At
UN as Pillay
Urges ICC
Action on
Syria and
Palestine,
Churkin Chides
(French?)
Emotional
Outbursts
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 12 --
When Navi
Pillay emerged
from briefing
the UN
Security
Council on
Monday, she
told the press
that Syria
should be
referred to
the
International
Criminal
Court.
Inner City
Press asked
her if she
thought the
ICC might
usefully get
involved in
the Israeli
- Palestinian
conflict. Video
here, from
Minute
4:23.
She said there
has been a
request, and
that yes, she
thought there
should be an
investigation,
every place
that these
four serious
crimes have
occurred.
Moments
later,
representatives
of four
Council
members from
Europe, and US
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Rosemary
DiCarlo, took
to the same
microphone.
The Palestine
portion of
Pillay's
briefing, or
at least
the request
for it, was
called a "red
herring."
French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud,
who spoke
first and had
his spokesman
run the entire
Q&A* at
the stakeout
because he
said he had
requested the
Syria
briefing,
insisted that
he had not
"opposed" the
Palestine
briefing, but
rather had
asked for 24
hours to
consult with
his capital.
While
the French
spokesman
would not
allow Inner
City Press,
which exclusively
reported the
Friday
counter-moves
in the Council,
to inquire
into this,
moments later
Inner City
Press asked
Council
president
Vitaly Churkin
of Russia to
respond. Video
here, from
Minute 1.
Churkin
said "what
opposed means
may turn into
something of a
linguistic
discussion...
I saw every
trick in the
book being
thrown at me,
short of
trying to
strangulate
the president
of the
Council." He
said there
was "pretty
strong
resistance" to
the briefing
on Palestine,
and presumably
referring to
Araud called
unnecessary
the "emotional
outbursts." Video
here, at
Minute 6:10.
It's worth
noting that
Araud
was talking
about Russia
and China
opposing any
Syria
briefing,
and saying
he'd call for
a procedural
vote,
before either
acknowledges
any opposition.
Lyall
Grant &
Wittig flank
Araud,
Churkin's
"emotion
outburst" jibe
not shown (c)
MRLee
Syria's
Permanent
Representative
Bashar
Ja'afari took
to the
microphone to
denounce
Navi Pillay as
unfair, saying
she would
destroy the
Human Rights
Council just
as the Human
Rights
Commission was
destroyed. He
repeatedly
referred to
the four
European
Council
members,
without
mentioning the
US.
Inner
City Press
asked him to
explain
omitting the
US, despite
DPR DiCarlo
being at
the stakeout,
and US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
issuing her
own statement
about Pillay's
briefing just
after it
ended. Did he
think the US
position was
different? No,
he said,
adding that
the US
"disassociated
itself" from
the "European"
war on
Libya "once
they saw the
oil had
already been
stolen."
By
then even the
Western
spokespeople
didn't remain
to hear what
Ja'afari was
saying.
He said that a
member most
expressing
concerning
about Syria --
again,
presumably
Araud of
France -- had
opposed an
open briefing
in
which Syria
could also
speak.
Tellingly,
after
it was all a
non-Western
member
emphasized to
Inner City
Press that
while Pillay
at Friday's
press
conference
spoke of 4000
killed,
including 1000
with the
security
forces, in
Monday's
closed door
briefing she
raised the
number to
5000, NOT
including
security
forces. "It's
a bubble," the
non Western
member said,
deploying
decidedly
black humor.
And so it goes
at the UN.
Media
footnotes:
Ja'afari said
that Barbara
Walters had
been allowed
to
interview
Assad for 59
minutes but
only broadcast
20 minutes,
misleadingly.
Even on ABC, a
full hour is
costly: check,
for example,
JPMorgan
Chase's recent
info-mercial
on NBC about
its
post-bailout
charitable
giving. Must
Assad go that
route? Don't
watch
that site.
*
- Some wonder
of the wisdom
of the other
four Missions
and
Ambassadors,
three of
whom
(US,
Germany,
UK)
later send out
transcriptions
of their parts
of the
stakeout, letting
the French
spokesman
control the
Q&A by
directing UN
TV where the
microphone
should go for
questions,
given
partiality. To
each his own
stakeout?
, 
