Saudi
Set to Begged
by Arab League
& Kerry to
Have its Seat
& Eat it
Too
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 2 --
Follow Saudi
Arabia's
announcement it
would
not take the
UN Security
Council seat
it without
competition
won, the
last two
weekends have
featured
orchestrated
moves by the
Arab Group
at the UN in
New York to
ask Saudi
Arabia to
reconsidered.
Two
weeks ago, a press
release to
this effect
was sent out,
but several
Arab Group
members
complained
to Inner City
Press that the
statement
had
not properly
been
circulated or
approved.
This was cured
last
weekend,
after an
in-person
meeting of the
Arab Group
ambassadors on
October 25.
Now
things are
moving up a
notch. The
League of Arab
States will
meet at
the
ministerial
level in Cairo
on November 3,
on paper about
Syria
and to meet Saudi-sponsored
opposition
figure Ahmed
al Jarba
-- but
also, sources
tell Inner
City Press, to
formally ask
Saudi Arabia
to
reverse itself
and take the
Security
Council seat.
This
is to be
sealed with US
Secretary of
State John
Kerry's visit
after Cairo to
Saudi King
Abdullah in
Riyadh, where
the sources
predict to
Inner
City Press
Kerry will "so
supplicate" to
the King that
Saudi Arabia
will claim
victory and
taken the
position: have
its seat
and eat it
too.
Meanwhile
Kerry's
spokesperson
is hyping
other portions
of his
upcoming trip,
on Saturday
"welcoming" to
Twitter
Jordan's
Nasser Juddeh
(who
has long been
on Twitter)
and saying
Kerry looks
forward to
meeting
him his week.
What
about the
Saudi King?
What's that
Kerry
visit about?
The
other stops on
Kerry's trip,
beyond Cairo,
Riyadh and
Amman, are
Warsaw,
Jerusalem,
Bethlehem, Abu
Dhabi,
Algiers, and
Rabat.
In
New York,
Inner City
Press has
repeatedly
asked UN
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon's
spokespeople
to name the
last date on
which Ban met
with the
Saudis, and
now to confirm
or deny that
Saudi Arabia
declined a
visit by UN
(and Arab
League) envoy
on Syria
Lakhdar
Brahimi.
Ban's
office will
answer none of
this;
instead Ban
offered
the type of
praise of
Saudi Arabia
that Kerry is
expected to
deliver
-- or even top
-- in Riyadh.
Watch this
site.
Longer
form analysis
here,
on Beacon Reader
(subscription)
site.
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