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By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR Letter PFT, Scope

UNITED NATIONS GATE, August 18 – Amid UN Antonio Guterres' empty statements of concern from a more than two week undisclosed vacation about for example Nigeria, while cheering on slaughter in adjacent Cameroon, came this on August 18 on Afghanistan: "The Secretary-General strongly condemns the horrific 17 August terrorist attack on a wedding ceremony in Kabul, claiming the lives of 63 people and injuring over 180.  The Secretary-General expresses his deepest sympathies to the families of the victims and the Government and people of Afghanistan. He wishes a swift recovery to those injured.  Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General New York, 18 August 2019 " Empty statements, at least those from the Secretariat - Guterres sides with any power to try to get a second term; Dujarric refuses questions and censors the Press, even while his noon briefing is empty and has no questions at all, video here.

Inner City Press  banned from the UN now 393 days after 10 years of coverage, as it reports on  Guterres' conflicts of interest for example on China Energy Fund Committee and on Cameroon, reported that back in November, Guterres said or had written for him this: "The Secretary-General strongly condemns today’s attack targeting Afghans gathered in Kabul to celebrate a day of special religious significance.  The deliberate targeting of civilians is a clear violation of international humanitarian law. Every effort should be made to bring perpetrators to justice.The Secretary-General extends his deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and the Government of Afghanistan.  He wishes a speedy recovery to those injured." Must have been some lunch. Meanwhile former UN offiical Helen Clark on 19 November 2018 criticized Guterres' exclusion from the UN, Vine here. But does Guterres care? Can he hear, inside his Mercedes? On October 18, with Inner City Press still banned from the UN now for 107 days and counting by Guterres, the UN Security Council issued this: "The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the attacks that took place in Afghanistan over the past weeks, including in Jowzjan, Kunduz, Takhar, Herat, Zabul, Farah and today in Kandahar, resulting in numerous casualties and many injured, ahead of the parliamentary elections in Afghanistan on 20 October.

The members of the Security Council expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government of Afghanistan and they wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured.

The members of the Security Council underscored the importance of a secure environment for conducting elections and emphasized that violence in any form, or the threat thereof, intended to disrupt the elections and democratic process in Afghanistan is unacceptable." Thre American were injured and the American commander in the area was present at the attack... On August 27, the UN Security Council which at least under UK presidency is content to let Guterres pick and chose which media can enter and ask questions, issued a statement beginning: "The members of the Security Council welcomed the announcement by the Government of Afghanistan on 19 August of a second conditional ceasefire with the Taliban from the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday.
The members of the Security Council urged the Taliban to reciprocate without delay. They also reiterated their call upon the Taliban to accept the offer made by the Afghan Government in February this year to engage in direct peace talks without any preconditions and without the threat of violence, with the aim of an ultimate political settlement that leads to sustainable peace for the people of Afghanistan.
The members of the Security Council reiterated the importance of an inclusive Afghan-led and -owned peace process for the long-term prosperity and stability of Afghanistan, and expressed their full support for the Afghan Government’s efforts to that end.
The members of the Security Council emphasised the importance of holding peaceful, inclusive, credible and transparent parliamentary elections on 20 October 2018 and presidential election on 20 April 2019." Looking back, Khalilzad during as his time as US Ambassador was always accessible. Inner City Press spoke with him many times during the late night budget meetings of example the type Guterres and his spokesman Stephane Dujarric had Inner City Press roughed up for covering on 3 July 2018. Here was from 21 December 2007: "Ban's bodyguards loitered by the Vienna cafe, standing at the ready. The vacuum cleaners began in Conference Room 5. There was no turning back.

  Down the hall came the American flotilla: Permanent Representative Zalmay Khalilzad, Ambassadors Alejandro Wolff and Mark Wallace, accompanied by Controller Warren Sach and the Secretary of the Fifth Committee. In the corner of Conference Room 3 they pow-wowed, as other delegates tried to get in.  They discussed the U.S. political ramifications of various ways of voting on the budget. Leave it to the experts, Khalilzad said. But as written, we cannot vote for the budget, he told Inner City Press, as he Googled past midnight." Compare that to today, where for covering the budget meetings from the same (expensively renovated) Vienna Cafe, Guterres has you assaulted - a crime scene - then imposes a lifetime ban. The UN is in decline, even decay.  Four days after UN Security officers led by UN Lieutenant Ronald E. Dobbins pushed Inner City Press' reporter out of the UN during a speech by Secretary General Antonio Guterres, on June 26 Guterres envoy to Afghanistan Tadamichi Yamomoto came to the Security Council stakeout to take questions. But of the entire UN press corps, only Inner City Press was there.  Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq who had run out on Inner City Press' questions about the ouster the day before told Yamamoto leadingly, gesturing at the UNTV microphone, "It's up to you." Inner City Press encouraged Yamamoto and he came over. Periscope video here. On August 17, Guterres' Global Communicator Alison Smale issued a no due process ruling that Inner City Press is banned from the UN - for life. It is outrageous and we'll have more on it - it was ghoulishly reiterated on 2 January 2019, see here.

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