Kofi Annan is a crooked POS, so I agree the UN has become a joke. As I said before and JaTo underlined with detail, the UN Human Rights Commission is corrupt.
I trust that Israel will not allow themselves to get taken out by Iran, as they've demonstrated their ability to protect their national security/right to exist in the past. Israel's intel is very good in their region, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would have to be backed by some heavy weights to carry anything effective out.
With that said, I don't think the UN is an effective forum to prevent anything from happening in the world today. If we don't take the UN seriously, we cannot expect any other nation to.
