At
UN,
As Azerbaijan
Takes SC for
May, Terror on
Agenda, New US
Envoy to Baku
In Place
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 30 -- As
the US
Presidency of
the Security
Council
winds down,
next up is
Azerbaijan,
which joined
the Council at
the
beginning of
the year.
While so far
relatively
quiet on the
Security
Council, on
May 4 its
president
Ilham Aliyev
will come to
New York
and preside
over a
thematic
debate about
cooperation
against the
threat of
terrorism.
On
the morning of
April 30 in
the Security
Council,
rather than
any meeting on
Sudan,
or Mali or
Guinea Bissau,
run by April's
president US
Ambassador
Susan Rice,
expert level
diplomats
trickled in to
negotiate,
some told
Inner City
Press, the
"product" for
the May 4
session on
terrorism.
There
will,
Azeri mission
sources say,
be at least
two other
debates in the
month, on
Kosovo and
Bosnia. It is
not yet clear
if Azerbaijan
will
hold a
so-called
"horizon
scanning"
briefing by
the
Department of
Political
Affairs, which
all other
members except
the
United States
have done.
And,
asked one wag,
will
Azerbaijan
continue with
one US
innovation,
having at the
stakeout
instead of
just a
microphone a
rostrum from
which to read
notes?
To be fair,
Ambassador
Rice has
spoken to the
press much
more in April
than, for
example, France
did last May.
On
April 26, days
before
Azerbaijan
takes over the
President of
the Security
Council in
which the US
is working on
such issues as
Syria and
North Korea,
President
Barack Obama
announced
"Ambassador
Richard
L.
Morningstar,
Nominee for
Ambassador to
the Republic
of
Azerbaijan,
Department of
State:
Ambassador
Richard L.
Morningstar is
the Secretary
of State’s
Special Envoy
for Eurasian
Energy. Prior
to his
appointment in
April 2009, he
was a Senior
Director for
Stonebridge
International
LLC."
It's
noteworthy
that the
announcement
uses this
firm's former
name: it's now
called
Albright
Stonebridge,
for managing
partner
Madeleine
Albright.
The
US Presidency
of the Council
is slated to
end with a
Jazz Day
celebration.
Kim Jong-Un of
North
Korea has not
tested a nuke;
ECOWAS' plan
on Mali and
Guinea Bissau
have not be
considered by
the Council
and the Sudans
are in the
air,
and seemingly
at war.
Azerbaijan is
taking over as
Council
President
- watch this
site.
, 
