By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 21 --
In the first
Ukraine
meeting of the
UN Security
Council since
last November,
UN official
Jeffrey
Feltman said
“today in
Davos,
President
Poroshenko
stated that
there were
over 9,000
Russia regular
troops in
Ukraine, an
accusation
that Moscow
refutes.”
He didn't
mention, but
the IMF did,
that Poroshenko
also spoke
with Christine
Lagarde, who
then announced
that "the
Ukrainian
authorities
have requested
a multi-year
arrangement
with the Fund,
supported by
the Extended
Fund Facility,
to replace the
existing
Stand-By
Arrangement."
In US
President
Obama's State
of the Union
speech on
January 20, he
said the US is
"opposing
Russian
aggression,
and supporting
Ukraine’s
democracy, and
reassuring our
NATO allies..
Mr. Putin’s
aggression it
was suggested
was a
masterful
display of
strategy and
strength.
That's what I
heard from
some
folks.
Well, today,
it is America
that stands
strong and
united with
our allies,
while Russia
is isolated
with its
economy in
tatters.
That’s how
America leads
-- not with
bluster, but
with
persistent,
steady
resolve."
Russia's
Ambassador
Vitaly
Churkin,
speaking in
the Security
Council on
January 21,
asked rhetorically
"after about
thirty times
of discussing
Ukraine here,
the question
arises, how
much are these
declarations
in line with
the situation
in the
country? Are
they given
just for
eloquence's
sake but can
be thrown
aside when
political
suitability
takes
precedent?”
The January 21
session was
going to be
consultations,
where members
speak less
formally
(sometimes).
But then it
was public, just
speeches.
We'll have
more on this.
On the cut off
of pensions,
which we've
covered since
November,
Churkin said
"Kiev is doing
everything so
that in
essence the
South East is
isolated. A
decision has
been made to
move out state
institutions
from that, to
stop budgetary
expenditures
including
welfare and
pensions.”
Back on n
November 12,
UN Assistant
Secretary
General Jens
Toyberg-Frandzen
said, among
other things,
that "on
November 5,
Prime Minister
Yatsenyuk
announced that
pensions would
be halted to
areas under
rebel
control."
Inner City
Press,
covering the
meeting from
just outside
the Council
chamber, spoke
to a range of
passing
diplomats and
was left with
this question:
isn't the
halting of
pensions to
rebel held
areas a form
of collective
punishment?
Once
posed, with
the words
"accrued
pensions," two
defenses of
the practice
came in.
First, that
pensions in
Ukraine are
not accrued
but are based
on taxes
collected and
none are being
collected in
Donbas.
Second, that
trucks with
pension
payments were
being
robbed.
The word
"Western
Union" was
bandied
around.
While
the UN spoke
about the
death of
children on a
playground on
Donetsk on
Novmeber 5,
they didn't
say who did
it. Russia's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Pankin said it
was Ukraine's
army. Later he
stated that an
adviser to
Poroshenko
said on
October 24
that "the
ceasefire is
going to work
in our favor,
tank factories
working around
the clock."
Ukraine's
Sergeyev
mentioned this
in his reply,
neither
confirming nor
denying the
quote. The
meeting ended;
Sergeyev
headed up the
escalator to
be interviewed
by scribes.
And so it goes
at the UN.
Last
month, Ukraine
was scheduled
to speak at
the UN about
its “Committee
on
Information”
on October 21,
but as UN
speeches
usually go
longer than
allowed, its
turn was
postponed
until October
22.
That
didn't stop
the “UN
Radio” Russian
service from
reporting
on the speech
on October 21
as if it had
in fact been
given that
day. As
translated, UN
Radio on
October 21
reported
“The
representative
of Ukraine
accused Russia
of using the
information
strategy of
the Cold War
“One of
the main
prerequisites
of violence in
Ukraine became
a propaganda
information.
This was
stated by the
representative
of the Mission
of Ukraine to
the United
Nations,
speaking at a
meeting of the
Fourth
Committee of
the UN General
Assembly.”
The
UN's Fourth
Committee did
meet on
October 21 -
but Ukraine
didn't speak.
Instead it was
the first
speaker on the
afternoon of
October 22.
Its speech,
delivered in
perfect French
including the
word “rigolo,”
linked Russia
to Joseph
Goebbels.
In
reply, the
Russian
mission's
spokesman
brought up the
recent Human
Rights Watch
report of the
Ukrainian
government
using cluster
bombs in and
against
Donetsk, and
the lack of
clarity on who
called the
snipers shots
in Maidan
Square.
Later
in the Fourth
Committee
meeting,
Bolivia
slammed
“powers” who
use
information
technology to
intervene and
violate
privacy,
bringing to
mind USAID's
“Cuban
Twitter”
and, of
course, the
NSA.
Then
Jordan said it
was first
among Arab
nations to
enact an
Access to
Information
law, in 2007.
The Free
UN Coalition
for Access
has been pressing
for a Freedom
of Information
Act at the UN,
click here
and
here for that.
FUNCA
covers the
Fourth
Committee,
including on
Decolonization,
and the
Committee on
Information,
where at least
theoretically
the UN's
descent into
censorship
could be
raised and
resolved. The
old UN
Correspondents
Association, a
part of this
trend toward privatization
of
briefings
and even
censorship --
ordering
Press articles
off the
Internet,
getting leaked
copies of
their
complaints to
the UN's MALU
banned from
Google's
search, here
-- was nowhere
to be seen.
We'll have
more on this.
, 
