At
UN, Bloomberg
Thanks Ban on
"The Ukraine,"
Conflict of
Interest
UNanswered
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 21 --
Three weeks
after the UN
announced a
"climate
change and
cities" post
for Michael
Bloomberg,
and Inner City
Press asked
about
conflicts of
interest,
Bloomberg held
a photo
op with
Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon in
Ban's 38th
floor
conference
room.
The Press was
told there
would be "remarks,"
but that it
could ask no
questions.
(Stop and
frisk,
practiced on
the way up to
the photo op,
came to mind.)
Ban said
that Super
Storm Sandy
impacted the
UN, and that a
climate
agreement by
2015 is key.
(Strangely,
the Press was
told to leave
before Ban's
and Bloomberg's
9:40 am
meeting with
the UN's Special
Envoy on Climate
Change, Jens
Stoltenberg.)
Bloomberg's
remarks, after
a joke about
the blue UN
pass he had
just received,
included
thanking Ban
for his
comments on
February 20
about "The
Ukraine."
As Inner City
Press reported,
Ban's comments
were scripted
and came as
one of three
pre-selected
questions Ban
took at a
stakeout
ostensibly
about the Central
African
Republic.
(Another
question was
about Syria.)
This
is the
increasingly
controlled way
in which Ban's
UN tries to
communicate.
On February
21, Stephane
Dujarric
who is slated
to become
Ban's new
spokesperson
on March 10
was up on the
38th floor
already. The
day before,
outgoing
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
told Inner
City Press there
would be no
overlap
between UN
Media
Accreditation,
which Dujarric
has been
overseeing,
and the role
of UN
spokesperson.
Video
here.
If the UN
wants to
communicate,
it should
answer what
safeguards it
will put in
place to ensure
tha
Bloomberg's
business
interests
somehow don't
create
conflicts of
interest with
his UN role.
Only three
days after
getting the UN
post, Bloomberg
was
in the news on
his own
Bloomberg
Africa TV,
which covers
such issues
as Air France
and mining
on The
Continent.
So Inner City
Press went to
the February 3
UN noon
briefing and
asked for whom
Bloomberg is
speaking, the
UN or
himself?
Video
here from
Minute 14:52.
UN
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
replied that
his deputy
Farhan Haq had
answered on
this on
January 31.
But Haq on
January 31
after citing
"terms of
reference"
said they are
not public,
instead to
look at a
press release
which, it
turns out,
contains no
safeguards.
Nesirky said
this is an
early stage,
and that is
true. But it
already seems
clear that
safeguards
will be
necessary. For
now: UNIFEED
video of Ban
Ki-moon and
team dining
with
Bloomberg,
here.
On January 31
Inner City
Press asked
Haq if any
thought had
been given to
possible
conflicts of
interest, or
restrictions
on how
information or
access from
the post could
be used, given
Bloomberg's
businesses.
The UN's Haq
replied, "I
believe
appropriate
terms of
reference have
been worked
out with
former Mayor
Bloombeg, that
should be an
acceptable
arrangement
devised
between them."
Video
here and
embedded
below.
Inner City
Press asked if
these "terms
of reference"
were public
and could be
seen. Haq said
"No... What's
public is a
lengthy press
release
available in
our office."
But the press
release does
not address
any safeguards
on conflict of
interest at
all.
As Inner City
Press noted
before the
UN's
announcement,
when Michael
Bloomberg was
Mayor of New
York, in light
of obvious
conflicts of
interest he
stepped back
from Bloomberg
News. He was
criticized on
issues ranging
from stop-and-frisk
to defending
banks against
minimal City
community
reinvestment
standards.
Now,
according to
one gushing
report, he is
poised to move
to the United
Nations, as
envoy on
cities and
climate
change. What
about new
conflicts of
interest, and
the above
critiques?
To
give what
credit is due,
on the evening
of January 30
Reuters' UN
bureau issued
a breathless
"exclusive"
with nothing
but praise of
Bloomberg
-- not a word
of any
criticism,
nothing on the
conflict of
interest with
Bloomberg News
purporting to
cover the UN
and Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon. Given
the percentage
of the piece
praising
Bloomberg,
that would
seem to be the
(anonymous)
sourcing.
Meanwhile
at
the UN
on January 30,
Inner City
Press on
climate change
asked
Ban's
acting deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq
of documents
leaked by
Edward Snowden
showing
that the NSA
spied on the
Copenhagen
talks in 2009:
Inner
City Press:
there’s one of
the [Edward]
Snowden-released
documents, but
there’s a
reason I’m
asking you is
it’s published
in a Danish
website
“Information”
and it talks
about the
Copenhagen
climate change
talks of 2009.
And this seems
to be the
document and
it says that
the NSA
[United States
National
Security
Agency] was
involved in
monitoring
communications
at the
discussions in
order to
advise the
United States
on the
position of
other
Governments
and presumably
at the UN. So,
I’m wondering,
this seems to
get more
closely into
things that
are of much
import to the
UN, to the
Secretary-General.
Is there any
response as to
this memo
coming out and
the propriety
of such
surveillance?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, we
wouldn’t have
any specific
response to
this because
ultimately,
again, this is
a case where
we’d need to
know what the
basic facts
are and
whether there
was any such
surveillance
that’s
happened.
However, our
basic point
that we’ve
articulated
many times in
recent months
still holds:
that the
inviolability
of diplomatic
premises needs
to be
respected by
all States.
If
Bloomberg is
named on
Friday, or is
named at all,
what will the
coverage of
criticism and
conflicts of
interest be?
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
While
giving what
credit is due
to Reuters' UN
bureau,
despite their
history,
it must be
noted that the
bureau chief
has not only spied
for the UN
-- he has also
misused
the US Digital
Millennium
Copyright Act
to get Google
to block from
its search a leaked
document
showing him
trying to get
the
investigative
Press thrown
out of the UN.
All of this..
is how this UN
works, or
doesn't.
, 
