Colin, it is different because the large members stopped agreeing along the standard lines (east west) and started to disagree for other reasons. There is no longer any reason for the US to consult the UN on any issue anymore... Bush will show today that the UN is impotant, unimportant, and a waste of good real estate in New York.
This is the most important test ever of the UN, because the major powers attempted to use the UN for what it was suppose to be for, and it failed completely. It might continue to exist, but never again will you see it used as was attempted this time around.
You put up a laundry list of nations that with very little effort would be on the other side of the fence... Saudi Arabia needs only for a minor uprising to occur to blow the royal family off their thrones, and the US will be out on it's ear faster than fast. After they fall, the rest are just dominoes in the chain. Kuwait was so weak that Saddam overthrew it, and needed the big buddies from the west to be saved... otherwise the other arab nations would have let it go. The other countries listed are mostly smaller, and have strong ties to more radical factions in the area.
It won't take much for this to happen, go look at the political structures of the countries you listed, most are dictatorship, monarchy, or puppet democracies. Each of those is changable very easily.
Don't think it will happen? Why are there no US troops operating from Turkey? They don't want to piss people off that will come for them when the time comes.
Alex
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Let's go to the edge of disaster Push the pedal and go a little faster Let's slam into a wall at ramming speed Let's go to the edge of a mountain Jump off and lets start countin' Hit the ground and tell me if it bleeds
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