Kerry
and Zarif
Speak of April
22 Meeting, UN
Censors Press
Coverage
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
19 -- When US
Secretary of
State John
Kerry and
Iran's Foreign
Minister Javad
Zarif met in
the UN on April
19, they each
announced they
would meet
again on April
22 about the JCPOA.
While this
might seem
like
mechanical
news, the UN
and its
partners in
censorship saw
fit to make it
difficult or
impossible for
non-favored
journalists to
cover it.
Inner City
Press, which
until this
year being
ousted (on
February 19, audio
here) and
then evicted
(on April 16,
video
here and here), was always able to cover
events on the
UN's second
floor, now
can't.
A
request to
pass through
the turnstile
was denied,
and Media
Accreditation,
which oversaw
and filmed
Saturday's eviction,
was no help.
But here, as
fast as Inner
City Press
could obtain
them, are the
quotes:
Kerry:
"We agreed to
– we’re both
working at
making sure
that the
JCPOA, the
Iran agreement
– nuclear
agreement – is
implemented in
exactly the
way that it
was meant to
be and that
all the
parties to
that agreement
get the
benefits that
they are
supposed to
get out of the
agreement.
So we worked
on a number of
key things
today,
achieved
progress on
it, and we
agreed to meet
on
Friday.
After the
signing of the
climate change
agreement, we
will meet
again to sort
of solidify
what we talked
about today."
Zarif
confirmed, “We
focused on how
we will
implement the
JCPOA. We meet
again on
Friday.”
But why would
the UN evict
and restrict
reporters, for
their
coverage? The
ouster and
eviction were
ordered by
Under
Secretary General
Cristina
Gallach, with
a conflict of
interest as
she appears in
the UN's
Ng Lap Seng
case audit at
Paragraphs
37-40 and
20(b); Ban
Ki-moon told
Inner City
Press, "That
is not my
decision."
We'll have
more on this.
When
the US
dramatically
called for a
UN Security
Council
meeting about
Iran's
ballistic
missile
launch,
outside the
Council Iran
distributed a
written
statement,
while Israel's
Danny Danon
and then
Samantha Power
spoke.
Iran's
statement
said,
"Security
Council
resolution
2231 does not
prohibit
legitimate and
conventional
military
activities,
nor does
international
law disallow
them. Iran has
never sought
to acquire
nuclear weapon
and never will
in the future,
as it fully
honours its
commitment
under the NPT
and the JCPOA.
Consequently,
Iran's
missiles are
not and could
not be
designed for
delivery of
unconventional
weapons. We
reject
arbitrary
interpretation
of the
provisions of
Security
Council
resolution
2231 and its
annexes, and
call upon all
parties to act
in good-faith
and refrain
from
provocations."
Danny
Danon had a
exhibit, a
photo of
launching
missile. Inner
City Press
asked him if
he though Ban
Ki-moon is
"letting it
all hang out"
in his final
year
(including
though the ouster
of Inner City
Press, petition
here);
Danon said
they don't
always agree,
but they talk.
The UN
Secretariat's
bungling of
Yemen
mediation has
become ever
more clear,
according to
multiple
sources and
documents
exclusively
seen by Inner
City Press,
see below.
In
the UN
Security
Council on the
Yemen
sanctions
resolution
adopted on
February 24,
language was
added to try
to discourage
the Panel of
Experts from
looking into
the act of the
Saudi-led
Coalition.
Concessions
were made, of
a kind not
made for or
about other
countries
under
sanctions.
(Inner City
Press had to
follow the
process from
outside the
UN, literally,
the park on
43rd Street
across First
Avenue,
because only
days after
Inner City
Press asked
why the UN was
so quiet about
false
claims of
Iranian
military
equipment
in a UN WFP
aid ship,
Inner City
Press was
summarily
thrown out of
the UN, and
Banned,
without due
process. Petition
here.)
On
March 1, back
in on a
reduced access
pass, Inner
City Press
asked UN OCHA
official John
Ging about
taking "aid"
money from
Saudi Arabia
while it
blasts away at
Yemen. Video
here.
Ging
said these two
are "ring
fenced," and
that the UN
doesn't allow
Saudi Arabia
to put
conditions on
aid or where
it is
delivered.
Inner
City Press
asked, what
about the
Saudi threat
that aid
workers should
leave
Houthi-controlled
areas? Ging
said the UN
had pushed
back.
But
quietly, as
was the case
with the Saudi
diversion of
the WFP ship.
Does money
talk?
Apparently
yes.
The
Yemen
"government,"
which under UN
rules could
hold a press
conference for
all
journalists in
the UN Press
Briefing Room,
has instead
chosen to
invited only
members of the
Gulf and
Western media
dominated UN
Correspondents
Association to
a spin
session. We've
put the leaked
invitation
online here;
here's some of
the text:
Dear
Colleagues,
UNCA is
extending an
invitation
sent from the
Permanent
Mission of the
Republic of
Yemen, to a
light
breakfast
briefing with
a public
diplomacy
delegation on
their visit to
New York to
discuss the
current
political
situation in
Yemen, on
Tuesday, March
8th at 9:00am
at the mission
(413 East 51st
street).
Please see the
attached
invitation to
RSVP.
Giampaolo
Pioli, UNCA
President
The
focus of the
annexed
invitation is
on "IHL and
HRL violations
of the Houthi
- Saleh
rebels." This
is UNCA: this
is how the UN
works, or
doesn't.
On
March 3, Inner
City Press
asked UN
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq why
UN OCHA
official
Stephen
O'Brien said
he was
"pleased" when
Saudi Arabia,
which funds
O'Brien's
Yemen appeal,
continues to
hold the UN's
"humanitarian
IT equipment"
at least under
March 6, after
Yemen's
Ambassador -
sure to be
present at the
spoon-fed
breakfast for
UNCA - said
was Iranian
military
equipment.
UNCA played a
role in the
UN's ouster of
Inner City
Press, and is
now linked to
at least two anonymous
troll Twitter
accounts
trying to
defend the
ouster. This
too is how the
UN works: UN
Censorship
Alliance.
Here, already
public online,
are the
officials and
some of the
large and in
charge
At-Large UNCA
2016
(breakfast)
board members:
On
February 28,
Ban Ki-moon
but not his
invisible
envoy issued a
canned
statement
about the
previous day's
airstrike:
"The
Secretary-General...
calls for a
prompt and
impartial
investigation
of this
incident."
Ban's call for
an impartial
investigation
rings hollow,
when he has
allowed his
Under
Secretary
General for
Public
Information
Cristina
Gallach to
oust Inner
City Press,
which reports
on Yemen,
based on an
"investigation"
which never
even SPOKE to
Inner City
Press. This
incongruity,
and its
consequences,
has been
raised
directly to
Ban and his
most senior
advisers.
Impartial?
Previously:
Inner City
Press obtained
UN envoy
Ismail Ould
Cheikh Ahmed's
documents for
the delayed
talks in
Switzerland,
and
exclusively put
them online
here.
Back
on November
10, while
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon was on
the next to
last day of
his trip to
Saudi Arabia
to discussed
among other
things Yemen,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric to
confirm that
envoy Ismail
Ould Cheikh
Ahmed is not
even IN Saudi
Arabia with
Ban.
Dujarric
confirmed that
he is not
there, but
would not
confirm that
he is in his
native
Mauritania, to
which Inner
City Press is
informed he
flew on the
UN's dime, for
a vacation,
signed off on
by the top of
the Department
of Political
Affairs.
Inner
City Press has
reported from
sources dates
on which the
UN's envoy
went to Dubai,
purpose
UNknown. Given
his follow UN
enovy
Bernardino
Leon's deal
with the UAE,
this must now
be explained
and acted on
by the UN.
Inner
City Press previously
reported
on and
published the
Houthis'
letter denouncing
UN envoy Ould
Cheikh Ahmed
as little more
than a Saudi
tool. Now it's
gotten worse:
even Kenny
Gluck who
works for the
envoy and went
to Muscat
trying to meet
the Houthis
was unable. He
waited then
returned to
Riyadh.
The envoy,
meanwhile, is
said by those
who know him
to not only be
“laughably”
cheap --
putting in for
reimbursement
for an eight
dollar taxi
ride from the
UN to a
Mission on
67th Street,
for example --
but also still
involved in
the same
business for
which Inner
City Press
previously
dubbed him
“the
Fisherman” or
the “Fishy
Envoy.”
He has
traveled on
the UN's funds
to Dubai,
claiming he
would meet the
Houthis there.
Not only will
the Houthis
not meet with
him -- even if
they would,
they would not
be found in
Dubai, given
that the UAE
is part of the
coalition. In
any event, Abu
Dhabi is the
capital, not
Dubai. There
is
something...
fishy.
Now we can
report what UN
sources say
are dates of
Ismail Ould
Cheikh Ahmed's
travel to
Dubai: May 11;
June 3 and
June 5; August
1 and August
4; September
12-15; October
9-11; October
26; November
4; and
prospectively
November 10
and November
12.
What
are Ismail
Ould Cheikh
Ahmed's trips
to Dubai for?
Given the
UAE's offer to
UN Envoy
Bernarndino
Leon, while he
was UN Envoy
to Libya, this
question must
be answered.
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