BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - THE YEAR 2012 has seen challenges and opportunities, new beginnings and familiar setbacks, victories and defeats. The most glaring example is the attempts by the United Nations to end the bloody 21-month-old Syrian conflict through diplomacy which have been a resounding failure. There is little reason to expect a quick change given the Russian-United States disagreement on Syria. After a year of intensive diplomatic efforts, United Nations-Arab League peace mediator Lakhdar Brahimi of Algeria has made no more progress than his predecessor, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in getting the government and rebels to come to the negotiating table.