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By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Video Q&A
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UN GATE, August 15 – Each day, the current United Nations gets worse. For some time we have focused on Secretary General Antonio Guterres moving from concealing his links to UN briber CEFC China Energy to banning the Press that asks, to failures on Sri Lanka, Cameroon, Haiti, Honduras (JOH) & Nigeria (Nnamdi & Igboho).

 Now the sleaze and censorship extends to Afghanistan, in crisis as the Taliban take city after city amid reports of Afghan army phantom soldiers. The UN, as Inner City Press exposed, had its own phantom staff there. Now under Gutteres, the UN refuses to answer any of banned Inner City Press' questions, including this month, Where *is* Guterres?

Early on August 15, there was talk of a belated "emergency" UN Security Council meeting. Nothing, of course, from the month's UNSC presidency India, or its ambassador T.S. Tirumurti, ignoring written questions from the Press and doggedly tweeting about India Day amid the decay.

Now, too little too late, a Monday meeting of the UNSC at 10 am. Photo here. India et al. would, it seems, follow Guterres and Melissa Fleming in blocking Inner City Press from the UNSC stakeout and covering the meeting.

Now later on August 15 from the US these 2: "Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke separately today with Australian Foreign Minister Payne, French Foreign Minister Le Drian, German Foreign Minister Maas, and Norwegian Foreign Minister Soreide about developments in Afghanistan, including the security situation. They also discussed our efforts to bring our citizens to safety and assist vulnerable Afghans."

"The following is the text of a joint statement released by the Department of State and Department of Defense on Afghanistan.  Begin text:  At present we are completing a series of steps to secure the Hamid Karzai International Airport to enable the safe departure of U.S. and allied personnel from Afghanistan via civilian and military flights.  Over the next 48 hours, we will have expanded our security presence to nearly 6,000 troops, with a mission focused solely on facilitating these efforts and will be taking over air traffic control. Tomorrow and over the coming days, we will be transferring out of the country thousands of American citizens who have been resident in Afghanistan, as well as locally employed staff of the U.S. mission in Kabul and their families and other particularly vulnerable Afghan nationals. And we will accelerate the evacuation of thousands of Afghans eligible for U.S. Special Immigrant Visas, nearly 2,000 of whom have already arrived in the United States over the past two weeks. For all categories, Afghans who have cleared security screening will continue to be transferred directly to the United States. And we will find additional locations for those yet to be screened."

Inner City Press' question: who would take over the Afghanistan Mission to the UN, and when? And with Burma and now Afghanistan, why exactly was Guterres re "elected" with all opposition blocked? We'll have more on this.

 On August 12-13 Guterres returned from an undisclosed vacation and came to read a statement about Afghanistan and, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, take no questions. But he took one, from a partner, and then disappeared. Again.

 The UN has neither responded to or offered any explanation when a lawyer's letter - to UN official Fleming, and Tal Mekel, and to each UNCA Executive Committee member - urged them to have a dialogue about ending the UN's banning and censorship of Inner City Press.

On August 9, journalist Benny Avni asked Dujarric about the letter, video here, transcript:

Question:  My second question is the law firm ‑‑ what is it called? ‑‑ Quinn Emanuel wrote a letter to the UN asking about reinstatement of our colleague Matthew Lee into the UN press corps. Do you have any comment on that?      

Spokesman:  No. All I can tell you is that we've received the letter, and I'm not aware of any change to his status.     

Question:  You're not aware? I mean, aren't you part of the group that decides the fate of... or even the negotiations... The letter calls for renegotiation [Cross talk]      

Spokesman:  I decide the fate of no one. [Laughter]      Trust me, trust me, my authority is extremely limited, whether at home or at work.       What I can tell you and, joking aside, is that the letter has indeed been received, and I'm not aware of any... and there has been no change in Mr. Lee's status.     

Question:  Has the letter been answered? Do you plan to answer it?      

Spokesman:  It's been received. Whether or not it's been answered, I don't know yet.

The letter was received by the UN's Melissa Fleming, Maria Luiza Vioti and Tal Mekel and to each UNCA Executive Board member, to them citing UNCA's stated goals that it has a charter to supposedly uphold.

What's next? Since the letter, Inner City Press has published exclusive stories not only from the U.S. court systems but about the United Nations, including its agencies UNOPS, UNFPA, UNITAR and UNESCO. (Also credited in AP, Daily Mail, and Nigeria's Sahara Reporters, amid answers from the IMF.)

But none of its written questions have been answered by the UN Spokespeople, and it remains banned from entry to the UN's briefings. This must end.   

 Having asked for a colleagial discussion, and while still offering it, things must turn to the law. UNCA is a New York State non-profit which has not only not abided by its stated goals - it has tortiously interfered with a journalist's right to cover the United Nations.    The United Nations itself propounds Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and has other legal duties that must be addressed by national courts, particularly in the UN's host country... 

Those in receipt of the first, friendly letter: melissa.fleming@un.org, marialuiza.viotti@un.org, mekel@un.org, malu@un.org,  and UNCA
Valeria Robecco, ANSA News Agency, Nabil Abi Saab, Al-Araby, Jianguo Ma, Xinhua News Agency, Edith Lederer, Associated, Giampaolo Pioli, Quotidiano, Linda Fasulo, Ibtisam Azem, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed Newspaper, Ali Barada, France 24, Asharq Al-Awsat; Oscar Bolanos, OMB News, Sherwin Bryce-Pease, SABC South Africa - Alexander Hassanein, The Tokyo Shimbun, Maria Khrenova, TASS, Philippe Rater, Agence France-Presse, Kaori Yoshida, Nikkei, Betul Yuruk, Anadolu Agency at president@unca.com, valeria.robecco@gmail.com, nabisaab@gmail.com, mjg222888@gmail.com, elederer@ap.org, giampioli@aol.com, lindafasulo@gmail.com, ibtisam.azem@alaraby.co.uk, abarada@hotmail.com, ombyvozque@gmail.com, s.brycepease@gmail.com, alexander@tokyoshimbun.us, khrenova_m@tass.ru, philippe.rater@afp.com, kaori.yoshida@nex.nikkei.com, byuruk@aa.com.tr

  We'll have more on this. Watch this site.

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