Lithuania
Says
Next PGA
Should Speak
Russian,
Accuses Serbia
of Rule
Breaking
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 13 --
The battle
between Serbia
and Lithuania
for
who will be
the next
President of
the UN General
Assembly has
turned
back from the
Organization
for Security
and
Co-operation
in Europe,
where
Lithuania
decided not to
block Serbia,
to the
question of
language.
On
February
7,
Inner City
Press exclusively
reported that
Lithuania had
"broken
silence" on
the proposal
for Serbia to
take the lead
of the OSCE
in 2014-15.
The next day
Russia's
Permanent
Representative
Vitaly
Churkin told
Inner City
Press this was
"bad
diplomatic
practice," and
that Serbia's
Vuk Jeremic
would be a
strong
candidate to
"revitalize"
the General
Assembly.
But
later, another
Serbian
diplomat told
Inner City
Press that Lithuania's
attempt to
break silence
had been
rejected by
the current
Irish chief of
the
OSCE,
while joking
about the
irony that
Serbia's
Jeremic is
Western
educated while
Lithuania's
Dalius
Cekuolis went
to the
Institute of
International
Relations in
Moscow.
Lithuania,
it
emerges, has
its side of
the story, and
we are happy
to tell it.
They
argued to
Inner City
Press that the
candidate of
the Eastern
European
group for PGA
should
definitely
speak Russian,
as Cekuolis
does but,
they said,
Jeremic
doesn't.
Inner
City Press
on February 13
asked a
Serbian
diplomat about
this and he
laughed,
asking "that
is their
argument?" and
laughing
again.
With
class,
Lithuania made
clear at the
OSCE that it
was NOT
engaging in
any "tit
for tat" (the
phrase Inner
City Press had
used), and
would not
break silence
on Serbia's
bid to head
the OSCE. Click
here for that
Lithuanian
statement,
which says in
part:
"It
is
highly
regrettable
that one
participating
State aspiring
to chair
the OSCE has
lately
demonstrated
the tendency
to disregard
rules and
traditions as
well as
consensus
building in
another forum
where
compromise and
consensus
building are
of no less
importance. We
refuse to give
in to the
logic of rules
breaking and
playing
tit-for-tat.
We also refuse
to accept the
logic of
'withdraw or
else....'
which some
among this
membership are
trying to
impose on
us."
They
say they are
taking the
high road, and
have offered
an interview
with their
Permanent
Representative
and candidate
Dalius
Cekuolis.
(c) UN Photo
Ban Ki-moon
and Dalius
Cekuolis, Vuk
Jeremic not
shown
We'll look
forward to
that: in
today's UN,
there is not
enough vetting
of
candidates,
most recently
leading to the
appointment of
Shavendra
Silva, a
General whose
Division 58 is
accused of war
crimes in Ban
Ki-moon's
panel of
experts report
on Sri Lanka,
as a "Senior
Adviser" on
Peacekeeping.
The more
interviews the
better: watch
this site.
, 
