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At UN Council Vote, Icelandic Handshakes But Austria and Turkey Said to Have EU Juice

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, October 17, updated -- In the minutes before the General Assembly began voting for new Security Council members, Iceland's white-haired Permanent Representative and seemingly-turbaned Foreign Minister stood at the entrance of the Hall shaking hands with every Ambassador who came in. Only Gabon was heard to promise Iceland its vote. UK Ambassador John Sawers shook hands, only days after his Prime Minister Gordon Brown seized an Icelandic bank's assets in London, in response to a failure of another, different bank in Iceland.

   Austria's diminutive Permanent Representative and nearly-Amazonian Foreign Minister set up further from the entrance, but perhaps with more effect. Although the European Union says it has not given guidance to its members on how to vote, EU sources tell Inner City Press that the EU picks are Austria -- as a replacement for outgoing EU member Italy -- and Turkey, in order to show that the Union is not anti-Muslim, even as it keeps Turkey out of the EU. Iceland remains in the cold, in this scenario, despite the support of the other Nordic countries.  If these countries had stepped forward to guarantee Iceland's grants, especially to small states, things might have gone better. We stand to be corrected, in this very column, below.

   The Press was excluded from standing in front of the GA Hall, as was allowed in previous years. No one explained why. Outside the window, the UN was setting up a "Stand Up for Poverty" Event on the UN's front lawn. In the press corps there was grumbling about hype events and restrictions on covering the news at the UN.

UN's Ban at another poverty event, writing on the wall not shown

  The more troubling scuttlebutt was confided to Inner City Press on Wednesday by the Permanent Representative to the UN of a major Afro-Arabic state who siad that for many of those in his circle, Austria's "anti-Israel" strand is a positive and not a negative factor. "Kurt Waldheim was popular with us," he said.

   A long-time UN official, asked Friday about this theory, moved the debate in another direction, saying that Waldheim was the only Secretary-General in living memory who did not "improperly promote his own people. "Peres de Cuellar was only interested in parties, he let his top people run wild," the story continued. And at 10:19 a.m., the General Assembly plenary began.

Update of 10:50 a.m. -- Father Miguel d'Escoto Brockman, president of the GA, closed the voting at 10:35 and suspended the meeting for an hour. Even with the Press restrictions imposed by the UN, attempts at exit polling yielded a few quotes. Perhaps not surprisingly, those without a vote, like the Permanent Observer of Palestine, were the most willing to talk. Inner City Press asked him, "Who would you have voted for?" He said, "All of my friends."  Others said Iceland, though nice, is set up for a fall. At the UN, apparently, nice guys finish last. We'll see.

Update of 11:30 a.m. -- During the one hour break, d'Escoto Brockman gave a speech at the Stand Up for -- or against? -- Poverty event out on the lawn. He denounced greed and selfishness in the developed world and called for a tripling of aid. Inner City Press is told by source that d'Escoto wrote the speech in Spanish himself, last night, after throwing out a speech that had been prepared for him. It was translated into English, in which he read it. D'Escoto and his text stood out, compared to the next speech, UNDP's Ad Melkert droning on in UN system-speak. And then d'Escoto went back in to announce results.

Update of 11:42 a.m. -- it's done: Iceland is out. They got only 87 votes, versus 133 for Austria and 151 for Turkey. And Iran got 32 votes.  "Iceland and Iran are out and we don't need any more votes," a spokesman said. And that's it.

Note: Catch this reporter on Icelandic television, www.ruv.is

Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on UN, bailout, MDGs.

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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

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