As
Venezuela and Guatemala Square Off, Dominicans In Default and F.C. Barcelona
De-Listed
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN
UNITED NATIONS,
October 16 -- As Venezuela and Guatemala faced off in ten separate votes for
a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, the names of dark horse or
compromise candidates swirled outside the General Assembly, where the voting
was taking place. Uruguay and Costa Rica were much mentioned, along with the
Dominican Republic. A quick check of the
list of countries which have paid
their UN dues, and of the
nine countries recently excused from
this duty, reflected that
the Dominican Republic is not on either list and therefore, it seems,
ineligible.
Italy, Belgium and South Africa each won non-permanent Council seats, which
will go into effect on January 1. In one of two contested elections,
Indonesia trumped Nepal 158 to 28. The Venezuela - Guatemala contest will
resume on Tuesday.
The
longest such contest was in 1979, when after 154 ballots between Cuba and
Columbia, Mexico won out as a compromise candidate. As night fell on Turtle
Bay and cell phones buzzed, there were dreams of following this dark horse
Mexican path.
To
win a two-year seat on the Security Council, a country must win two-thirds
of the votes cast in the 192 member General Assembly: in this case, over 120
votes. After the tenth vote of the day -- the results each being about the
same, with Guatemala moving from 109 votes to 110, and Venezuela from 76 to
77 -- representatives of the two parties, and Guatemala's main backer the
United States, took questions from reporters. Venezuela's ambassador used
the word dignity repeatedly, saying his country will be in it until the last
vote. U.S. Ambassador Bolton characterized the day as nine losses and one
tie for Venezuela. Guatemala's representative was more whimsical, saying
that his country will certainly stay in a few more rounds.
Inner
City Press asked the Guatemalan representative about the status of the UN's
investigation into the deaths of eight Guatemalan peacekeepers in the
Democratic Republic of Congo. Video on UNTV,
here.
Sources have told Inner City Press that Guatemala has been less than pleased
with those in the UN who blame the deaths on the soldiers themselves, saying
that they came upon the Lord's Resistance Army and then "fell asleep." But
on camera, the foreign minister said only that recently the UN Department of
Peacekeeping, DPKO, gave Guatemala first draft of the report to solicit
comments on it. Developing.
At the
margins, some complained that the Venezuelan delegation was handing out
chocolates despite it being Ramadan, a time in Islam for daytime fasting.
At
UN, at left, president of Barcelona F.C. Laporta (see below)
Global Compact Lets Deutsche Bank
Slide, Hammers F.C. Barcelona
During a break in Council voting, the director the Global Compact, Georg
Kell, spoke with reporters about the UN's World Investment Report 2006, a
340-page tome that presents foreign direct investment (FDI) as growing in
every region. The Global Compact is the UN's vehicle to engage the private
sector on issues of labor and human rights and environmental protection. To
critics, it has allowed corporations with no standards to drape themselves
in veneer of the UN's blue flag without being held to the principles they
say they have espoused.
Monday Mr. Kell acknowledged that most of the growth in FDI is made up of
cross-border mergers and acquisitions, only some of which bring benefits to
anyone in the target counties, much less those most in need. Nevertheless,
the book presents many useful lists and snapshots of the world economy,
based on 2005 data.
Inner
City Press asked Mr. Kell about these aspect of the report, and then about
the Global Compact. Video on UNTV,
here.
Specifically, Inner City Press raised as an example the case of Deutsche
Bank, which is the private banker for the dictator of Turkmenistan,
Saparmurat Niyazov,
click
here
for more on Deutsche Bank. Mr. Kell responded that the Compact is about
"learning, dialogue and positive change." To Inner City Press' ongoing
urging that corporate CEOs who come to the UN seeking positive publicity
from meeting the Secretary-General (for example, Turkey's Koch) or lunching
with the Deputy Secretary-General (for example, Dow Chemical), be urged to
take questions from the press, Mr. Kell said that will take place, the
decision to do so has already been made. His spokesman said he will scope
out the logistics of allowing question from UN Headquarters to an upcoming
Compact corporate get-together in Geneva.
A
number of companies have been de-listed from the Global Compact, mostly for
failure to file even the most basic updates. Among those de-listed are banks
(Banca Monte Parma, Nedbank, Punjab National Bank and Dena Bank of India),
accounting firms (Deloitte and
Ernst & Young - Brazil),
Franklin Covey, Mitsubishi Motors, Petronas and perhaps most intriguingly,
the team of
F.C. Barcelona.
Ronaldino and the club's president Laporta were at the UN recently talking
about corporate social responsibility. Apparently, this did not include
basic filings with the UN. And given Deutsche Bank's non-response on the
Turkmenistan issues, one wonders why it is allowed to remain a Global
Compact member...
One
wonders, too, why the UN continues working with the Congolese Army,
regarding which the most recent report concerns enslavement and forced labor
from civilians in Ituri. Inner City Press asked Kofi Annan's spokesman for a
response to the report. Video on UNTV,
here.
The spokesman answered that the UN is concerned. "But why then does the UN
continue supporting this Congolese army?" Click
here for
the Human Rights Watch report, and watch this space.
Feedback: editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-453A,
UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile: 718-716-3540
At
the UN, North Korea Sanctions Agreed On, Naval Searches and Murky Weapons
Sales
Byline: Matthew R. Lee of Inner City Press at the UN
UNITED NATIONS,
October 14, 3:20 p.m. -- "Six days after the North Korean test, the passage
of a Security Council resolution is imminent," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton
told reporters just after noon on Saturday. By one o'clock Amb. Bolton
emerged with Chinese Ambassador Wang to announce a vote by 1:30. "What led
to the deal?" a reporter shouted.
"Good
diplomacy," Amb. Bolton deadpanned. Then he and Amb. Wang ambled north along
the UN's second story hallway, surrounded by security guards.
Update of 3:15
p.m. -- in serial stakeout interviews following the Council's 15-0 vote,
North Korea's Ambassador called the resolution "gangster-like," then strode
down the hall, ignoring the questions shouted after him. Chinese Amb. Wang
called the cargo inspection language "watered down." Amb. Bolton deadpanned
that resolutions are binding.
Inner City
Press asked Argentine Ambassador Mayoral if this can really be called a
resolution -- if it has been resuelto, in Spanish -- since it leaves
a 14 day window to make final decisions. Video
here. Amb.
Mayoral said Council President Oshima will decide how to use the 14 days. On
this question of putting off finalizing what can and cannot be transferred
to North Korea for 14 days, Russian Ambassador Churkin explained that even
earlier today, he was pointing out to other delegations some unintended
consequences of the proposed lists. After declining to answer Inner City
Press' question about Georgia, Amb. Churkin also panned recent U.S.
legislation which purports to cover other countries on transfers to both
Iran and North Korea. Video
here. He
quickly added that he was not connecting those two countries. The
scuttlebutt is that the U.S. will try to make the coming week all about
Iran. Others are focused on the Venezuela - Guatemala vote(s) for Security
Council membership, slated of Monday. Watch this space.
Update of 1:59
p.m. -- Chinese Amb. Wang, speaking after the 15-0 adoption of the
resolution, now named Resolution 1718, said that China does not approve of
cargo inspection and urges nations to avoid provoking North Korea.
Apparently, the phrase "as necessary" in the resolution can be read any
number of ways.
1:37 p.m. update
-- The new Paragraph 8(a)(ii) puts off for 14 days a decision on the range
of "items, materials, equipment, good and technology" which can't be
transferred the North Korea. A UN diplomat explained that "Russia is not a
party to the Australia list" [in the resolution, referred to via document
S/2006/816] and so "we had to cut them a break." The scope of this loophole
is in the process of being explored -- watch this space.
Watering
down?
Another U.S. diplomat provided further details: the most recent sticking
point has been cargo inspections. The diplomat emphasized that "as
necessary" would mean to nearly always inspect at this point, given the
grounds for suspicious that North Korea is seeking imports to further its
nuclear weapons program.
"What
about the annex?" a reporter shouted out.
"There is no annex," the U.S. diplomat replied. Rather, the draft resolution
refers to other UN documents that list the prohibited materials.
The
run-up to the vote demonstrated again that it is a five-member Council. The
Tanzanian Ambassador spoke with reporters about a draft he'd seen at 7 p.m.
on Friday, before the Permanent Five members' two-hour meeting on Saturday
morning.
The
Ambassador of Ghana was stopped by reporters but said, "I don't know
anything, they haven't told me anything."
Greel Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis, meanwhile, lost $5.10 in the
automated food machine in the Security Council foyer by choosing, after
paying, to open a box that was empty. Next to it, in a still-locked box, was
the sandwich the Ambassador wanted. Amb. Vassilakis did a full rotation and
tried to get at the sandwich. But for $5.10 you only get to open one box --
even if it's empty. And so it goes at the UN.
At the UN, Georgia Speaks of Ethnic
Cleansing While Russia Complains of Visas Denied by the U.S.
Byline: Matthew R. Lee of Inner City Press at the UN
UNITED NATIONS,
October 13 -- In the blizzard of words accompanying Friday's six-month
extension of the UN's observer mission to Georgia, several strange factual
disputes, some of them surreal, were left unresolved. Before the passage of
the resolution, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin had said that a person he
called the foreign minister of Abkhazia had been denied a visa to come to
New York, and that the U.S. embassy in Moscow had tried to link granting the
visa with Russia accepting changes to the draft resolution it had put
forward.
Inner
City Press asked Ambassador Churkin, after the resolution's passage, if this
individual might still be coming to New York to brief the Security Council
in a so-called Arria formula meeting. No, Amb. Churkin said.
Then
will Russia complain to the Host County Committee of the UN General
Assembly?
Amb.
Churkin said that yes, Russia would be filing such a complaint. Video
here.
Venezuela recently complained about the detention of its foreign minister at
JFK airport, a complaint echoed by Sudan and supported by such countries as
Mali and Belarus. Click
here for
Inner City Press' story,
Axis of Airport.
UN
and IDPs in Zugdidi
Inner
City Press asked U.S. Ambassador John Bolton to address Amb. Churkin's
statement about this gambit by the U.S. embassy in Moscow. Video
here.
From the transcript provided by the U.S. mission:
Inner City
Press: On Georgia, Ambassador Churkin said that the Abkhaz foreign ministry
called him, a person from Abkhazia. Was the U.S. embassy in Moscow didn't
give him a visa in exchange for somehow changing the language of the
resolution on Georgia -- is that your understanding of what happened? He
said it right here.
Ambassador Bolton: I have -- yeah, you know, I have no idea what that's
about.
Sources tell Inner City Press,
however, that not only had Amb. Churkin made his statement about the visa in
a televised interview which the U.S. State Department presumably monitors,
but also that the visa issue had been discussed in the Security Council
consultations prior to Amb. Bolton's above-quoted answer. This followed:
Inner City
Press: And was there any linkage between the two issues, you think, for the
U.S. or Russia, between the language of today's Georgia resolution and the
North Korea resolution?
Ambassador
Bolton: Certainly not for the United States. I'll let others speak for
themselves.
Inner
City Press asked Kofi Annan's spokesman if the UN had any reaction to
Russia's allegation that the U.S. blocked this visa and tried to gain
negotiating advantage in the Security Council. That sounds like a bilateral
issue between the two countries, the spokesman answered. Video
here.
Inner
City Press asked the spokeswoman for the General Assembly president what
action has been taken on Venezuela's complaint, and to be told if and when
Russia files a complaint. We'll see.
On
the Georgian side, the country's ambassador Irakli Alasania answered a
half-dozen questions from Inner City Press, video
here.
Among other things Amb. Alasania said that attempts by a Permanent Five
members whom he left unnamed to link the move toward independence of Kosovo
to a similar status for Abkhazia are "troubling." He acknowledged that
Javier Solana has spoken publicly about the linkage. Amb. Alasania repeated
his call that the peacekeeping force in Georgia by transitioned from Russian
troops to UN blue helmets.
Amb.
Alasania said that Georgia has raised the issue of the treatment of Georgian
in Russia to the UN General Assembly's Third Committee. (Inner City Press
has asked the spokeswoman for the GA President for an update on this.) He
spoke of ethnic cleansing and military provocation, and disputed Russian Amb.
Churkin's statement that the UN has found impermissible Georgian artillery
in the Kodori Gorge.
Amb.
Alasania brought with him an individual he called the "Head of Government of
the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, Georgia," Malkhaz Akishbaia. Inner City
Press asked Mr. Akishbaia how he had gotten his visa to come. Amb. Alasania
cut in to answer the question, that they hadn't had any problems. Mr.
Akishbaia told Inner City Press that his government has relocated from
Tblisi to the Kodori Gorge, with a staff of some 20 people. A Georgian
mission staffer promised again to provide Inner City Press with evidence of
the money laundering in the parts of Abkhazia over which Georgia has no
control; we'll see.
At
the UN, Deference to the Congo's Kabila and Tank-Sales to North Korea, of
Slippery Eels and Sun Microsystems
Byline: Matthew R. Lee of Inner City Press at the UN
UNITED NATIONS,
October 13 -- "If it's all night, it's all right." U.S. Ambassador Bolton
said this phrase with relish to a gaggle of reporters at 6 p.m. on Friday.
While the reference was to the still-pending Security Council resolution
response to North Korea's nuclear test six days ago, the night-right rhyme
is from a lyric sung by the Godfather of Soul, James Brown.
Heard
on the grapevine is that Russia's opposition or delay springs from the
inclusion of tanks in the list of weapons it could not sell to North Korea.
A U.S. diplomat said Russia's opposition on Friday afternoon started out as
technical, then became more substantive and intransigent. Amid reporters'
questions about the draft resolution's provisions for searching North Korean
ships and barring the sale to North Korea of armaments listed in the
resolution's still not firm annex, no one asked for John Bolton's view on
another James Brown lyric, "Say it loud, I'm black, I'm proud."
A
hour after being confirmed by the General Assembly as the next
Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon held a 20-minute press conference. He took
only six questions; it was not clear if any of the questions were answered.
A question about Africa was left entirely unresponded-to. (See below in this
Report.)
Ban
Ki-Moon -- Slippery Eel or "Moves All The World"? (See below)
So to
at Kofi Annan's spokesman's noon briefing. In response to two questions
about the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the spokesman said that the DRC
is a sovereign nation, not run by the UN. From the
transcript:
Inner City Press question: There is
criticism of the Kabila Government
replacing two ministers with military personnel, the Minister of the
Interior and the Governor of Kinshasa.
I know Mr. Gambari is there. On that or the previous things I’ve asked you
on Mr. Bemba’s helicopter, has he spoken on these issues?
Spokesman: The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a
sovereign Government. The helicopter is for the Congolese Government to
settle. It is my understanding that the helicopter was provided to Mr.
Bemba in his capacity of Vice-President. Obviously, Mr. [William Lacy]
Swing has been trying to smooth the relations between Mr. Bemba and Mr.
Kabila, but the issue of the helicopter is not one, as far as I understand,
that we are getting directly involved in. On the issue of ministers, once
again, it is the prerogative of the Government to appoint its ministers.
The Congo is not a UN-administered territory.
This
hasn't stopped the UN Secretariat and its envoy from routinely exhorting the
Congolese to remain calm, to disarm, to eschew hate speech and the like. But
when Joseph Kabila, three weeks before the run-off election, puts his
military staffers in control of the Ministry of the Interior and the
governorship of Kinshasa, the UN then has no comment, out of respect for
sovereignty. Even on the open question of Mr. Kabila not having fulfilled
his previous pledge to replace his opponent's destroyed helicopter, the UN
has no comment. Thus even in a disarmed Kinshasa is ammunition given to
those Congolese who allege that the UN has spent half a billion dollar
merely to re-anoint Joseph Kabila.
Speaking of money's ability to talk, Friday afternoon as part of a briefing
about the UN Global Youth Leadership Summit, the high-tech company Sun
Microsystem was presented as a UN partner, for sponsoring a web site for the
summit. Inner City Press asked how Sun Microsystems was selected to partner
with the UN, and whether Sun was asked, as Intel was recently asked by Inner
City Press, what safeguards it has in place not to use conflict coltan from
the Congo. Video here, from Minute 31:24. Sun was described as a long-term
UN partner. But there are more questions: Sun is known to have assisted for
Internet blocking and surveillance both
China and
Myanmar.
Global Compact, anyone?
[Transcription on
Africa question and non-answer:
"Question: you are coming at a time when Africa is at two
extremes. We have, on one side, nations that are reforming economically
and politically and, on the other side, nations that are in deep
conflict. I want to know your program specifically for these African
nations.
Mr. Ban Ki-moon: As I have just been appointed, I will
have some time to reflect on these issues, and by the time I take on my
duty as Secretary-General next year, I'll be able to give you some
basic, broad concept of my work plans. But, if I may tell you, in
principal matters, I'll try to change the culture where the United
Nations has been operating. We need to bring new, fresh wind to the
Secretariat, to bring management reforms to make Secretariat staff
working on the professionalism, working on the highest level of
integrity."
In
fairness to Ban Ki-Moon, after his 20-minute, six-question briefing in
Conference Room 2, he met with Korean media and was more expansive. He
explained that his nickname, Slippery Eel, can be transcribed in Chinese as
"Moves All The World," a moniker he prefers. In his speech to the General
Assembly, he spoke eloquently of modesty. He told reporters he plans to
appoint a special envoy for North Korea.
Another hotspot on which Inner City Press will be reporting more, shortly,
is Georgia and its contested Abkhazia region. Watch this site, over the
weekend.
Other Inner City Press
reports are archived on
www.InnerCityPress.org -
At the UN, North Korea
Sanctions Agreed On, Naval Searches and Murky Weapons Sales
At the UN, Georgia
Speaks of Ethnic Cleansing While Russia Complains of Visas Denied by the U.S.
At the UN, Deference to
the Congo's Kabila and Tank-Sales to North Korea, of Slippery Eels and Sun
Microsystems
At the UN,
Annan's Africa Advisor Welcome Chinese Investment, Dodges Zimbabwe, Nods
to Darfur
Georgia on its
Mind, Russia Delays North Korea Nuclear Resolution with Abkhazia
Allusions
At the UN,
Richard Goldstone Presses Enforcement on Joseph Kony, Reflecting Back on
Karadzic
The UN Shrugs on
Congolese Warlords, While UNDP Assists Sudanese Justice, and OIOS Is In
Hiding
Hungarian
Revolutions Past and Present, Kissinger to UN and Ban Ki-Moon Speaks, Of
Needs and Refugees
UN Defers on
Anti-Terror Safeguards to Member States, Even in Pakistan and Somalia
Afghanistan
as Black Hole for Info and Torture Tales, Photos and Talk Mogadishu, the
UN Afterhours
Amid UN's Korean
Uproar, Russia Silent on Murder of Anna Politkovskaya, Chechnya Exposer
UN Envoy Makes
Excuses for Gambian Strongman, Whitewashing Fraud- and Threat-Filled
Election
U.S. Calls for Annan and Ban Ki-moon to Publicly Disclose Finances, As U.S.
Angles for 5-Year WFP Appointment
Sudan's UN
Envoy Admits Right to Intervene in Rwanda, UNICEF Response on Terrorist
Groups in Pakistan
UN's Annan
Dodges Danger and Set-Backs in Gabon, Geneva, Tibet, Sudan, Disclosure
Form Also for Successor?
At the UN, Ban
Ki-Moon's Track Record on Myanmar Criticized by ASEAN Parliamentarians
on Human Rights
At the UN, Cagey
Council President of the GA on the Bottom of the Sea, of Stolen Chairs,
Uzbek Human Rights and Georgia
At the UN, As
Next S-G is Chosen, Annan Claims Power to Make 5-Year Appointments,
Quiet Filing and Ivory Coast Concessions
Chaos in UN's
Somalia Policy, Working With Islamists Under Sanctions While Meeting
with Private Military Contractors
U.S. Candidate
for UN's World Food Program May Get Lame Duck Appointment, Despite
Korean Issues
At the
UN, U.S. Versus Axis of Airport, While Serge Brammertz Measures
Non-Lebanese Teeth
Exclusion from
Water Is Called Progress, of Straw Polls and WFP Succession
William Swing
Sings Songs of Congo's Crisis, No Safeguards on Coltan Says Chairman of
Intel
Warlord in the
Waldorf and Other Congo Questions Dodged by the UN in the Time Between
Elections
In Some New
Orleans, Questions Echo from the South Bronx and South Lebanon
In New Orleans,
While Bone Is Thrown in Superdome, Parishes Still In Distress
At the UN, Tales
of Media Muzzled in Yemen, Penned in at the Waldorf on Darfur, While
Copters Grounded
US's Frazer
Accuses Al-Bashir of Sabotage, Arab League of Stinginess, Chavez of
Buying Leaders -
Click
here for
video file by Inner City Press.
Third Day of UN
General Debate Gets Surreal, Canapes and Killings, Questions on Iran and
Montenegro and Still Somalia
On Darfur, Hugo
Chavez Asks for More Time to Study, While Planning West Africa Oil
Refinery
At the UN, Ivory
Coast Discussed Without Decision on Toxic Politics, the Silence of
Somalia
Evo Morales
Blames Strike on Mobbed-Up Parasites, Sings Praise of Coca Leaf and Jabs
at Coca-Cola
Musharraf Says
Unrest in Baluchistan Is Waning, While Dodging Question on Restoring
Civilian Rule
At the UN, Cyprus
Confirms 'Paramilitary' Investigation, Denies Connection to Def Min
Resignation, CBTB Update
A Tale
of Three Leaders, Liberia Comes to Praise and Iran and Sudan to Bury the UN
Behind the UN
Speeches, A Thai Coup, Somali Assassins and Hit-and-Run Chirac Ignoring
Ivory Coast
Annan Pitches UN
With No Mention of Reform; EU President Dodges Human Rights and
Micro-States
UN Round-up:
Poland's President Says Iraq Is Ever-More Tense While Amb. Bolton Talks
Burmese Drugs, Spin on Ivory Coast
As UN's Annan
Now Says He Will Disclose, When and Whether It Will Be to the Public and
Why It Took So Long Go Unasked
At the UN,
Stonewalling Continues on Financial Disclosure and Letter(s) U.S.
Mission Has, While Zimbabwe Goes Ignored
At the UN,
Financial Disclosure Are Withheld While Freedom of Information Is
Promised, Of Hollywood and Dictators' Gift Shops
UN's Annan Says
Dig Into Toxic Dumping, While Declining to Discuss Financial Disclosure
A Still-Unnamed
Senior UN Official in NY Takes Free Housing from His Government,
Contrary to UN Staff Regulations
UN Admits To
Errors in its Report on Destruction of Congolese Village of Kazana,
Safeguards Not In Place
As UN Checks
Toxins in Abidjan, the Dumper Trafigura Figured in Oil for Food Scandal,
Funded by RBS and BNP Paribas
Targeting of
African Americans For High Cost Mortgages Grew Worse in 2005, While Fed
Downplays Its Own Findings
The UN and
Nagorno-Karabakh: Flurries of Activity Leave Frozen Conflicts Unchanged;
Updates on Gaza, Gavels and Gbagbo
The UN Cries
Poor on Lawless Somalia, While Its Ex-Security Chief Does Business
Through Ruleless Revolving Door
At the UN,
Micro-States Simmer Under the Assembly's Surface, While Incoming Council
President Dodges Most Questions
"Horror Struck"
is How UN Officials Getting Free Housing from Governments Would Leave
U.S., Referral on Burma But Not Uzbekistan
Security Council
President Condemns UN Officials Getting Free Housing from Governments,
While UK "Doesn't Do It Any More"
At the UN,
Incomplete Reforms Allow for Gifts of Free Housing to UN Officials by
Member States
Rare UN Sunshine
From If Not In Chad While Blind on Somalia and Zimbabwe, UNDP With Shell
in its Ear on Nigeria
Annan Family
Ties With Purchaser from Compass, Embroiled in UN Scandal, Raise
Unanswered Ethical Questions
At the UN, from
Casamance to Transdniestria, Kosovars to Lezgines, Micro-States as
Powerful's Playthings
Inquiry Into
Housing Subsidies Contrary to UN Charter Goes Ignored for 8 Weeks, As
Head UN Peacekeeper Does Not Respond
Congo Shootout
Triggers Kofi Annan Call, While Agent Orange Protest Yields Email from
Old London
On the UN -
Corporate Beat, Dow Chemical Luncheon Chickens Come Home to Roost
UN Bets the
House on Lebanon, While Willfully Blind in Somalia and Pinned Down in
Kinshasa
Stop Bank
Branch Closings and Monopolies in the Katrina Zone, Group Says,
Challenging Regions- AmSouth Merger
Ship-Breakers
Missed by UN's Budget for Travel and Consultants in Bangladesh, Largest
UNIFIL Troop Donor
Sudan Cites
Hezbollah, While UN Dances Around Issues of Consent and Sex Abuse in the
Congo, Passing the UNIFIL Hat
With Somalia on
the Brink of Horn-Wide War, UN Avoids Question of Ethiopian Invasion
In UN's Lebanon
Frenzy, Darfur Is Ignored As Are the Disabled, "If You Crave UNIFIL,
Can't You Make Do With MONUC?"
UN Decries
Uzbekistan's Use of Torture, While Helping It To Tax and Rule; Updates
on UNIFIL and UNMIS Off-Message
At the UN,
Lebanon Resolution Passes with Loophole, Amb. Gillerman Says It Has All
Been Defensive
On Lebanon,
Russian Gambit Focuses Franco-American Minds, Short Term Resolution Goes
Blue Amid Flashes of Lightening
Africa Can Solve
Its Own Problems, Ghanaian Minister Tells Inner City Press, On LRA Peace
Talks and Kofi Annan's Views
At the UN, Jay-Z
Floats Past Questions on Water Privatization and Sweatshops, Q'Orianka
Kilcher in the Basement
In the UN
Security Council, Speeches and Stasis as Haiti is Forgotten, for a
Shebaa Farms Solution?
UN Silence on
Congo Election and Uranium, Until It's To Iran or After a Ceasefire, and
Council Rift on Kony
At the UN Some
Middle Eastern Answers, Updates on Congo and Nepal While Silence on
Somalia
On Lebanon,
Franco-American Resolution Reviewed at UN in Weekend Security Council
Meeting
UN Knew of Child
Soldier Use by Two Warlords Whose Entry into Congo Army the UN
Facilitated
At the UN,
Disinterest in Zimbabwe, Secrecy on Chechnya, Congo Polyanna and
Ineptitude on Somalia
Impunity's in
the Air, at the UN in Kinshasa and NY, for Kony and Karim and MONUC for
Kazana
UN Still Silent
on Somalia, Despite Reported Invasion, In Lead-Up to More Congo Spin
UN's Guehenno
Says Congo Warlord Just Needs Training, and Kazana Probe Continues
With Congo
Elections Approaching, UN Issues Hasty Self-Exoneration as Annan Is
Distracted
In DR Congo, UN
Applauds Entry into Army of Child-Soldier Commander Along with Kidnapper
Spinning the
Congo, UN Admits Hostage Deal with Warlord That Put Him in Congolese
Army
At the UN, Dow
Chemical's Invited In, While Teaming Up With Microsoft is Defended
Kofi Annan
Questioned about Congolese Colonel Who Kidnapped Seven UN Soldiers
At the UN,
Speeches While Gaza Stays Lightless and Insurance Not Yet Paid
At the UN
Poorest Nations Discussed, Disgust at DRC Short Shrift, Future UN
Justice?
At the UN
Wordsmiths Are At Work on Zimbabwe, Kony, Ivory Coast and Iran
UN Silent As
Congolese Kidnapper of UN Peacekeepers Is Made An Army Colonel: News
Analysis
At
the UN, New Phrase Passes Resolution called Gangster-Like by North Korea; UK
Deputy on the Law(less)
UN's Guehenno
Speaks of "Political Overstretch" Undermining Peacekeeping in Lower
Profile Zones
In Gaza Power
Station, the Role of Enron and the U.S. Government's OPIC Revealed by UN
Sources
At UN, North
Korean Knot Attacked With Fifty Year Old Precedent, Game Continues Into
Weekend
UN's Corporate
Partnerships Will Be Reviewed, While New Teaming Up with Microsoft, and
UNDP Continues
Gaza Resolution
Vetoed by U.S., While North Korea Faces Veto and Chechnya Unread
BTC Briefing,
Like Pipeline, Skirts Troublespots, Azeri Revelations
Conflicts of
Interest in UNHCR Program with SocGen and Pictet Reveal Reform Rifts
At the UN, A Day
of Resolutions on Gaza, North Korea and Iran, Georgia as Side Dish
UN Grapples with
Somalia, While UNDP Funds Mugabe's Human Rights Unit, Without
Explanation
In North Korean
War of Words, Abuses in Uganda and Impunity Go Largely Ignored
On North Korea,
Blue Words Move to a Saturday Showdown, UNDP Uzbek Stonewall
As the World
Turns in Uganda and Korea, the UN Speaks only on Gaza, from Geneva
North Korea in
the UN: Large Arms Supplant the Small, and Confusion on Uganda
UN Gives Mugabe
Time with His Friendly Mediator, Refugees Abandoned
At the UN,
Friday Night's Alright for Fighting; Annan Meets Mugabe
UN Acknowledges
Abuse in Uganda, But What Did Donors Know and When? Kazakh Questions
In Uganda, UNDP
to Make Belated Announcement of Program Halt, But Questions Remain (and
see
The New Vision,
offsite).
Disarmament
Abuse in Uganda Leads UN Agency to Suspend Its Work and Spending
Disarmament
Abuse in Uganda Blamed on UNDP, Still Silent on Finance
Alleged Abuse in
Disarmament in Uganda Known by UNDP, But Dollar Figures Still Not Given:
What Did UN Know and When?
Strong Arm on
Small Arms: Rift Within UN About Uganda's Involuntary Disarmament of
Karamojong Villages
UN in Denial on
Sudan, While Boldly Predicting the Future of Kosovo/a
UN's Selective
Vision on Somalia and Wishful Thinking on Uighurs
UN Habitat
Predicts The World Is a Ghetto, But Will Finance Be Addressed at
Vancouver World Urban Forum?
At the UN, a
Commando Unit to Quickly Stop Genocide is Proposed, by Diplomatic Sir
Brian Urquhart
UN's Annan
Concerned About Use of Terror's T-Word to Repress, Wants
Freedom of Information
UN Waffles on
Human Rights in Central Asia and China; ICC on Kony and a Hero from
Algiers
At the UN,
Internal Justice Needs Reform, While in Timor Leste, Has Evidence Gone
Missing?
UN & US,
Transparency for Finance But Not Foreign Affairs: Somalia, Sovereignty
and Senator Tom Coburn
In Bolton's Wake,
Silence and Speech at the UN, Congo and Kony, Let the Games Begin
Pro-Poor Talk and
a Critique of the World Trade Organization from a WTO Founder: In UN
Lull, Ugandan Fog and Montenegrin Mufti
Human Rights
Forgotten in UN's War of Words, Bolton versus Mark Malloch Brown: News
Analysis
In Praise of
Migration, UN Misses the Net and Bangalore While Going Soft on Financial
Exclusion
UN Sees Somalia
Through a Glass, Darkly, While Chomsky Speaks on Corporations and
Everything But Congo
AIDS Ends at the
UN? Side Deals on Patents, Side Notes on Japanese Corporations,
Salvadoran and Violence in Burundi
On AIDS at the
UN, Who Speaks and Who Remains Unseen
Corporate Spin on
AIDS, Holbrooke's Kudos to Montenegro and its Independence (May 31, 2006)
Kinshasa Election
Nightmares, from Ituri to Kasai. Au Revoir Allan Rock; the UN's
Belly-Dancing
Working with
Warlords, Insulated by Latrines: Somalia and Pakistan Addressed at the
UN
The Silence of
the Congo and Naomi Watts; Between Bolivia and the World Bank
Human Rights
Council Has Its Own Hanging Chads; Cocky U.S. State Department Spins
from SUVs
Child Labor and
Cargill and Nestle; Iran, Darfur and WHO's on First with Bird Flu
Press Freedom?
Editor Arrested by Congo-Brazzaville, As It Presides Over Security
Council
The
Place of the Cost-Cut UN in Europe's Torn-Up Heart;
Deafness to Consumers, Even by the Greens
Background Checks
at the UN, But Not the Global Compact; Teaching Statistics from
Turkmenbashi's Single Book
Ripped Off Worse
in the Big Apple, by Citigroup and Chase: High Cost Mortgages Spread in
Outer Boroughs in 2005, Study Finds
Burundi: Chaos at
Camp for Congolese Refugees, Silence from UNHCR, While Reform's Debated
by Forty Until 4 AM
In Liberia, From
Nightmare to Challenge; Lack of Generosity to Egeland's CERF, Which
China's Asked About
The Chadian
Mirage: Beyond French Bombs, Is Exxon In the Cast? Asylum and the
Uzbeks, Shadows of Stories to Come
Through the UN's
One-Way Mirror, Sustainable Development To Be Discussed by Corporations,
Even Nuclear Areva
Racial
Disparities Grew Worse in 2005 at Citigroup, HSBC and Other Large Banks
Mine Your Own
Business: Explosive Remnants of War and the Great Powers, Amid the
Paparazzi
Human Rights Are
Lost in the Mail: DR Congo Got the Letter, But the Process is Still
Murky
Iraq's Oil to be
Metered by Shell, While Basrah Project Remains Less than Clear
At the UN, Dues
Threats and Presidents-Elect, Unanswered Greek Mission Questions
Kofi, Kony,
Kagame and Coltan: This Moment in the Congo and Kampala
As Operation
Swarmer Begins, UN's Qazi Denies It's Civil War and Has No Answers if
Iraq's Oil is Being Metered
Cash Crop: In
Nepal, Bhutanese Refugees Prohibited from Income Generation Even in
their Camps
The Shorted and
Shorting in Humanitarian Aid: From Davos to Darfur, the Numbers Don't
Add Up
UN Reform:
Transparency Later, Not Now -- At Least Not for AXA - WFP Insurance
Contract
In Congolese
Chaos, Shots Fired at U.N. Helicopter Gunship
In the Sudanese
Crisis, Oil Revenue Goes Missing, UN Says
Empty Words on
Money Laundering and Narcotics, from the UN and Georgia
What is the Sound
of Eleven Uzbeks Disappearing? A Lack of Seats in Tashkent, a Turf War
at UN
Kosovo: Of
Collective Punishment and Electricity; Lights Out on Privatization of
Ferronikeli Mines
Abkhazia:
Cleansing and (Money) Laundering, Says Georgia
Post-Tsunami
Human Rights Abuses, including by UNDP in the Maldives
Who Pays for the
Global Bird Flu Fight? Not the Corporations, So Far - UN
Citigroup
Dissembles at United Nations Environmental Conference
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