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On
Syria, UNSG
Ban's
Late-Announced
“Briefing” Is
Hand-Over,
Photo-Op
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 23 -- 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:
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?
Dujarric, we
report upon
receipt,
responded:
"At 9:30 the
SG will
receive the
report of the
OPCW/UN
mission and be
briefed on its
content. The
report will
then be
transmitted to
the Security
Council. The
photo-op is
just the
handover of
the
report.
When I
something on
Burundi, I
will share it
with you."
It's
appreciated -
but on the
Burundi
question,
Inner City
Press has
asked it four
times; UN
Peacekeeping
or after this
amount of time
the mission in
CAR should be
able to
answer. On
Syria, why a
photo-op is
created - with
Kim Won-soo? -
is UNclear.
But it is
appreciated.
Watch this
site.
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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are
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