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UNITED NATIONS-The U.N. Security Council failed on Friday to reach an agreement on a Russian-drafted statement that would have called on Georgia and separatists in its South Ossetia region to immediately halt all bloodshed. The 15 Security Council members began meeting late on Thursday and remained behind closed doors for two hours until early Friday morning to discuss the three-sentence statement.But council diplomats said one phrase in it was unacceptable to the Georgians, backed by the United States and Europeans. That wording called on all sides in the conflict "to renounce the use of force," according to a draft of the text.After failing to agree, the council decided not to take any action on the issue, the diplomats said.Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who had asked for the 11 p.m. EDT meeting to be held, did not hide his disappointment at the council's inability to agree.He said it "unfortunately represents the absence of any political will amongst the members of the Security Council."Georgian troops, backed by warplanes, pounded separatist forces near the South Ossetian capital on Friday hours after launching an assault on the breakaway region following a short-lived truce.The crisis fueled fears of full-blown war in the region, which is emerging as a vital energy transit route and where Russia and the West are vying for influence.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah....
