At
UN,
As Italy Brags
of Feltman
Talk, Other
Meetings
UNdisclosed
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 9,
updated 4:18
pm -- It was a
week
ago that
Jeffrey
Feltman was
sworn
in by
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon as
chief of his
Department of
Political
Affairs.
And now,
strangely,
comes this
"news" --
"The
Permanent
Representative
of Italy to
the United
Nations,
Cesare Maria
Ragaglini, met
today with the
new
Under-Secretary-General
for
Political
Affairs,
Jeffrey
Feltman, an
American
national, who
has
been in the
position for
one week now."
Was
there
something more
significant
about Italy's
meeting with
Feltman
than other
countries'?
Rather than
speculate,
Inner City
Press
immediately
put in a
question to Mr.
Feltman
and his
spokesman:
I've
just
received the
Italian Perm
Rep's press
release about
this meeting
with USG
Feltman, and
I'm thinking
of writing
about it. So I
wanted
to ask: how
many other
Perm Reps has
USG Feltman
met with in
his
first week
(or, if
applicable,
since March
28, 2012)?
Which ones?
Are there
read-outs?
Also, does USG
Feltman have
any comment on
the
Wikileaked
cable about
(not) moving
the Hariri
tribunal to
Malta,
reported in
today in Malta
(in Malta
Today)?
As
of 4 pm there
had been no
substantive
answer, beyond
to DPA's
credit a
request for
the full text
of what the
Italian
Mission sent
out - but if
and when there
is one, we'll
report it.
[See below]
For now we
note that the
Italian
Mission seems
to have a
different
standard of
newsworthiness,
or of
diplomatic
discretion,
than other
countries'
mission to the
UN.
For
example
last month
then the Force
Commanders of
UN
Peacekeeping
Mission can to
headquarters,
Cesare Maria
Ragaglini put
out a press
release that
he had me with
he UN Mission
in Lebanon's
Force
Commander --
who is
Italian. But
Feltman to our
knowledge is
not.
Does Cesare
Maria
Ragaglini not
meet with
other Under
Secretaries
General?
During
that
week of Force
Commanders,
many of the
other military
men in town
met with their
countries'
missions,
whether India
or Nigeria or
the
like, but no
one else
issued a press
release.
Still
the
questions to
Feltman and
his spokesman
remained
outstanding.
Update
of 4:18 pm --
USG Feltman's
spokesman
returned at
4:14 with
this:
"Thanks
for bringing
this to my
attention,
Matthew.
USG Feltman
has a full
schedule,
including
meetings daily
with Permanent
Representatives,
among these
courtesy calls
given his
recent
assumption of
his
post.
It's not our
practice to
provide lists
of those
meetings or
readouts.
Nothing to
respond on
your last
question."
And
there you have
it.
Footnote:
after Inner
City Press wrote its
review of
Feltman's
swearing in,
here, it's
been pointed
out that he
had read the
UN Charter
before, and
was just
re-reading it.
Duly noted,
and the
upcoming
Balkans trip
will be
covered with
interest.
, 
