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On Georgia, Behind the UN's Word
Games, Russia Bases Approach, What Will Obama Do?
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, February 13 -- As
the Security Council on Friday passed a resolution concerning the UN
Observer
Mission in Abkhazia, Georgian diplomats were worried. This is another
step, one
told Inner City Press, to a loss of sovereignty. Inner City Press asked
Georgia's Ambassador on-camera how the resolution impacts territorial
integrity, and about the military bases Russia has said that it plans
for South
Ossetia and Abkhazia. He replied that would be a "brutal breach" of
international
law, and that Russia has been "rebuked." Video
here,
from Minute 2:46.
Russia's Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, next up, called
Abkhazia a sovereign
state which can make agreements to allow bases from any country it
likes. Inner
City Press asked him about Georgia's territorial integrity. Churkin
predicted
that "some colleagues will interpret elements of the resolution" as
supporting Georgia's claim, but noted that there is "no reference" to
territorial integrity in the resolution. Video here,
from Minute 6:38. Inner City Press also
asked why the foreign
minister of Abkhazia had not come to the Council. He didn't ask,
Churkin
replied.
As predicted, the UK's John Sawers emerged and
pointed at parts of the
resolution he said support Georgia's continued claim. Inner City Press
asked
about Russia's planned bases, is it true the UK rebukes them? Video here,
from
Minute 1:49. Sawyer replied that the UK supports the territorial
integrity of
Georgia, and so bases could only legal go there with Georgia's consent.
That consent will not be given, while Russian bases
seem more and more
likely.
Russia's Churkin, UK's Sawers waits, clashing not
heard
Inner City Press asked the Georgian Ambassador if with the new U.S.
Administration saying it wants to get along better with Russia, things
might
just keep sliding away. He replied that Georgia and the U.S. share
values, and
Georgian territorial integrity is one of these values.
But
might it implicitly be traded away for fewer Russian missiles, or
continued use of Kyrgyzstan?
Footnote:
on another matter, some interpreted the lack of a sound system during
the Abkhazia stakeout, and the banging and clashing sounds from just
outside, as a sign of the low place the issue now has on the UN's
agenda. But it may just be that the outside contractor which runs UN TV
is cutting corners, storing furniture from other closed-down offices
inside the UN, moving to terminate long-time sound men, and no longer
providing a boom microphone at the stakeout, except when the U.S.
speaks. That's what some are saying.
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
Click here for Inner City
Press Nov. 7 debate on the war in Congo
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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