The
UN
Under Ban, See
No Evil, Say
Nothing About
Egypt,
StratFor Hack
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 29 --
In a week of
civilians
killed by air
strikes,
of armed
rebels
reportedly
entering the
UN's newest
member state
South Sudan,
and the
raiding of
non-governmental
organizations
in
Egypt, the UN
of Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on
December 29
declined to
confirm or
take a
position on
any of these
events.
At
noon on
Thursday
questions
about the
raids on NGOs
in Egypt, of
opposition
party
headquarters
and media
organizations
in the
Democratic
Republic
of the Congo,
and tear
gassing of
protesters in
Sudan were
submitted
to Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
by Inner City
Press.
By
day's end,
Ban's
spokesman's
office sent
identical
responses that
"we are
aware of the
reports. We'll
let you know
if we have any
comment"
to the Egypt
and bombing
questions, and
lumped the
Sudan, South
Sudan
and DRC
questions
together and
replied, "On
the questions
related to
peacekeeping,
DPKO is
looking into
them."
Not
one of the
questions was
answered.
Ironically,
the only
answer
provided was
to
"confirm or
deny that the
UN was / is a
client of
StratFor,
which was
hacked by
Anonymous."
Ban's
spokesman
office
replied, "the
United Nations
subscribes to
Stratfor, as
it does to
other news
information
services."
Inner
City Press
had also
asked, "What
type of
information or
analysis was
the UN
obtaining from
StratFor?
Under which UN
budget item?"
These
questions were
not directly
answered. But
perhaps now
with StratFor
hacked, the UN
knows nothing
at all, even
in countries
like Sudan and
the DR Congo
where it is
spending more
than $1
billion in
member
states' funds
purported to
protect
civilians.
Meanwhile,
the
head of UN
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous,
the fourth and
least
competent
Frenchman in a
row to hold
the post,
appeared on
the UN's web
site on
December 29
with a
monologue
bragging about
DPKO's
accomplishments.
For
months Ladsous
had dodged the
press,
canceling
Q&A
stakeouts and
refusing
to
answer
questions
about Haiti,
Rwanda and his
role as chief
of staff
to disgraced
former French
foreign
minister
Michele
Aliot-Marie in
her flying on
aircraft of
cronies of
Tunisian
dictator Ben
Ali.
Now,
without any
questions
allowed, the
UN on December
29 put online
a nearly four
minute
monologue by
Ladsous,
recorded on
December 5,
bragging about
the UN's
deployment in
Abyei (where
UN
peacekeepers
stood by as
civilians were
killed), about
the elections
in Liberia
and, of
course,
France's pet
project, the
toppling of
Laurent Gbagbo
in Ivory
Coast. Video
here.
Even
in this
propagandistic
format,
Ladsous could
not come up
with anything
to say
about the UN
Mission in
Haiti, charged
with importing
cholera and
beating
Haitian
civilians, nor
the $1 billion
mission in
Darfur --
"on the
questions
related to
peacekeeping,
DPKO is
looking into
them."
(c) UN Photo
Ladous
and Ban
Ki-moon: oath
to not taking
or answering
questions?
Here
were and are
Inner City
Press'
December 29
questions:
-On
Egypt,
what is the
UN's reaction
to / comment
on the
government's
raid of NGOs?
Is it the UN's
understanding
that the NGOs
are only
those
receiving
"foreign"
funding? Or do
they included
entirely
indigenous
NGOs?
-Please
confirm
or deny that
the UN was /
is a client of
StratFor,
which was
hacked by
Anonymous.
What type of
information or
analysis was
the UN
obtaining from
StratFor?
Under which UN
budget item?
-What
is
the UN's
reaction to /
comment on
Turkey's air
raid, directed
at
Kurdish
rebels, which
reportedly
killed
civilians?
-Beyond
the
still pending
question about
UN response to
looting of
UDPS
headquarters,
does the UN
dispute, and
if not why did
it not speak
out about and
act on,
the reported
targeting of
journalists in
the
DRC?
Also
on
DRC, what is
the UN's read
out (and
take-aways)
from the meeting
with
UDPS'
Jacquemin
Shabani
and the abuses
he reported to
the UN?
Can
the
UN confirm the
entry into
South Sudan by
JEM which Sudan now
alleges?
Separately,
and in
contrast to
yesterday's
answer about
the (lack of)
aftermath to
the
death of JEM's
Khalil
Ibrahim, is
the UN aware
of, and does
UNAMID
(or Mr.
Menkerios)
acknowledge
some
jurisdiction
over, protests
at
Khartoum
University by
Darfuri
students,
related to
Khalil
Ibrahim's
death? Either
way, does the
UN have any
comment on the
use of tear
gas against
protesters in
a country in
which the UN
has two acting
peacekeeping
operations?
And
the
UN's answers:
From:
UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at] un.org
Date: Thu, Dec
29, 2011
at 4:11 PM
Subject:
Questions
To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
InnerCityPress.com
On
Egypt:
We are aware
of the
reports. We'll
let you know
if we have any
comment.
On
Stratfor:
The United
Nations
subscribes to
Stratfor, as
it does to
other news
information
services.
On
reports
about Turkish
air strike: We
are aware of
the reports.
We'll
let you know
if we have any
comment.
On
the
questions
related to
peacekeeping:
DPKO is
looking into
them.
Watch
this site.
, 
