> The principle can't possibly be that useful if, a few decades later, the result of its application is deadlock.
It deadlocked less than a decade in, which is a big part of how we ended up with the current operation where the things in the UN Charter that plainly say they require the approval of all the permanent members of the Security Council are treated as if the permanent members have a veto which they must be present and affirmatively choose to use. (It's also how we ended up with the "Uniting for Peace" [1] framework for an end-run around deadlocked veto powers even if they are present and actively voting.)
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_General_Assembly...