New Zealand devoted a great deal of its diplomatic resources to getting a seat on the United Nations Security Council for the past two years, as it is doing now for Helen Clark's bid to become the UN's next Secretary General.
Many New Zealanders might wonder why we bother, until they hear the Prime Minister lament the council's performance on Syria in his speech to the General Assembly yesterday.
"The internal politics within the council and the sheer complexity of the Syria crisis have obstructed a unified council response," he said, "but we believe no matter how difficult and sensitive the issues, the council cannot watch the situation go from bad to worse for the Syrian people."
Today, he chairs a special meeting of the council on the Syrian crisis. It comes after two incidents in the past few days, one an accidental strike by US forces on Syrian troops backed by Russia, the other a bombing of a UN aid convoy near Aleppo that has been blamed on Russia or the Syrian Air Force.
The blame and counter blame could blow apart the truce negotiated between the US and Russia that offers some relief for civilians in the firing line if not a lasting solution to the war.