Almost three weeks into Russia’s war on Georgia, a ceasefire agreement is proving elusive. The pact’s broker, President Sarkozy, long waited for a Russian hint that promises of withdrawal from Georgian land will be followed by actions on the ground. Yesterday, tired of waiting, the Europeans turned to the United Nations Security Council, which its champions see as the only body that can confer true legitimacy on international agreements. Senator Obama had also turned instinctively to the council, just when the news emerged that Russian and Georgian forces clashed on the first day of the Beijing Olympics.

“I strongly condemn the outbreak of violence in Georgia, and urge an immediate end to armed conflict,” Mr. Obama said in a statement that was so balanced it sounded like it was taken from the U.N.’s own playbook. “Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint, and to avoid an escalation to full scale war. Georgia’s territorial integrity must be respected. All sides should enter into direct talks on behalf of stability in Georgia, and the United States, the United Nations Security Council, and the international community should fully support a peaceful resolution to this crisis.”

The statement was released by Mr. Obama as he enjoyed a Hawaiian vacation. The Democratic nominee deserves a little rest and recreation. So does President Bush, who was at his Crawford, Texas, ranch for most of the crisis, while the world body’s secretary-general, Ban Ki-Moon, was vacationing at Wyoming. While the absence of Messrs. Bush and Obama was noted sarcastically, Mr. Ban’s absence elicited nary a yawn.

Mr. Ban, according to his spokesmen, has been working the phones, although he could only talk to actors with cameo roles in the drama, such as President Halonen. It took Mr. Ban a week to get Mr. Saakashvili on the blower, by which time the Georgian had accommodated any American television anchor that would have him on. United Nations spokesmen say that Mr. Ban has yet to receive an audience with any Kremlin decision maker, though he did merit a meeting with the Kremlin’s ambassador in Turtle Bay, Vitaly Churkin.

Marginalization at a time of war is nothing new for Turtle Bay, its champions say. The organization is mostly needed when it is time to reach and preserve peace. As Russia has demonstrated so far, it is planning to allow that time to come only once its military and diplomatic objectives are achieved, and even then it is sure to veto any resolution that would include even a comma that may indicate there is anything wrong with those objectives.

As Mr. Sarkozy’s chances of sealing a deal that Russia would implement — rather than merely saying it accepts — dimmed, Europeans yesterday circulated to Security Council members a short resolution proposal. It demanded an immediate compliance with Mr. Sarkozy’s ceasefire agreement, and specifically a Russian withdrawal to the lines it held prior to the onset of the hostilities. It also called to affirm Georgia’s “independence and territorial integrity.”

Our Turtle Bay sources say that early on European diplomats were prepared to water down such wording to accommodate Moscow, while their American counterparts quietly proposed a tough resolution containing red lines that would force a Russian veto. Such a veto would help Washington to present the Kremlin as intransigent and uncooperative. It now seems that the Europeans, who are clearly frustrated by Moscow’s unfulfilled promises, are ready for a Security Council confrontation, in lieu of a real one on the ground. At best, the council will now become a public relations instrument — a small achievement for a body aspiring for a real role in world affairs.

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What it all adds up to is a lesson in world government: It’s a chimera. Anyone who hopes that the United Nations would carry the day is either too complacent to chart an American policy or simply willing to let the Russians off the hook for a war. Let it be an instructive moment in respect of Darfur, Zimbabwe, and Burma, to name but a few crises that are not going to be solved on the shore of the East River. Anyone assigning the job of confronting Iran’s nuclear ambitions to diplomats who would negotiate for years and then produce an unreadable and ineffective Security Council resolution is simply allowing Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb. No wonder Mr. Obama has, at least for now, dropped the council from his list of tools to handle Georgia.