By Dan Bilefsky, New York Times, April 5/6, 2011

UNITED NATIONS — The unusual military strikes by the United Nations against military bases of the Ivory Coast’s strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, represent a seminal moment in which an organization generally disinclined to intervene forcefully in the affairs of member states is showing a new willingness to take bold action to save lives, diplomats and analysts said.

After weeks of the United Nations’ equivocating, Alain Le Roy, head of the organization’s peacekeeping operations, on Monday night framed the decision to intervene both as a moral choice and military and legal imperative: Mr. Gbagbo should be stopped from using mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns against civilians and international peacekeepers. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also said intervention was necessary to protect lives, even as he sought to emphasize that the United Nations was not a party to the conflict....

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France’s Role in Three Conflicts Displays a More Muscular Policy
By Steven Erlanger, New York Times, April 5/6, 2011

In Ivory Coast, Libya and Afghanistan, France is showing a new willingness to use force, with international backing.

Photo credit: Suhaib Salem/Reuters. Caption: Last week, a French flag was displayed on top of a destroyed tank in Ajdabiya, Libya.....