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On
Syria, UNSG
Ban's
Late-Announced
“Briefing,”
UNTV Calls
Photo-Op, No
Media Alert
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 23, updated
-- On the
evening of
August 23, an
item was added
to UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
online
schedule:
* 9:30 a.m.
Briefing on
the “Report of
the OPCW-UN
Joint
Investigative
Mechanism and
other Issues
related to
Chemical
Weapons in the
Syrian Arab
Republic”
Then UN
Television
said it would
broadcast this
“photo op” at
10:30
am.
Doesn't
“briefing”
connote more
than photo op?
And why isn't
it in the UN's
Media Alert?
Inner City
Press wrote to
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric:
Subject: Press
Q on 9:30 a.m.
Briefing on
the “Report of
the OPCW-UN
JIM," &
for update
after 28 hours
on Burundi /
Mayuyu
From: Inner
City Press
Date: Tue, Aug
23, 2016 at
8:45 PM
To: Stephane
Dujarric [at]
un.org
Cc: Farhan Haq
[at] un.org,
FUNCA [at]
funca.info
Q: UNTV has
just announced
a “photo op”
of the
Secretary
General,
seemingly
related to the
revised
listing * 9:30
a.m. Briefing
on the “Report
of the OPCW-UN
Joint
Investigative
Mechanism and
other Issues
related to
Chemical
Weapons in the
Syrian Arab
Republic”
Where is this
“briefing”?
Who has been
informed of
it, and who
will be
permitted to
attend /
observe this
“briefing”?
And if it is a
briefing, why
does DPI's
UNTV describe
it as a
photo-op?
What is the
update on this
fourth round
of questions
on Burundian
Lt Col Mayuyu,
email of 29
hours ago?
Update:
this response
came in,
published in a
separate story
but linked to here.
On August 11
when the the
UN's third
Syria envoy
Staffan de
Mistura
invited the
media to a
question and
answer
stakeout on
August 11, the
turn-out was
decidedly
light. While
the UN used to
provide
interpretation
of stakeouts,
this time it
didn't.
Present
for a
predictable
question was
Voice of
America, with
which
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman has
worked to
evict the
critical Press
(one FOIA
document here,
more
forthcoming).
Ban finally
did the
eviction
earlier this
year, film
here. This
is Ban's UN.
In his
prepared
statement, de
Mistura added
a word to the
UN's old saw,
saying there
is no
“sustainable”
military
solution. He
quoted a
response the
day prior in
New York by
OCHA's Stephen
O'Brien - an
answer which
the UN
Department of
Public
Information
under Cristina
Gallach didn't
even include
when it put up
the video of
the OCHA
briefing
(which was
about South
Sudan, another
failure of
Ban's UN.)
More than
anything,
Ban's UN seems
to want to be
perceived as
relevant: it
wants to be
spoken with,
and to brag
about its
discussions.
De Mistura
told the
near-empty
stakeout about
his work in
previous
mediation. Ban
himself was
out in Los
Angeles,
bragging about
talks with...
Norman Lear.
This is
today's UN.
* * *
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reports
are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
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for Sept 26, 2011 New Yorker on Inner City
Press at UN
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for
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Corruption
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