The UN Security Council cannot maintain world peace if one of its permanent members is hell-bent on war.
Russia predictably used its veto to block a resolution ordering it to withdraw all troops from Ukraine. And that has prompted calls to reform the 75 year old institution by removing the glue which keeps Russia fixed to the table.
In a sign of Vladimir Putin ’s global isolation even his traditional ally China abstained. And that could signal change is about to come.
Constitutionalist David Rogers said: “The UN’s founding fathers would be appalled at what just happened.
“There should be nothing in the UN charter which stops the 193 member states voting to remove Russia as a permanent member.”
When the UN was created from the ashes of World War II the five victors - Britain, America, France, the Soviet Union and China - were given all-time powers to veto anything they did not like.
That system cannot work when one of them is the aggressor.
Now Putin is in a bind. And intelligence chiefs fear he will use indiscriminate violence to speed up the advance delayed by Ukrainian fighters.
One Western official said: “Now Putin has committed himself; this is no longer a war of choice but necessity. He must win. And he will use any means necessary.”
Defence minister James Heappey added: “You are going to see more utterly brutal fighting.”
That could include thermobaric rockets, a chemical mix creating a supersonic blast which vaporises buildings and bodies. Their use would cause massive loss of civilian life.
And could see Putin hauled to the Hague as a war criminal.
