At UN,
7 Weeks After
ICP Reported
Feltman to
Take DPA,
Reuters
"Confirms" It
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 21, updated
-- Seven weeks
ago on March
28, Inner
City Press
exclusively
reported that
"[t]he
UN's top
political job,
currently
occupied by
Lynn Pascoe of
the
United States,
is slated to
be filled with
another
American,
Inner
City Press is
told by well
placed
sources,
current US
Assistant
Secretary of
State for Near
Eastern
Affairs
Jeffrey
Feltman."
Even at that
time, Inner
City Press
quoted well
placed
diplomatic
sources at the
UN that "'this
would strip
from the UN
its last scrap
of credibility
in the Middle
East'... Ban
might be 'so
out of touch'
-- or so
powerless or
craven -- that
he would
rubber
stamp the
nomination of
a Permanent
Five member of
the Security
Council as he
had France's
ill-fated and
11th hour
nomination of
Herve Ladsous
as the UN's
top
peacekeeper"
-- another
exclusive
Inner City
Press scoop at
the time.
The day after
Inner City
Press' scoop at the
UK's End of
Security
Council
Presidency
reception, two
telling
responses to
the story were
proffered and
published:
"'A perfect
election year
appointment,'
one Ambassador
told Inner
City Press. A
red flag for
at least some
in the Arab
and Persian
world, said
another." Click here
for Inner City
Press March
29 story with
those quotes.
In the seven
weeks since,
Inner City
Press has
reiterated its
sourcing, and
reported
further on
doubts raised
about the
conflation
of US and UN
policy in the
Middle East.
Dozens of UN
Permanent
Representatives
have checked
in with Inner
City Press
with their
views of
Feltman.
Now, today, wires
report as if
brand new that
their
"sources"
tell them that
Feltman is the
man. First Reuters,
which lists
three separate
reporters
but apparently
has no policy
on giving
credit, then CNBC. Where were they seven
weeks ago?
And where is
the analysis?
Watch this
site.
Update
of 5:48 pm --
UN sources
highlight to
Inner City
Press that in
his US role on
the Middle
East, Feltman
would for
example meet
with Ban
Ki-moon's
envoy to Iraq
Ad Melkert.
Others repeat
shock or
"disgust" that
Ban would so
closely link
UN Middle East
policy with
the US' Middle
East official.
, 
