On
Ukraine,
Russia Cites
Right Sector,
US Baseball
Bats,
Trilateral
Echo
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, April
29 -- Ukraine
was the UN
Security
Council's
topic late on
April 29,
after an
already full
day of speeches
on another
less than
successful mediation,
Israel and
Palestine.
US Ambassador
Samantha Power
cited
"pro-Russian
thugs with
baseball
bats."
Russian
Ambassador Vitaly
Churkin countered
that after the
April 17 deal
in Geneva, the
Right Sector
headed to East
Ukraine and
has not
disarmed. He
asked, why
should the
separatists?
Churkin said
the Vienna
Document
monitors taken
captive had no
proof of their
status with
them and
called this a
provocation.
One expected a
reply, perhaps
from France's
snarky
outgoing
Ambassador Araud
-- but no.
In Washington
there is a
controversy:
when Secretary
of State John
Kerry told the
Trilateral Commission
about
intelligence
showing
Russian
involvement
with the
separatists,
did he mean US
eavesdropping
or, as
spokesperson
Jen Psaki
specified on
April 29,
Ukrainian
intelligence?
(That is, did
the US "obtain"
the tapes just
as the tape of
Kerry at the
Trilateral,
including the
use of the
word apartheid
and Israel,
was said to be
obtained? The
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
supports and
salutes that
ongoing
reporting.)
When Ukraine's
long time
Ambassador Yuriy
Sergeyev
spoke, he
referred to
Russian
military vehicles
up against his
country's
border, with
signs in
Russian and
Ukrainian
saying
"Peacekeepers"
- like in the
Caucuses in
2008, he said.
But
when the
meeting ended,
he did not
come to the
UNTV stakeout
as he used to
do. Nor did
Churkin, or
Power.
Tomorrow,
Syria is the
topic. This is
how the UN
works, or
doesn't.
And
when the
meeting was
over one wag,
not this one,
asked who plays
baseball in
Ukraine? What
are bats doing
there?
Back on April
28 when the US
announced new
sanctions on
Russia, senior
Obama
administration
officials or
"SAOs" were
asked about
the stock
price of
Russian banks
actually going
up since they
were not on
the list, and
if the US has
given up on
Crimea.
On Crimea, one
SAO cited the
UN General
Assembly's
overwhelming
condemnation.
But as Inner
City Press
reported the
day of that
vote, there
were 58
abstentions.
The US
officials were
directly asked
about France's
still-proposed
sale of
Mistral
warships to
Russia, on
which Inner
City Press
asked US State
Department
deputy
spokesperson
Marie Harf on
March 14. On
April 28, one
SAO said this
issues wasn't
in their
bailiwick; a
second SAO the
Europeans are
looking into
this.
At the UN,
outgoing
French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud
has refused to
answer Press
questions
about the
Mistral. In
France,
foreign
minister
Laurent Fabius
has said it
would only be
reconsidered
if other
European
countries
committed to
similar losses
for
themselves,
which seems
unlikely.
A questioner
calling in
from Moscow
asked the US
officials
about the
captive "OSCE
observers."
Since even one
of the SAO had
called them
"Vienna
Document
observers,"
one waited to
see it would
be specified
to clarify the
record. But
now. The SAO
who cited
"Vienna
Document"
observers said
their
mistreatment
makes sectoral
sanctions more
likely. Well,
four of the
seven ARE
German...
This returns
to the
question of
Russian bank
stocks.
Sanctions on
the financial
and energy
sector are
described as
the US' ace in
the hole. When
would it be
played? Would
it? Watch this
site.
Back
on March 14,
Inner City
Press asked
US State
Department
Deputy
Spokesperson
Marie Harf on
March 14 about
France's
Mistral deal,
about a
pending UN
Security
Council
resolution and
an analogy
raised earlier
in the day by
Russian
foreign
minister
Lavrov: the
French-run referendum
that split
Mayotte off
from the
Comoros.
On the
Mistral sale,
Harf replied
that
""Decisions
about these
kind of sales
are obviously
a matter for
each sovereign
state... We
would hope
that any
country would
exercise
judgment and
restraint when
it comes to
transferring
military
equipment that
could
exacerbate
tensions in
any conflict
region.. That
certainly
applies here."
Video
here, from
Minute 18:34.
Hart
said she would
check if the
US has
discussed the
Mistral sale
with France.
From the State
Department
transcript:
Inner
City Press: on
Ukraine, one
question
that’s come up
is, in terms
of sanctions
is France has
this big deal
where it’s
selling
Mistral
warships to
Russia, and
it’s said that
it’s going
forward. What
does the
United States
think of that
sale of
military
hardware?
MS.
HARF: Well,
decisions
about these
kind of sales
are obviously
a matter for
each sovereign
state to take
into account
including a
host of
factors –
obviously,
international
law, regional
stability. We
would hope
that any
country would
exercise
judgment and
restraint when
it comes to
transferring
military
equipment that
could
exacerbate
tensions in
any conflict
region. In
general, I
think that
certainly
applies here.
French
foreign
minister
Laurent
Fabius, who
like his
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Gerard Araud
has declined
comment on the
Mistral sale,
has said he
may travel to
Russia on
March 18.
On the
Mayotte
analogy, Harf
said "In
general, it's
very clear
under
Ukraine's
constitution
how this
legally could
take place...
a countrywide
referendum.
She said of
"any
comparisons,
they just
don't have
relevancy
here."
Inner
City Press
also asked
Harf about
South Sudan:
Riek Machar's
rejection
of
the proposed
deployments of
regional
forces by the
Intergovernmental
Authority on
Development,
and of the
Salva Kiir
government's
information
minister
saying that broadcasting
interviews
with rebels in
South Sudan
would be
illegal.
Harf noted
that she had
begun the
briefing with
a statement
condemning
crackdowns on
the press in
Russia, and
that would
apply here.
But would it?
Watch this
site.
, 
