re: "unilateral?"
"Can I get a solid definition of "international backing?" Or maybe "unilateral?" People here have never really been very clear on this."
Easy. Unilateral, means without France or some other dinky country like Syria or Cuba.
It depends upon the topic. For instance if it involves miltary operations then you require "the first to surrender to anything" France. If it's regarding something like human rights, then you need the worse offender of human rights, e.g. Sudan and/or North Korea.
International backing is simply a code word for MSM and particularly a group of "important" "top" editors. For instance, the decision to publish the Danish cartoons did NOT have international backing.