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By Matthew Russell Lee, CJR PFT Video

UN GATE, September 22 -- Who gets to decide which media can enter the United Nations to cover this month's United Nations General Assembly high level week?   

  The answer in today's UN, not unlike in any dictatorship whether China or Cameroon, is one man and his small circle of yes-men and a yes-women, with no due process, no right to appeal, no judicial oversight.   

  In this case the man is Antonio Guterres, who on September 22 in a UN he'd banned Inner City Press from entering held a Portuguese only sleaze fest, announced no Q&A, then this: "Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure for me to welcome the President of the Republic of Portugal and his delegation. The cooperation between Portugal and the United Nations has been an exemplary cooperation. I would firstly like to underline the courage, effectiveness and the utmost importance of the Portuguese contingent in the Central African Republic. In particularly difficult circumstances, the Portuguese contingent has been invaluable for the United Nations to be able to protect civilians, with very aggressive armed groups, revealing an unusual capacity and admired by all other countries present in this scenario.  I also want to say that one of the UN's fundamental priorities for next year is the Oceans Conference, which is very closely linked to the Climate Change Summit itself. Increasingly the oceans and the climate are interlinked and we are delighted to see Portugal's leadership in preparing this Ocean Conference, we are deeply committed to its success.  And at the same time, as a Portuguese, I’m particularly proud to see that Portugal has been at the forefront of climate change, a central issue of our time, and something that is particularly dear to me, even for what I have done as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, in Portugal's exemplary position on migration. Portugal will be the first country to approve an action plan for the Compact for Migration, in refugee matters, at a time when, unfortunately, we see so many closed doors, we see such a lack of humanity. This example of Portugal is extremely comforting and very important for the United Nations.  It is therefore with great pleasure that I welcome President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and I ask him to convey to the Portuguese and the Portuguese Government our deep appreciation for Portugal's contribution to the United Nations and to the international community." Inner City Press has requested the video. We call B.S..

Guterres' new yes-woman is Melissa Fleming. She previously served as his spokesperson during his tenure at the UN refugee agency UNHCR. Guterres parlayed that into the top UN job by showing great deference to China on its refoulement to North Korea for torture.   

  Guterres took money from Lisbon-based Gulbenkian Foundation during the year after he left UNHCR. Then once despite his feminist rhetoric Guterres shouldered out women candidates to take over the UN with China's support, Guterres omitted these Gulbenkian payments from the UN public financial disclosure he filed covering 2016.  

  When Inner City Press which while reporting daily from inside the UN also covered the UN bribery trial of CEFC China Energy's Patrick Ho in the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan asked Guterres about that case, Guterres refused to answer.    

   At 4:30 pm on Friday, August 30 her MALU issued a one-line denial of access: "Greetings Matthew Lee from Inner City Press,  Your media accreditation request, with reference no: M5413398, has been declined for the following reason: Media accreditation was withdrawn on 17 August 2018."   

  So Guterres' lawless UN can withdraw a critical media's accreditation for daring to ask why he omitted from his financial disclosure payments from a company selling its oil company to a Chinese government bribery vehicle - then use the withdrawal to automatically deny access to the UN General Assembly, the so-called global parliament of "We the Peoples."   

  If press freedom means anything, and if the UN is anything more than a dictatorship of a single corrupt censor, this cannot stand.

 Inner City Press will be reporting on the UN and its UNGA either way - but demands to be allowed to enter and cover the often shameful deals of undemocratic nations, like the hundreds of their state media that Guterres lets in to praise him.

The peoples demand the fall of this Guterres regime.

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