At
UN,
Ban "Regrets"
Syria Votes,
No Comment on
Palestine in
UNESCO
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 5 --
The day after
a sharply
divided
Security
Council failed
to adopt a
European
drafted
resolution on
Syria, Inner
City Press
asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky what
Ban thought of
the result.
Nesirky
replied
that Ban
"regrets" it,
and that Ban
hopes the
Council "will
overcome
divisions."
Nesirky
was
immediately
confronted
with questions
by other
journalists,
asking
since Ban so
often says
"it's up to
member states"
-- as
Nesirky would
later recite
in response to
Inner City
Press' request
for Ban's view
of Palestine's
application to
join UNESCO --
why Ban
in this case
regretted the
votes of
Russia, China,
India, Brazil,
Lebanon and
South Africa.
Nesirky's
answers
did not go
beyond the
prepared
statement with
which he
responded to
Inner City
Press'
question about
the Syria
vote. As
Nesirky told
one
journalist to
"refer" to a
statement
issued Friday
about
Bahrain,
another left
the briefing
room, seeming
to write up
Ban's
response to
the Syria
question.
To
some, Ban's
comments may
seem like
leadership. To
others it will
seem like Ban
trying to
please or
placate those
perceived to
have the most
power,
not unlike
Ban's fast
apology to
Turkey's prime
minister
Erdogan
after an
incident that
sent three UN
Security
staff, but no
Turks, to
the hospital.
Ban &
Nesirky, some
say single
standard and
answers not
shown
There
are been
further
developments
in that case,
some of which
Inner City
Press
also asked
Nesirky about
on Wednesday
and which will
be separately
written up.
Watch this
site.
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