After
Double Veto of Syria Chemical
Weapons Draft, JIM's Answer to
ICP, On UK Non Walk Out
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
February 28 – Before the
double veto on Syria chemical
weapons in the UN Security
Council, the UK and France
spoke. Then not only Russia
and China but also Bolivia
voted no. (Bolivia's
Ambassador Llorenti told Inner
City Press he and other
Elected members were only
consulted twice.) Egypt,
Ethiopia and Kazakhstan abstained.
Bolivia's
Llorenti also noted the the
Joint Investigative Mechanism
had not given the names listed
in the draft resolution,
saying this showed a lack of
due process. Inner City Press
ran to the day's UN noon
briefing and asked, did the
JIM give these names? Later
this answer was
provided:
"Regarding your
question at noon, the JIM has
the following information on
its reports: The JIM's reports
to the Security Council did
not include any names of
individuals, it only referred
to the finding by its
Leadership Panel that Syrian
Arab Armed Forces helicopters
were used to drop barrel bombs
in three cases (Talmenes, 21
April 2014; Qmenas and Sarmin,
16 March 2015). The report
also stated that the
helicopter flights in the
three cases originated from
two government-controlled
airbases (Hama and Humaymin
airbases) and made reference
to the 253 and 255 squadrons
both belonging to the 63rd
helicopter brigade and the 618
squadron based at these two
airbases."
Inner City Press asked UK
Ambassador Matthew Rycroft
about Bolivia's "two
consultation" critique.
Rycroft said the five new
members could observe in late
2016, and were given two
months on the Council before
the vote. Inner City Press
asked him why he (and France
and the US) had not walked out
as before when Syria spoke. He
said, We decided to stay and
listen but reserve the right
to walk out in the future.
US Nikki
Haley, who spoke first after
the vote (transcript soon)
told the press her statement
spoke for itself.
Back on
February 24, Haley said,
"People died because of this,
and the United States isn't
going to be quiet." Video
here, transcript
below.
Russia's Deputy
Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov
called it a provocation and
vowed to veto the draft. Video
here.
Haley,
transcribed: "I think what we
saw in there was pretty
amazing, because you had unity
in the fact that we needed to
be concerned about chemical
weapons being used in Syria.
You had an overwhelming vote
to say we need an
investigative mechanism that
would prove that these
chemical weapons were being
done by the Syrian regime. Now
you’ve got the results that
have come out, and people
don’t like what the results
are. It is ridiculous. How
much longer is Russia going to
continue to babysit and make
excuses for the Syrian regime?
People have died by being
suffocated to death. That’s
barbaric.
"So what we’re going to do is
– we were given all these
reasons on why we shouldn’t
propose the resolution. We
were given all these reasons
on why the timing was wrong.
That is exactly why the timing
is right. That is exactly why
this resolution needs to
happen. Whether people are
going to veto it or not, you
are either for chemical
weapons or you’re against it.
People died because of this,
and the United States isn’t
going to be quiet. Thank you."
Watch this site.
On US
inauguration day on January 20
at the US Mission to the UN
the photos of Obama, Biden,
Kerry and Samantha Power came
down. As of February 24 they
have not been replaced.
But as elsewhere an
"Alt USUN" Twitter account
continues in a parallel online
universe the views of Power,
most recently promoting an AFP
spoon-fed story about the UN
Security Council's Syria
chemical weapons draft
resolution and calling
it the "first test of US
influence over Russia."
Apparently in this view, if
Russia casts a veto, it's a
win for US Power. Call it a
revived red line.
Meanwhile,
here
is the video Inner City Press
put on Twitter
of Nikki Haley saying the
draft will be put to vote to
see “which countries have an
excuse for chemical weapons.”
The
account previously
called out new Ambassador
Nikki Haley for only attending
three of 13 UN Security
Council meetings, on Ukraine,
ISIS and Israel - Palestine.
Fair
enough. But how many meetings
did Samantha Power attend? And
after the Israel - Palestine
meeting Nikki Haley took questions
at the Security Council
stakeout, not pre-screened by
Power's spokesman Kurtis
Cooper - who remains at the US
Mission, tweeting, along with
many others.
In fact,
Isobel Coleman who did nothing
when the DC-based
whistleblower protection group
Government Accountability
Project wrote to her about the
UN's eviction of the
investigative Press, here,
still as of February 17 lists
herself as the US
representative on UN reform.
Is it true?
In
the UN itself, Obama and
Hillary Clinton nominee
Jeffrey Feltman has gotten his
UN contract extended. Inner
City Press first
reported, from multiple
sources, that Feltman sought
this so that his UN pension
would hit the five year
vesting dateline. The UN's
holdover spokesman Stephane
Dujarric called Inner City
Press' question, and by
implication Inner City Press,
"despicable."
Or is that, deplorable?
Meanwhile
Voice of America, which was
shown under the US Freedom of
Information Act to have asked
the UN to throw out the
investigative Press, has now
asked about Jared Kushner
(video via
here) and asked the UK
about Nikki Haley's
inexperience. Like we said, an
alternative universe.
Other
former State Department
officials like Bathsheba
Crocker wring their hands
about changes in foreign
policy. But what did they do,
when the UN killed 10,000 plus
people in Haiti with cholera?
They had their time to try to
improve the UN, and largely
failed. It's time to #MoveOn.
***
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