P O’Malley interviews Kofi Annan
On Rwanda: ‘countries had become risk-averse after Somalia’
On Darfur: ‘the UN could not determine from their study, that it was genocide’
On Israel Palestine: ‘often the Americans tended to forget the problems on the Israeli side, and finger-pointed to the Palestinians and Arafat’

The Russian and Chinese veto of the U.N. Security Council draft resolution that would have declared the situation in Syria a threat to international peace and security, extended the U.N. diplomatic mission headed by Kofi Annan, and set the stage for new sanctions and possibly U.N.-authorized military action was hardly surprising. More important, it isn’t all that significant.

In all these, where do we locate quiet, likeable people whose contributions may not have had immediate dramatic impact on the trajectory of history but who possess intangible assets that make us feel that they must be playing important roles in the way the wheels of history rotate?