FUNCA
Intro: In an
opening in the
regime of
copyright at
the end of
2013, Sherlock
Holmes and
Doctor Watson
were declared
public domain
by Chief Judge
Rubén Castillo
of the United
States
District Court
of the
Northern
District of
Illinois,
Eastern
Division.
Decision
here; news
here. As
relates to the
United
Nations, then,
the
fast-written
story below,
while the door
is open.
Meanwhile others
try to abuse
copyright,
for
example the
specious Digital
Millennium
Copyright Act
filing by
Reuters to
block from
Google search
a complaint
its bureau
chief filed
with the UN
seeking to get
Inner City
Press thrown
out. That will
be opposed,
and free press
and speech
promoted, now
in 2014. By
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
@FUNCA_info
I
& II
published Dec
30, 2013;
III
& IV here, V
& VI here
Jan 2, 2014
Continued:
Sherlock Homes
at the UN: The
Case of Sri
Lanka: Drone
Feeds &
the Dag Hamm
Playhouse
By
Matthew
Russell Lee, Contra
Copyright
I
& II,
III
& IV,
V
& VI
VII.
Sherlock
kept his car,
an old brown
Saab, in what
was left of
the UN garage.
As the General
Assembly above
was being
fixed, they
closed down
different
sections
of the garage,
putting up
notices that
those with
parking passes
had
to move their
cars. But
given diplomat
impunity and
sudden recalls
home, some
didn't move
them at all.
"Look
at this,"
Sherlock said,
pointing at an
Audi covered
with dust, its
tires
nearly flat.
"The UN keeps
putting
notices under
the windshield
wipers until
they don't fit
any more,
threatening to
do something
if
the car's not
moved. But
they do
nothing."
I
could see the
contours of
the UN
bringing
cholera to
Haiti in it. I
saw that
everywhere.
"Why don't
they just tow
it?" I asked
Sherlock.
"They're
not
quite sure
whose it is.
Don't want to
step on the
wrong toes.
Even if
the country
seems less
important, the
car could
belong to the
son or
daughter of
some big
power. So they
just leave
it."
Sherlock
pulled out his
smart phone
and took a
picture, down
by the blue
diplomatic
license plate.
"These are
going to pay
off some day,
some day
soon," he said
more softly.
"I'm keeping a
library."
We
found
Sherlock's
Saab -- not
without some
dust on the
hood, I
noticed -- and
Sherlock
revved the
engine up. We
drove out past
the mail
loading docks.
"They brought
in cocaine
through here,"
Sherlock said,
"in
a package with
no address on
it. The UN
claimed it was
just a
coincidence
the package
ended up
here." He
paused.
"Right."
On
our way uptown
Sherlock
filled me in,
like a
ravioli, on
this landlord
cum
correspondent.
His name was
Guiseppe
Pisoli and his
money and
realty
came from his
pasta-heiress
wife, Clarisa
Borgatti. For
years he had
pranced around
the UN,
finally using
his -- or her
-- money to
campaign to
head the
Repeaters Club
that Sherlock
had spat at on
the
UN's press
floor.
"But
there's
more,"
Sherlock said.
"Between the
two of them,
they own
ten apartments
in Manhattan,
and a big
house out in
the Hamptons.
They rent them
out to
diplomats,
like the one
from Sri
Lanka."
"It's
a conflict
of interest,
right," I
asked him,
"for a
supposed
journalist to
take money
from a person
they're
covering?"
"No
sh*t,"
Sherlock said.
"And Pisoli
gives money,
too. Not only
to get
elected to the
tin horn UN
Censorship
Alliance" --
that's what
the blogger
had dubbed it
-- "but also
to people he's
supposed
to cover for
the Italian
newspaper he
lists on his
business card.
Maybe he pays
for that, too,
for the
privilege."
"Only
at the UN,"
I said. There
were a lot of
hangers-on.
But what was
the angle
here?
Sherlock
went on: "So
when Sri Lanka
wanted to
screen a movie
denying war
crimes, and
have
it be inside
the UN, they
worked through
Pisoli. He did
it, after
taking the
money as
rent."
"Open
and shut,"
I said,
knowing in the
UN that was
probably not
true. Not to
further
beat down a
dead Haitian
horse, but
look at how
the UN got
away with
bringing
cholera.
"Pisoli
then used
the presidency
of the Censorship
Alliance,
which he had
bought, in
order to try
to shut down
any criticism
of him and
the genocide
defense he'd
screened in
Pisoli's
playhouse."
"In
this apartment
we're going
to, you mean?"
"No
-- in the Dag
Hammarskjold
Library
auditorium,"
Sherlock said.
Full circle.
VIII.
Sherlock
turned left
over to Fifth
Avenue, parked
in a bus stop
next to
Central Park.
"If
you're going
to work with
me on this,
maybe it's
time to tell
you
what I'm
looking for on
Pambiar," he
said.
"A
confession?"
Sherlock
laughed.
"That only
happens in
Perry Mason,"
he said. "No,
there are
still some
open questions
about his role
in the White
Flag
killings. Just
before they
happened,
Mahinda
Rajapaksa was
in Amman,
Jordan. It's
there that he
declared
victory, that
the war was
over.
And Pambiar
was there in
Amman. What
was he doing
there?"
"Probably
some
kind of
conference," I
ventured.
"But
in what
capacity was
he there?
Planning with
Mahinda?"
Sherlock
paused,
then went on.
"Another is
what
information
Pambiar was
getting.
There's
references to
video streams
from UAVs,
that is,
drones, over
the so called
No Fire Zone.
These were
beamed to
military
commanders
like Shavendra
Silva. But
Pambiar saw
them too. So
was he waiting
until they
were no one
left alive?"
"That'd
be a war
crime," I
said. You
know,
international
law expert
that I am.
"Yep,"
Sherlock
said. "It was
one thing for
the UN to have
Kurt
Waldheim,
after his Nazi
youth. But to
commit war
crimes WHILE a
UN
official?
That's a new
low."
We
sat there.
"And
another
thing,"
Sherlock
continued.
"Pambiar's use
of drone
footage, even
if he wasn't
the one
pulling the
trigger, is
what makes
Ladsous'
pressing to
deploy drones
in Eastern
Congo and
wherever else
so
problematic.
That and Ladsous'
history with
Rwanda."
"So
who'd get the
information?"
"Maybe
just
France,"
Sherlock said.
"They're
running most
of the
military
operations in
Africa anyway.
Look at it -
Mali, Central
African
Republic,
after Cote
d'Ivoire. So
Ladsous could
justify
giving it to
them. And
maybe the
other P5s,
just to keep
them quiet."
"But
aren't all
member states
paying for the
drones?"
Sherlock
nodded. "And
even if some
pay less than
others, the UN
name for some
reason is
viewed as
giving the
drones
legitimacy.
The G-193 and
all that."
He started the
engine. "Let's
go to
Pisoli's," he
said.
To
be
continued...