At UN
in Geneva,
Iran Speaking
English,
Facebook Back
Pain, Reuters
Quartet
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 15 --
With the UN in
New York
closed for
Eid, the UN
in Geneva is
hosting the
Iran P5+1
talks,
complete with
normally open
doors locked
and the gray
cubicle walls
that pass for
security or
privacy in
UN-world.
Iran's
Javad Zarif is
still
suffering from
back pain --
this first
according to
Doctor Cathy
Ashton of the
EU -- but made
his proposal
in painfully
archaic
PowerPower on
Tuesday
morning. Then
he returned to
his hotel.
Forced metaphors
about Iranian
hard-liners as
the albatross
on his back
holding back
the talks are
sure to
follow.
The
talks were
held in
English,
leaving some
wondering if
France lodged
a Francophony
based
protest as
they often do
at the UN in
New York.
When
Zarif last met
Ban Ki-moon in
New York,
going up to
Ban's 38th
floor
office to
cover it were
only Inner
City Press and
five Iranian
reporters. But
Geneva has
(over?) full
coverage, with
Reuters
"winning"
the battle of
excess with
four separate
reporters.
One of them
has
demonstrably
spied for the
UN, click here
for that,
so the full
count is not
clear.
There
are photos of
the handshakes
and even
journalists'
photos of
other
journalists'
laptop
live-tweeting,
what else,
photos.
Whatever
happens it
will be
documented.
Back
on the last
day of the UN
General
Debate,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
postponed
the day's noon
briefing in
deference to
Israel's Bibi
Netanyahu's
speech.
Then
he started it
up right over
Iran's right
of reply. When
Inner City
Press asked
why, he said
that all "hard
news"
reporters
understood,
and that he'd
been a
journalist for
a quarter of a
century. Oh.
Video here.
On Monday in
the UN Legal
Committee
in New York,
Iran trashed
the threat
of use of
force without
UN permission.
The US
on the other
hand said
dryly that a
study of the
third state
impact of
sanctions is
no
longer needed.
With
the US
government
shutdown
ongoing, the
State
Department is
maintaining a
virtual
Twitter
strike. While
this was presented
as the
reason for US
UN Ambassador
Samantha
Power's radio
silence
during the
Security
Council's
recent Africa
trip --
misreported by
Reuters --
the US
Mission to the
UN did Tweet
some news when
she returned.
Then stopped.
And
so the field
is open for
the new
Iranian
administration
and its
social media
skills,
including back
pain on
Facebook.
Bring it on!
Watch this
site.
, 
