For
Syria
Chem Weapons,
Italian Port
& Russian
Trucks, France
Gives Nothing
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 18 --
Many countries
are helping or
offering help
to destroy
chemical
weapons from
Syria,
according to
the statement
of
Ahmet Üzümcü
of the
Organization
for the
Prevention of
Chemical
Weapons
released this
morning.
Italy
has offered a
port for the
transloading
of chemicals
from a Danish
Norwegian
vessel to a US
ship. Of the
other
Permanent Five
members of
the Security
Council,
Russia will
provide
armored trucks
and possibly
security;
China will
provide
cameras and
ten
ambulances.
Even
the UK is
lists as among
the financial
contributors
to the OPCW
trust
fund for the
operation.
The
only P5 member
not listed in
any way in the
OPCW
statement,
which
even credits
offers
promised but
not received,
is France.
Back
on December
4, Inner
City Press asked
France's
Ambassador to
the UN
Gerard Araud,
on camera, if
France was
contributing
anything at
all
to the removal
from Syria of
chemical
weapons, of
which France
had
made so much.
Araud
looked to his
colleague
by the side of
the UN
Security
Council
stakeout
and mentioned
"technical
assistance"
(he also
cited "moral"
support).
No
French
technical
assistance,
much less
moral support,
is listed in
the OPCW
statement. For
the OPCW trust
fund, donors
include the
Czech
Republic,
Germany,
Ireland,
Italy,
Luxembourg,
Malta, New
Zealand,
Norway,
Poland, the
Republic of
Korea, Turkey,
and, yes, the
United
Kingdom of
Great Britain
and Northern
Ireland.
The
OPCW also
cites pledges
from Finland
and South
Korea,
"amounting
to
approximately
EUR 750,000"
and that the
"Japanese
Government has
decided,
subject to
parliamentary
approval, to
contribute an
amount of
nearly USD 15
million, which
will be shared
between the
OPCW and the
United
Nations."
But
from France,
nothing.
Perhaps its
position on
Syria is so
focused on
removing Assad
and installing
Ahmad
al Jarba,
who Araud was
bragging
about at the
same stakeout
even on
December 17,
that it
doesn't care
if chemical
weapons are
removed from
Syria, or even
prefers that
they
are not.
Or
perhaps it's
that France is
over-stretched
propping up
its once and
again colonies
in Africa,
from Central
African
Republic
(where it
supported
Bokasa and
Bozize) to
Mali, where it
has signed
itself a
Letter of
Assist for
airfield
support in the
north, to receive
UN
money in an
amount Araud
refused to
disclose
when Inner
City Press
asked.
One
might
conclude,
while others
are
contributing
to
international
efforts --
money, ships,
ports, trucks
and ambulances
-- France is
taking, and not
even
disclosing
what it takes,
through its fourth
head
of UN
Peacekeeping
in a row,
Herve
Ladsous. Sacre
bleu!
Watch
this site.
Footnote
/ media
critique: from
the scribes
whom France
uses, for
example at the
UN,
nothing may be
heard about
this glaring
omission, the
only one of
the P5 not
listed in the
OPCW statement.
Agence
France Presse,
largely funded
by
subscriptions
from the
French
government,
defends France
to the extent
of filing faux
complaints
leading with
Ladsous being
asked too-hard
questions. Reuters
at the UN
spies and
supplicates
for leaks from
these same
French. It's
all the
fashion. We'll
have more on
this.
, 
