|
Amid UN's Ministerial Hype, US Praises Departing
AMISOM, Sikhs Complain of France
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
December 14 -- A police bus was set
up in front of the UN on Sunday night. Inside the building was nearly
empty,
but metal detectors had been erected in the basement by Conference Room
8. It
was the calm before the storm. But what storm?
Monday and
Tuesday will see diplomatic action on Zimbabwe and the Middle East,
Somalia and
Congo. Slated to come are Condi Rice and Sergey Lavrov, and the UK's
Milliband.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, like Tony Blair, will appear
only by
video, despite the scheduling Monday
of a Sikhs versus France press conference
about the Gauls' ban on religious symbols.
Condi is
said to be pitching a resolution for UN peacekeepers in Somalia. Since
the UK
blocked even a bridge force for the Eastern Congo, in which the UN has
already
spent billions, anything for Somalia seems a long shot. Especially with
the
U.S. in denial. The quote of the week came from a spokeswoman from the
U.S.
mission to the United Nations, Nicole Deaner, that "AMISOM is an
effective
peacekeeping force." Oh really?
Then why have the Islamist al-Shabab
claimed more and more land, leading to AMISOM's departure?
P-5 Ministers, Kouchner only by video, 4 to
the right on display
An article
containing Ms. Deaner's quote also cited, without explaining, a
professor from
North Carolina named Kenneth Menkhaus. He is an advisor of the
so-called Enough Project, a subsidiary
of the Center for American Progress. Despite the high-sounding name, CAP has
refused to reveal its list of donors, even as its director John Podesta
bonds with
the incoming Obama administration. Was this the change we believed in?
Lavrov's
Russia, making nice with the U.S. on the Middle East, should be
expected to
follow through on its stated anger at Ban Ki-moon's secret agreement
with NATO,
and his pro-U.S. statements on South Ossetia. Neither is on the agenda
these
two days. It's a feel-good holiday time at the UN. Only for the Congo
and
Somalia, there appear to be no gifts.
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
Click here for Inner City
Press Nov. 7 debate on the war in Congo
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017
USA
Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile (and
weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com -
|
