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UN GATE, Nov 5 – Even those whom today's UN use to try to revive the organization's credibility admit it is a sideshow, a place of preening with no oversight.

While for example UN international staffer in Iraq Karim Elkorany repeatedly drugged and raped women, and faced no consequences from the UN, the correspondents in the UN noon briefing asked nothing about it.

Today we have one description of why, a rare relatively honest narrative from within the UN noon briefing:

"I have been in New York City on a U.N. reporting fellowship, competing with colleagues from other countries. We are each appealing to the world about why our plight is the worst. At every news briefing, we use the U.N. platform to remind the world of our country’s difficulties, to try and reach potentially millions of people."

   That is one of the reasons the UN is not held accountable, even as its General Assembly Presidents are bribed by China (John Ashe by Ng Lap Seng, Sam Kutesa - and Antonio Guterres? - by Patrick Ho of CEFC China Energy).  

 Those in the briefing (those awake, at least) are not really asking questions - they are competing to say the name of their countries as often as possible, to garner a canned expression of concern from Guterres' (and Ban Ki-moon's and Kofi Annan's) faux-affable spokesman, Stephane Dujarric. 

 While the narrative, from Veronika Melkozerova in the relatively new online publication Semafor, does not address this blindspot in the UN noon briefing nor the degree to which actual questions are banned like Inner City Press, it is a useful admission, see below.

  The same author, whom we respect despite her association with a fellowship-er who has chased other journalists out of the UN, has delivered a thread that perhaps unintentionally echoes the UN's own self- justification: that it is not to blame for the P-5, but does good work in the field.

 But the thread, and noon briefing, telling did not address for example UN rapist Karim Elkorany, raping and drugging in the field. The praise of the UN in Ukraine is somewhat over the top, but it is true that the UN knows which side its bread is buttered on. When the spotlight it is, it become almost legitimate. But it places like Cameroon, the UN resident coordinators side with 40 year dictators, and block the Press that question it.

On the Semafor admission: what about Chinese and Russia state media, beating the drum for their pretextual wounds, from Taiwan to the Donbas? How about Qatar state media, trying to dress up autocracy in hipster global journalism?

 How is this UN noon briefing even arguably called journalism, and how can the UN be left example from even the principles of the First Amendment?

This letter, from pro bono law firm Quinn Emanuel, is still unanswered by the UN Correspondents / propagandists, and the UN's chief propagandist Melissa Fleming. Watch this site.

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