Editorial: No sanctions for Syrian murder?

Good news for Syria's brutal dictator, Bashar Assad. Russia and China have vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding that Syria end the violence against protesters, some 2,700 of whom have already died in the government's bloody crackdown on dissent.

The resolution also demanded that Syria allow its people basic rights and grant full access to human rights investigators. Doesn't sound too radical; yet it was more than Syria's allies on the Security Council could bear.

The veto was especially shameful considering that the European Union had earlier tried to impose tough sanctions, including a ban on arms sales to Syria, but agreed to a watered-down resolution in hopes that it would get through the council.

The failure of even this restrained measure is yet another dismal example of foot-dragging by some members of the world community in the face of violent repression by Assad. Besides Russia and China, which have their own human rights issues, four countries abstained: India, South Africa, Brazil and Lebanon.

It's not at all clear that the Arab Spring sweeping through the Middle East will result in the widespread adoption of democracy in a region historically resistant to it. But it is clear that the days of tyrants like Assad are numbered. Turkey, once an ally, is reportedly about to impose sanctions of its own.

If only the UN had the decency to do the same. hN