SDNY COURT/UN
GATE, Nov 22 – Amid the carnage
in Ethiopia, the U.S. State
Department held a background
briefing on November 22.
Senior State Department
Official 1 encouraged
Americans to leave the
country. Senior Official 2
assured how much work US (and
previously UN) official Jeff
Feltman is doing.
Inner City
Press pushed Star 1 to ask for
the view of the UN's
abandonment of staff, in
Afghanistan and now Ethiopia.
But it was not called on; nor
has the State Department done
anything on the UN of Antonio
Guterres banning
Inner City Press now 1337
days. On the issues, Senior
State Department Official 1
said they have "no
visibility." Maybe that's
because UN censorship of
independent Press, which is by
contrast invited in to cover
the IMF and US courts, is
still banned by the UN?
When the
International Monetary Fund
held its biweekly embargoed
press briefing on November 4,
Inner City Press asked about
Ethiopia and Tigray, Chad and
its Glencore debt, and the
IMF's status with Zambia.
Spokesperson Gerry Rice
responded on each. Podcast here.
Short video of Q&As on
Twitter here.
IMF video here,
transcript forthcoming.
Answering on Ethiopia, Rice
for the IMF said it is
"difficult to move forward
with program activities" at
the moment. Can you say,
Tigray? His answer on Chad did
not include, as Inner City
Press' question had, Glencore.
And on Zambia there is not
time frame, but talks begin
today - virtually.
Back on September
16 Inner City Press asked Rice
about crypto-currency
legislation in
Ukraine and
again El
Salvador,
about the coup
in Guinea and
the role of
the Venezuela
talks in
Mexico on
release of the
SDRs. YouTube
of IMF video here.
Full transcript here.
Inner City Press
asked, "
what is the IMF's view of
Ukraine's move to regulate
crypto-currency? Also, the new
legislation proposed in
Panama, and the implementation
of the El Salvador Bitcoin as
legal tender bill?" When
called on, Inner City Press
added that Ukraine would use
nuclear reactors' output for
mining.
Rice cited
an upcoming virtual mission to
Ukraine later this month, and
said that on El Salvador, the
talks are under Article 4, not
for a program, as least at
this point.
On the Guinea
coup, on which
the UN of
Antonio
Guterres has
refused to
answer Inner
City Press'
questions, to
the IMF Inner
City Press
asked, "
After the coup
in Guinea,
what has
changed in the
IMF's approach
to the
country? What
have been the
contacts of
the IMF in
Guinea
recently? Same
question on
Myanmar, and
Afghanistan."
Rice said the
IMF is
"watching"
Guinea, after
citing
previous
support to the
country for
COVID
response.
How can the
UN get away with not
answering, and actively
blocking, these questions? The
IMF will go to Guterres' UNGA
week, which is thumbing its
nose at NYC with no
vaccination requirement. We'll
have more on this.
Back on January 8
Inner City Press asked the
IMF's Helge Berger, Mission
Chief, about China's so-called
Belt and Road Initiative:
"Your Article IV report cites
China's "overseas lending
projects" amid "rising
geopolitical tensions and
economic and trade frictions."
How does the IMF think that
rising debt levels among
African countries, and
increased skepticism about the
"Belt and Road" will impact or
be addressed going forward?
-Matthew Russell Lee, Inner
City Press. Video here.
(An aside: Inner
City Press has
reported on
the CEFC China
Energy Fund
Committee's
activities in
Chad and
Uganda and in
the UN, on
which the UN is
UNresponsive.)
Other questions
included
China's digital
currency (Inner
City Press also reports
on
crypto-currency
cases in the
U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York and
elsewhere).
Berger said
when used
overseas an
issue is that
residents
could start
using another
country's
currency, if
it is easier.
We'll have more
on this.
***
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