On
Syria, Beyond
Brahimi An
Alawite Army,
UN Budget
& De
Mistura
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive,
Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 16 --
Amid competing
accounts of if
Lakhdar
Brahimi
has or has not
already
accepted to
replace Kofi
Annan as Syria
envoy,
the questions
is, why would
he?
Well
placed sources
told Inner
City Press
late Thursday
Brahimi is
still
undecided. He
has been told
that a fast
solution is
unlikely,
having
been told of
the high
percentage of
army officers
who are
Alawite,
for example.
The
defectors
leave as
individuals,
without the
thousands of
soldiers
similar
defectors took
with them for
example in
Yemen.
So
who WANTS
there to be a
replacement
for Kofi
Annnan? As
Inner City
Press has
already
reported, Ban
Ki-moon, in
order to stay
relevant.
More than
that,
appointing a
high(er)
profile envoy
makes them the
lightening rod
for failure,
not him.
Inner
City Press'
Thursday
stakeout and
noon briefing
question, who
pays
for the
mission, has
since been
answered off
the record: it
will
begin as
"unforeseen
expenses,"
a/k/a the
slush fund,
and
then be a
special
political
mission. This
may raise
Fifth (Budget)
Committee
issues about
backstopping
and the
different
scales of
assessment for
SPMs and
peacekeeping
missions.
Meanwhile
promoting
himself to
replace Kofi
Annan is the
hybrid Italian
Swede
Staffan de
Mistura, who
STILL dreams
of being the
next Secretary
General. While
some think the
next turn is
for Eastern
Europe -- can
you say,
Srgjan Kerim?
-- the counter
argument is
that most of
these
state are now
members of the
EU.
Scandanavia
wants another
shot, and
de Mistura
plays up that
he is half
Swedish, half
Italian.
Regarding
Brahimi,
Annan's deputy
Mark Malloch
Brown wrote in
his book "The
Unfinished
Global
Revolution"
that Annan
"sent
his senior
adviser on
Muslim and
Middle East
matter,
Lakhdar
Brahimi,
to Iraq to
build
bridges.. The
Bush
administration
made selective
use
of Brahimi's
help,
jeopardizing
what was left
of our
neutrality."
(Page
164-165).
Other
sources tell
Inner City
Press that MMB
resented
Brahimi, who
never
took MMB
seriously. And
so it goes at
the UN. Watch
this site.
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