about the need to engage with the UN to solve global problems:

"Now more than ever, Americans' security and wellbeing are inextricably linked to those of people everywhere. Now more than ever, we need common responses to global problems. And that is why the U.S. is so much better off-so much stronger, so much safer and more secure-in a world with the United Nations than we would be in a world without it."