At
UN,
"Iranian"
Arrested Was
US Reservist,
Gun was Prop
for
Western Film
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 12
-- At the UN
in New York on
September 8, a
UN-accredited
person was
stopped with a
prop gun.
One wire
service
wrote a story
emphasizing
the Iranian
link, stating
that the
arrestee was
"working for
Iranian
state-funded
broadcaster
Press TV,"
apparently
without
speaking or
even seeking
to speak with
those
involved. (See
wire service's
response,
below.)
Subsequently a
website called
the arrestee
"an Iranian
journalist."
Inner
City Press'
same day
inquiry found
that the
person
arrested was
by no means
Iranian.
Sources told
Inner City
Press it was
Sy White, a
cameraman
working a
subcontractor
to Press TV
and others who
was also
working
on a Western
themed
Internet
video. For
this side
project he had
a
prop gun,
which he
forgot to
remove from
his backpack.
UN
Security, the
sources told
Inner City
Press, called
the New York
Police
Department
which
questioned
White
repeatedly
over a 24 hour
period.
White's UN
entry pass was
confiscated,
and they said
it won't be
returned.
Campaign
against toy
guns by UN in
Haiti, abuse
not shown
Further
inquiry
over the
weekend has
confirmed that
Sy White was
detained, and
that
he is an Air
National Guard
reservist. The
subcontractor
is APTVS which
"does provide
content to
Press TV but
also to other
clients."
He has been
told that the
initial
misdemeanor
charge will be
reduced
to a
violation,
with some
community
service
possible
(Inner City
Press from
other sources
hears this is
twenty hours.)
And
the Western
inspired
workshop
project is
called
"Kingdom
Come." We may
have more on
this. And so
it goes at the
UN.
Update:
the wire
service
mentioned
above has
responded that
it sought to
contact Press
TV -- but
apparently not
the individual
who was
arrested and,
some feel,
personally
damaged by the
reporting.
* * *
For
UN
Peacekeeping
Post, How
Ladsous
Replaced
Bonnafont, Who
Now Returns
Favor Under
Juppe,
Alliot-Marie
Role?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 10
-- The UN's
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations
remains at
partially
headless in
the midst of mounting
scandals of
sexual abuse
in Haiti,
and inaction
in Sudan.
After
leading the
top DPKO post
empty for four
weeks after
the departure
of Alain Le
Roy, on
September 2
the UN
announced his
replacement.
It was not
fellow
Frenchman Jerome
Bonnafont, who
had bragged
that he had
the job to
diplomats in
India
where he's
been French
Ambassador,
and been congratulated
by, among
others, French
politician
Jean-Marie
Bockel, click
here for that.
Rather
it was the French
Foreign
Ministry's
chief of staff
Herve Ladsous,
who headed the
staff not only
Alain Juppe
but also
his
predecessor
Michele
Alliot-Marie,
who resigned
after being
exposed
receiving
gifts from now
deposed
Tunisia
dictator Ben
Ali.
Ladsous'
role in that
is not yet
clear, even as
his
statements in
2004 pushing
for the ouster
of elected
president
Jean-Bertrand
Aristide
come into
focus in
Haiti. Others
of Ladsous
statements are
starting to be
reviewed, as
it appears the
UN in their
rush did not
do. Meanwhile,
tellingly, Bonnafont
has been named
to replace
Ladsous as
chief of staff
to Alain
Juppe.
Well
placed UN
sources have
informed Inner
City Press how
Bonnafont was
passed over at
the last
minute for
Ladsous. These
sources say
that UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon likes
his cabinet
members even
lower key than
he is, like
his Deputy,
and Lynn
Pascoe in the
Department of
Political
Affairs.
Bonnafont
was viewed,
ironically, as
too energetic.
His bragging
about having
the job, first
reported by
Inner City
Press, was
also not
helpful.
So, the
sources say,
Ban told the
French to
propose
another
candidate.
Miffed,
Ladsous was
proffered as
"the one," and
was quickly
given the
post, without
word reaching
many in the
French foreign
service
outside of
Paris.
Ladsous,
Bonnafont and
rushed
selection
process now
shown
Kofi Annan
"gave" DPKO to
France as part
of being
Secretary
General. From
Jean-Marie
Guehenno the
post went to
Alain Le Roy
and now to the
third
Frenchman in a
row.
Owning UN
Peacekeeping
is useful to
France: just
this week in
Paris, Nicolas
Sarkozy
bragged of his
country's
military
action in Cote
d'Ivoire as
well as Libya.
As reflected
in documents
exclusively
obtained and
published
by Inner City
Press, France
has no problem
using DPKO to
advance its
economic
interests, click here for
examples.
It
is noticeable
that even
after Ladsous
was named,
after the post
was empty for
a month,
Ladsous has
still not
reported to
work. He
continued as
chief of staff
to Alain
Juppe.
And
now Ladsous'
replacement
has been named.
Who is it? Jerome
Bonnafont, of
course. Plus
ca change,
plus c'est la
meme chose.
Watch this
site.
, 
in