At
UN, Obama
Trolls China,
Slams
"Gun-Wielding
Proxies," What
of Syria?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 24
-- Amid US
President
Barack Obama's
long speech
to the General
Assembly were
criticism of
bullies and of
“gun-wielding
proxies.”
To some at the
UN this was
ironic, just
after the US
Congress
approved
Obama's
proposal to
arm and train
rebels in
Syria. Others
pointed at US
strong-arming
small states
to
get their
votes in
international
forums. “But
they were good
lines,” one UN
habitue said.
That spying was
"no big deal"
struck others.
What a
difference a
year makes.
Obama
trolled China
without naming
it: “America
is and will
continue to be
a Pacific
power,
promoting
peace,
stability, and
the free flow
of commerce
among nations.
But we will
insist that
all nations
abide by the
rules of the
road, and
resolve their
territorial
disputes
peacefully,
consistent
with
international
law. That’s
how the
Asia-Pacific
has grown. And
that’s the
only way to
protect this
progress going
forward."
What about the
Trans-Pacific
Partnership,
which would
among other
things
globalize a form
of censorship
under the US
Digital
Millennium Copyright
Act?
In April in a
Tokyo press
conference
with Japan's
Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe, US
President
Barack Obama
beat the drum
for the
proposed Trans
Pacific
Partnership,
with no
acknowledgement
of flaws such
as the
globalization
of censorship
under the
Digital
Millennium
Copyright Act, example
here.
Of this abuse of the Digital
Millennium
Copyright Act,
the Electronic Frontier Foundation's
Intellectual
Property
Director
Corynne
McSherry told
Inner City
Press about
this case:
"Unfortunately,
it is all too
easy for a
copyright
holder
(assuming that
the person
that sent this
notice
actually held
copyright in
the email) to
abuse the DMCA
to take down
content and
stifle
legitimate
speech. As
countries
outside the US
consider
adopting
DMCA-like
procedures,
they must make
sure they
include strong
protections
for free
speech, such
as significant
penalties for
takedown
abuse."
That example,
ironically, is
by Reuters - a news wire one might think
would oppose
censorship.
Obama on April
24 said that
when new
sanctions on
Russia are
announced, "AP
is going to be
the first to
know."
On
September 24,
there was no
call by Obama
for reform of
the UN
itself.
When
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
minutes before
(with only
Brazil in
between) made
his General
Assembly
speech, the
elephant in
the room was
the
airstrikes on
Syria that
began two days
before. Should
UN Security
Council
approval have
been sought?
As
he has
increasingly
done, Ban
called for
“decisive
action” --
that is,
airstrikes.
While Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric has
repeatedly
told Inner
City Press
that Ban does
not favor more
arms
flowing into
Syria, he has
not directly
criticized the
US move to arm
and train
Syrian rebels.
In
terms of UN
Peacekeeping,
Ban in his
speech said he
is setting up
a
review. Inner
City Press has
heard from
source that
Louise Arbour
is
slated to head
it -- with
many grumbling
about it,
including
previous
colleagues at
the
International
Crisis Group.
Is she the
right one to
review the
failures of UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous?
Most
recently those
failures
include
ordering
peacekeepers
to surrender
to
the Al Nusra
Front in the
Golan Heights
-- so more for
“decisive
action” -- and
not
implementing
Ban's supposed
Human Rights
Due
Diligence
Policy, by
including the
DR Congo Army,
a UN listed
child
soldier
recruiter, in
the mission in
Central
African
Republic,
after
never
suspending UN
support for
DRC Army units
which
committed 130
rapes in
Minova in
November 2012.
Ladsous
refuses
Press
questions on
all of this, video compilation here, UK
coverage
here. What
would Arbour -
or another -
do about that?
Ban
touted his own
“Rights Up
Front” plan,
without
mention it was
meant to make
up for his
failures on
Sri Lanka in
2009 and
since.
Ban
cited his
Climate
Summit, at
which coal
mining funders
Bank
of
America
and Barclays
were
celebrated.
While
corporations
use his UN
for
blue-washing,
yesterday the
French
delegation tried to
privatize
the UN's Press
Briefing Room,
ordering all
non-French
journalists to
leave.
Inner City
Press for the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
refused this
privatization,
video
here, and
will continue
to work to
make the UN
live up to the
principles it
was supposedly
founded for.
Watch this
site.
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