On
Syria, UNSC To
Meet Sunday 11
am, NZUN
Wouldn't
Confirm, Stunt
II
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 24
-- As Inner
City Press in
a nearly empty
UN covered the
General
Assembly
debate on
September 24,
it heard of an
emergency
Security
Council
meeting about
Aleppo called
for the next
day, Sunday.
After a time,
it asked the
two
spokespeople
of the
Council's
president for
September, New
Zealand, to
confirm such a
meeting. For
an hour there
was silence -
until the UN
itself
confirmed the
meeting, for
11 am, after
US state media
passed this
through. Could
this too be
called a
stunt?
Two days after
the UN
Security
Council
meeting on the
US-led
coalition's
bombing of
Syrian
soldiers in
Deir Ez-Zor,
the US
denounced an
airstrike on
an aid convoy,
below. Also on
September 19,
Saudi Arabia
hosted a
Syrian
opposition
event at the
Westin Hotel
near the UN,
Inner City
Press Periscope
here.
Here is the US
statement:
"The United
States is
outraged by
reports that a
humanitarian
aid convoy was
bombed near
Aleppo today.
For more than
a week, we
have urged
Moscow to
fulfill the
commitments it
made in Geneva
to facilitate
the unimpeded
flow of
humanitarian
aid to the
Syrian people.
And for more
than a week,
the Syrian
regime
repeatedly
denied entry
to these UN
convoys,
preventing
them from
delivering
urgent food,
water and
medical
supplies to
desperate
Syrian
citizens. Only
today did the
regime finally
grant permits
for some
convoys to
proceed.
The
destination of
this convoy
was known to
the Syrian
regime and the
Russian
federation and
yet these aid
workers were
killed in
their attempt
to provide
relief to the
Syrian people.
The United
States will
raise this
issue directly
with Russia.
Given the
egregious
violation of
the Cessation
of Hostilities
we will
reassess the
future
prospects for
cooperation
with Russia."
On September
17 an
emergency UN
Security
Council
meeting was
called by
Russia at 7:30
pm after
reported US
airstrikes
killed more
then 60 Syria
soldiers in
Deir Ez-Zor.
This came a
day after a
planned
briefing of
the Council by
Russia and the
US was
canceled. It
was also just
as UN General
Assembly week
began, with a
meeting of the
International
Syria Support
Group planned
for Tuesday
morning. Now
this.
Russia's
Vitaly Churkin
as he went
into the
Council told
the press he'd
explain “at
some length,
afterward.”
Then US
Samantha Power
arrived and
went straight
to the UNTV
microphone,
reading from
notes about
the loss of
life (Vine
here) (Beyond the Vine here) called
the meeting a
stunt, Vine
here, and
saying that
Russia's
spokesperson
Maria
Zakharova
should be
ashamed of
herself.
Russia's
Churkin
re-emerged and
criticized
Power for
speaking
before even
entering the
meeting. He
asked, Who is
in charge in
Washington -
the White
House or the
Pentagon?
Inner City
Press asked
Churkin about
quotes that
the Pentagon
would consider
"condolence"
payments to
the families
of Syrian
soldiers. He
said, It's for
the Syrian
government to
respond. Beyond
the Vine here;
Vine
here
Afterward,
Inner City
Press was
locked out of
the UN
Security
Council
stakeout due
to the
eviction
orders of UNSG
Ban Ki-moon
and his head
of
communications
Cristina
Gallach, Beyond
the Vine video
here; NYT
here; petition
here.
Back on
September 9
when the UN's
Staffan de
Mistura and
Stephen
O'Brien held a
joint stakeout
in Geneva, the
letter from
NGOs breaking
off
cooperation
with the UN
was the
elephant in
the room.
But the room,
off-camera,
was either not
full or
ill-prepared.
The UN
moderator
called on
Voice of
America, which
had nothing;
she called on
France 24
twice, and
without
further
identification
“Egyptian TV.”
At the UN in
New York, Ban
Ki-moon's UN
has gone out
of its way to
break its own
rules for
Egyptian state
media, giving
never-present
Akhbar al Yom
the office
space from
which Ban and
his Under
Secretary
General
Cristina
Gallach have evicted
Inner City
Press, which
reported on de
Mistura's
hiring of
Ban's son in
law Siddharth
Chatterjee.
Chatterjee,
after using
threats and
more to get an
Indian pick-up
of that story
scrubbed from
the Internet,
has blocked
Inner City
Press on
Twitter. Ban
has given the
top UN job in
Kenya to his
son in law
Sid; now his
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric
refuses to
answer basic
Press
questions,
calling them “ridiculous
accusations”
and running
from the
podium.
The
podia or
rostrums in
Geneva were
both branded
“United
Nations;” as
de Mistura and
O'Brien began
speak, UN
Security
struggled to
raise a blue
UN flag behind
them. Branding
before all
else.
John Kerry and
Sergey Lavrov
were meeting,
even showed up
in one of
France 24's
two questions
- but at least
according to
their opening
remarks, they
had North
Korea's
nuclear test
on their
minds. And the
Next UNSG?
We'll have
more on this.
As Turkey's
August 24
military
operations
inside Syria
began, in New
York the
Turkish
mission filed
a letter with
the UN
Security
Council, which
Inner City
Press put
online here.
In the letter,
Turkey's
outgoing
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Halit Cevik
cited not only
Article 51 of
the UN Charter
but also UNSC
resolutions
1373, 2170 and
2178. It does
not mention
the Kurds but
only DEASH
(sic).
Turkey's
letter states
among other
things that
“Turkey
initiated a
military
operation in
the early
hours of
August 24,
2016, against
DEASH which
has been
directly and
deliberately
targeting
Turkey.” It
states that
Turkey
respects
Syria's
territorial
integrity and
political
unity. The
word
sovereignty is
not used, but
“political
transition”
is.
Meanwhile a
journalist
from Turkey's
state media
TRT, also
apparently
outgoing, to
his credit
disclosed that
his interview
with Cevik's
Syrian
counterpart
Bashar
Ja'afari was
unceremoniously
pulled from
broadcast and
won't be
online.
As
noted, Ban
Ki-moon's UN
gives this
same Turkish
state media
TRT a solo
office, (for)
now next to
Egypt state
media Akhbar
al Yom, while
throwing the
independent
Press into the
street and
confining it
to minders.
We'll have
more on all
this.
Turkey's
Letter to UNSC
on Its
Military
Operation in
Syria, August
24, 2016,
Published by
Inner City
Press by Matthew
Russell Lee
on Scribd
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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