Inner City Press: Investigative Reporting from the United Nations

Ban Brands Climate Event as “BKM Summit,” Spox Says “Leaders Do As They Do”

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 12 -- The UN's Ban Ki-moon is weak in standing up to major countries, that is widely known, most recently from the position that on bombing Syria without Securit Council approval, leaders will make what decisions they make. But is Ban a megomaniac too?

The upcoming “Climate Summit” has a Twitter hashtag. But it is not @UNClimateSummit or something of the like: it is @BMK_Summit. BKM is, of course, Ban Ki-moon. Even Al Gore wouldn't do that.

But the deal appears to be, Ban won't criticize the US or Obama on anything about Syria, as long as Obama pays lip service to this “BKM Summit.” What matter than major countries are not coming at high level? This is to be “BKM's” legacy.

In the UN Delegates' Lounge on September 12, there was much criticism of Ban and how he is “killing” the UN, as one long time staff member put it. “This makes us look bad,” another staffer said. A contractor described the “high level” lunch for Obama et al as lamb and tuna tartare. To this has the UN under Ban descended.

\ After US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spoke on September 8, it was the White House and not the UN which put out a read-out. The US read-out mentioned ISIL, but not whether Security Council approval should be sought for any bombing in Syria without the government's consent.

On Ukraine, the US said “they discussed the importance of an effective monitoring mechanism for the cease-fire in eastern Ukraine.” Previously, leaked audio discussed former US, now UN official Jeffrey Feltman “getting” Ban to send Robert Serry to Ukraine.

The issue here is the UN's (declining fig leaf of) independence.

One wonders why the UN didn't put out its own read out. Could it be because the US agreed to mention “the Secretary-General’s Climate Summit”?

Or could it be the US' praise of Ban on ebola? The US read-out began “President Obama spoke today with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to discuss the need for greater international assistance to contain the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. President Obama thanked the Secretary-General for recent steps taken by the United Nations to coordinate the global response and pledged additional U.S. assistance to bring the outbreak under control.” A 25-bed hospital?

Meanwhile, it's reported that “the United Nations Security Council session on foreign terrorist fighters that the President will chair,” as the US read-out puts it, will be at 3 pm on September 24 (rather than on September 25). The afternoon of the 24th would overlap or preempt the speeches of the heads of state of Bolivia, Rwanda, Jordan, the Dominican Republic, Kenya, Costa Rica, Mongolia, Nigeria, Honduras, Montenegro, South Africa, Switzerland, Chad, Estonia, Equatorial Guinea and maybe even Sri Lanka. We'll have more on this.

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