Ban
Ki-moon's
Refugee Calls
Let Saudi and
Arab Gulf Off
Hook, with US
& Canada
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 6 --
While many
have noted
that Saudi
Arabia and
Gulf Arab
countries that
have poured
funding into
the war in
Syria have not
taken a single
refugee, when
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon made a
round of calls
on September 6
to (unnamed)
leaders, these
were only in
Europe.
As on
sexual abuse
by
peacekeepers,
"name and
shame" is the
opposite of
Ban Ki-moon's
approach. He
didn't name
the European
leaders he
spoke to, and
didn't call
Saudi Arabia,
the UAE, Qatar
or Bahrain,
much less the
US, Canada or
Australia.
Former UK
foreign
secretary
David Miliband
appeared on
both ABC This
Week and NBC
Meet the Press
on September
6, talking
about refugee
flows from
Syria only in
term of Assad,
with no
mention at all
of ISIS. Even
when Miliband
cited Aylan
Kurdi fleeing
from Kobane,
he blamed it
on barrel
bombs.
Looking
back to
Miliband's
time as UK
foreign
secretary, one
couldn't help
noting for
example that
if he'd put
even deployed
even half of
this advocacy
during the
slaughter in
Sri Lanka in
2009, lives
might have
been
saved.
The argument
that he, and
Kouchner for
example, were
constrained on
Sri Lanka due
to terrorism
is put to the
lie but
Miliband's
airbrushing of
ISIS now.
ABC
This Week did
not asked
Miliband about
Gulf states
taken no
refugees, nor
about the UK's
policies under
David "Swarm"
Cameron;
neither US
Sunday show
asked about
Corbyn and the
UK Labor race.
Last
month on the
UN Security
Council's
Syria
Presidential
Statement,
adopted
“unanimously”
with Venezuela
disassociating
itself as
Lebanon when
it was a
member of the
Council did on
Syria, an
issue still unaddressed
is the
exclusion of
Elected Ten
members from
negotiations.
Inner
City Press
asked
Nigeria's
Ambassador Joy
Ogwu about
this on August
14, if the
Elected Ten
members of the
Security
Council
should
be brought
into
negotiating
documents
earlier, Video
here, from
2:43.
Ambassador
Ogwu said, on
UNTV camera,
“That’s an
aspiration of
the ten
elected
members. There
should be more
participation.”
In this
case, until
Venezuela
objected, they
were given a
mere 18 hours.
What is the
point of
running for a
seat on the
Security
Council if
rubber
stamping is
all that's
expected of
you?
This
paragraph, and
its compliance
or
non-compliance
with Syria's
constitution,
was and is at
issue:
“10. The
Security
Council
demands that
all parties
work urgently
towards the
comprehensive
implementation
of the Geneva
Communiqué,
aimed at
bringing an
end to all
violence,
violations and
abuses of
human rights
and violations
of
international
humanitarian
law and the
launching of a
Syrian-led
political
process
leading to a
political
transition
that meets the
legitimate
aspirations of
the Syrian
people and
enables them
independently
and
democratically
to determine
their future,
including
through the
establishment
of an
inclusive
transitional
governing body
with full
executive
powers, which
shall be
formed on the
basis of
mutual consent
while ensuring
continuity of
governmental
institutions.”
Disassociation,
allowing it to
be adopted as
unanimous
while a member
can disavow
it, may solve
a problem for
this
particular
text. But
other ongoing
dysfunctions
of the
Security
Council
continue.
Watch this
site.
Back on August
7 the Security
Council on
August 7 a
resolution to
establish a
so-called
accountability
mechanism for
the use of
chemical
weapons in
Syria. Outside
the Council
before and
after the
unanimous vote
on August 7,
Russia's
ambassador
Vitaly Churkin
referred to a
Presidential
Statement he
said may be
adopted early
next week, to
support UN
envoy Staffan
de Mistura's
work.
Inside
the Council
after the
vote, Syria's
Ambassador
Bashar
Ja'afari began
his speech
with a
reference to
the 70th
anniversary of
the US
dropping the
atomic bomb on
Hiroshima. He
went to to say
the UN never
investigated
the use of
chemical
weapons, by
rebels he
said, in Khan
al Asal.
In its
resolution the
Security
Council
“recalls that
in its
resolution
2118, it
decided that
the Syrian
Arab Republic
and all
parties in
Syria shall
cooperate
fully with the
OPCW and the
United
Nations.” It
seems doubtful
that ISIS will
cooperate.
Churkin in his
post-vote
speech inside
the Council
said that “the
existing
mechanics of
the UN and
OPCW do not
have a mandate
to identify
those
participating
in such acts.
Moreover, we
became
witnesses of
the many
politicized
statements in
this regard,
which were
clearly meant
to be
propaganda. It
was necessary
to eliminate
this gap,
which was done
with the
adoption of
today’s
resolution...
Any efforts in
the Syrian
area must be
in line with
assisting a
search for a
political
solution to
the conflict.”
Inside the
Council, US
Samantha Power
delivered this
speech. At the
stakeout,
questions were
given to
Reuters, Al
Hurra (really,
France 24, by
mistake), and
Voice of
America.
(We'll have a
separate piece
on Power's
response to
the Press'
final question
about Burundi.
For now,
here's previous
stakeout, sit-down.
After the
meeting ended,
on the steps
leading out
from the UNSC
stakeout,
Churkin said
“I hope it
will translate
into our
continued
joint work on
the political
front. We are
working, I
think very
well, on a
PRST
[Presidential
Statement] in
support of
Staffan de
Mistura’s
efforts. I
hope it will
be adopted...”
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