UNITED
NATIONS, April 12
– The day
after
two and then a
third Syria
chemical
weapons draft
resolution failed
in the UN
Security
Council in New
York, Russia's
Ambassador
in Beirut told
al-Manar, "if
there is a
strike by the
Americans on
Syria ,
then... the
missiles will
be downed and
even the
sources from
which the
missiles were
fired."
Wednesday
morning before
7 am Trump
fired back on
Twitter,
"Russia vows
to shoot down
any and all
missiles fired
at Syria. Get
ready
Russia,
because they
will be
coming, nice
and new and 'smart!'
You shouldn’t
be partners
with a Gas
Killing Animal
who kills his
people and
enjoys it!" Later
on April 11 it
emerged
that in the
UK Theresa May
was convening
a "war
cabinet" for the
next day. So
on April 12,
back at the
UN, Inner City
Press asked UK
Ambassador
Karen Pierce about
the war cabinet
and if the UK
believes military
action absent
a UN Security
Council resolution
would comply
with the UN
Charter.
Pierce
said that's
something
ministers are
discussing in
London, she
would not say
anything about
it, "I refer
you to Number
10." Video here.
But the UK has
denied,
in full, Inner
City Press'
Freedom of
Information
Act requests
about Yemen
and Cameroon.
So what kind
of referral is
this? To be
fair, Pierce
has been
accessible
since (re)
arriving, so
we hope to have
more. At the
UN, Bolivia's
Ambassador has
"requested
a meeting of
the Security
Council due to
threats of
unilateral use
of force in
Syria." That
was the
Bolivian
Ambassador's
tweet. The
Council
presidency Peru,
however, has not tweeted
or Facebooked
that the
request is
granted; its
transparency
could be and
should be
improved, FUNCA
says. We'll
have more on
this.
On the
morning of
April 11 in
front of the
UN Security
Council, Sweden's
Ambassador Olof
Skoog when asked
said, We don't
respond to tweets.
He said,
“Whatever
happens now
has to be in
line with
international
law" - an
echo of
Bolivia's
Ambassador's
comment on April
10. French Ambassador
Francois
Delattre
dodged on
Trump's tweet,
saying You're
right, the
weather is
beautiful. He
said nothing about
the day's Council
topic, Mali,
on which
France holds
the pen. Nor
did the UN-favored
scribes
present ask
anything about
Mali.
In Washington,
while
Axios
AM for the
day didn't
once mention
Syria, and POLITICO
Playbook
mentioned it
only as a US
immigration
issue, Inner
City Press at the
US State
Department's
April 10 briefing
asked
Spokesperson
Heather Nauert
what the US
intends to do
with Syria set
to be
president of
the UN
Conference on
Disarmament
in late May. Video here, transcript
below.
Nauert
called it ironic
but said the
US hasn't yet
decided what
to do.
Most of the
other
questions in
the briefing
were about
Syria, with
references to
the OPCW and
the defunded
JIM, the UNIMI
not to be.
(Inner City
Press also
asked about
Cameroon, but
that's another
story -
post briefing
Periscope here).
On the
third
draft
resolution,
submitted by
Russia at 11
am, there were
five yes votes
(China,
Ethiopia,
Bolivia,
Kazakhstan and
Russia), four
against (US,
France, UK,
Poland) and
the other six
abstaining. With
US President
Trump canceling
his trip to
the Summit of
the Americas
in Lima in
order to focus
on Syria,
at the
UN his
Ambassador
Nikki Haley
has called for
a vote at 3
pm. Western
spokespeople
referred to a
vote on what
they called an
"old" Russia
draft as well - and
there may be a
new one voted
on as well. From
Washington,
the US issued
this Trump -
UK read out:
"President
Donald J.
Trump spoke
today with
Prime Minister
Theresa May of
the United
Kingdom.
Both leaders
condemned
Syrian
President
Assad’s
vicious
disregard for
human
life.
The President
and Prime
Minister
agreed not to
allow the use
of chemical
weapons to
continue."
From The Hague
the OPCW
issued this:
"Since the
first reports
of alleged use
of chemical
weapons in
Douma, Syrian
Arab Republic,
were issued,
the
Organisation
for the
Prohibition of
Chemical
Weapons (OPCW)
has been
gathering
information
from all
available
sources and
analysing it.
At the same
time, OPCW’s
Director-General,
Ambassador
Ahmet Üzümcü,
has considered
the deployment
of a
Fact-Finding
Mission (FFM)
team to Douma
to establish
facts
surrounding
these
allegations. Today,
the OPCW
Technical
Secretariat
has requested
the Syrian
Arab Republic
to make the
necessary
arrangements
for such a
deployment.
This has
coincided with
a request from
the Syrian
Arab Republic
and the
Russian
Federation to
investigate
the
allegations of
chemical
weapons use in
Douma. The
team is
preparing to
deploy to
Syria shortly." Bolivia's
Ambassador was
asked if he is
concerned
about US taking
military
action. "Of
course," he
said. "That
would be
against the
Charter." In
Washington the
State
Department has
a briefing at
2 pm; Trump is
said to be
close to a
decision.
Over the
weekend, nine
of the UN
Security
Council's 15
members called
for a meeting
about "reports
of chemical
weapons attack
in Syria;"
Russia called
for a meeting
on
international
peace and
security. After
the meeting
and
consultations,
Russia's
Ambassador
Vassily
Nebenzia said,
“Tomorrow is
tomorrow. I am
prepared for
everything.
Whatever
happens, we
leave it all
to chance.”
Sweden's Olof
Skoog
deferred to
the President
of the
Council, Peru,
whose Ambassador
said,
Members of the
Council
coincide on
need for
investigation
conducted by
OPCW. Experts
working on the
possibility of
a resolution
on the
matter.” He
said the
experts - not
at the
Permanent
Representative
level - would
work on April
10 but there was no
assurance a
vote would be
taken at that
time. Since
then Russian
Foreign
Minister
Lavrov has
said to expect
a new
Russian draft, and
President
Trump "will
not attend the
8th Summit of
the Americas
in Lima, Peru
or travel to
Bogota,
Colombia as
originally
scheduled. At
the
President’s
request, the
Vice President
will travel in
his stead. The
President will
remain in the
United States
to oversee the
American
response to
Syria and to
monitor
developments
around the
world.”
On April 9 Trump
with John
Bolton at his
left hand,
after
commenting on
Mueller and
the raid on
his lawyer
Michael
Cohen's
office, said
a decision
would be made
soon and the
press would be
told, probaby
after the
fact. Earlier
as the
Security
Council meetings
began, at
the Council
stakeout the
UK's Karen
Pierce was
asked if her
country supports
military
action. She
called it
hypothetical,
then pointedly
quoted Lenin. She
said her Foreign
Secretary
Boris Johnson
had
spoken with
Acting US
Secretary of
State
Sullivan.
Twice it turns
out: the US
has issued
this read-out:
"Acting
Secretary of
State John J.
Sullivan spoke
by phone twice
today with UK
Foreign
Secretary
Boris
Johnson.
During these
calls, the
Acting
Secretary and
Foreign
Secretary
discussed the
alleged
chemical
weapon attack
in Douma,
Syria, which
killed dozens
of innocent
civilians and
injured
several
hundred
more.
The two
leaders
discussed the
international
community’s
response and
potential
further steps
the U.S. and
UK governments
might take in
coordination
with other
partners." Sweden's
Olof Skoog, by
contrast,
said Sweden generally
does not favor
military
action. He has
proposed
elements for
discussion in
a closed door
consultation after
the open
meeting.
Russia's Nebenzia said
his country is
willing to
consider it. In
Washington,
President
Trump's
spokesperson
Sarah Huckabee
Sanders
repeated that
"currently"
the US is not
conducting air
strikes on
Syria. We'll
have more on that,
and on the air
strikes on Syria's
T4 base near
Homs, attributed
to Israel (and to
the advice
of Mattis).
In Washington, US
President Trump said at
his cabinet
meeting “It
was atrocious.
It was
horrible" and
that his
administration
will be
making a
decision on
Syria in the
next 24-48
hours. “This
is about
humanity and
it can’t be
allowed to
happen. If
it’s the
Russians, if
it’s Syria, if
it’s Iran, if
it’s all of
them together,
we’ll figure
it out.” (On meeting
North Korea's
Kim Jong Un, Trump
said meeting
will be in May OR early
June.)
In the UN
Security
Council
the
nine, this
time unlike on
March 19,
include Cote d'Ivoire.
The
UK On April
8 tweeted,
"UK, France,
US, Poland,
Netherlands,
Sweden,
Kuwait, Peru
and Cote
d’Ivore have
called an
emergency
meeting of
#UNSC to
discuss
reports of
chemical
weapons attack
in #Syria.
Meeting
expected on
Monday." Back
on March
19, these
other countries
did not have
Cote d'Ivoire
with them on
Syria,
resulting in a
failed vote to
hold a UN
Security
Council
meeting on
Syria. (An Arria
formula
meeting was
quickly
convened down
the hall,
where Inner
City Press
due to UN
censorship for
corruption can only
go, if at all,
with UN minder).
This time,
they got France-aligned
Cote d'Ivoire
on-side....
Today's UN of
Antonio Guterres, who just met
with ICC indictee Omar al
Bashir, and his Deputy Amina
J. Mohammed who has refused
Press questions
on her rosewood signatures
and now the refoulement of 47
people to Cameroon from "her"
Nigeria, has become a place of
corruption and censorship.
Amid UN bribery scandals,
failures in countries from
Cameroon to Yemen and
declining transparency,
today's UN does not even
pretend to have content
neutral rules about which
media get full access and
which are confined to minders
or escorts to cover the
General Assembly.
Inner City Press,
which while it pursue the
story of Macau-based
businessman Ng Lap Seng's
bribery of President of the
General Assembly John Ashe was
evicted by the UN Department
of Public Information from its
office, is STILL confined to
minders as it pursues the new
UN bribery scandal, of Patrick
Ho and Cheikh Gadio
allegedly bribing President of
the General Assembly Sam
Kutesa, and Chad's Idriss
Deby, for CEFC China Energy.
Last week Inner
City Press asked UN DPI where
it is on the list to be
restored to (its) office, and
regain full office - and was
told it is not even on the
list, there is no public list,
the UN can exclude,
permanently, whomever it
wants. This is censorship...
***
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