By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 12 --
Two weeks ago
the UN
Security
Council debate
on "War, its
lessons, and
the search for
a permanent
peace" under
Jordan's
presidency
triggered
several rounds
of fighting
on issues
ranging from
Japan and
World War II
to Russia and
Georgia,
Armenia and
Turkey, Rwanda
and the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo.
On February 12
the debate on
Protection of
Civilians
under this
month's
president
Lithuania had
fewer fights.
At the end
Azerbaijan and
Armenia along
with Russia
and Georgia
fought one round
each; Israel
fired back to
Palestine and,
strangely,
Egypt.
Israel chided
Palestine on,
among other
things, gay
rights, then
said that the
Egyptian
government,
post Morsi
mind you,
should submit
a volume of
its "best
practices" on
protection of
civilians.
Azerbaijan
said that
Armenia is
"escalating...
even during
the Sochi Olympics;"
afterward they
told Inner
City Press
they still
feel they are
on the
Security
Council, which
they only left
in December,
and that they
have filed
long letters
with Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon.
Russia,
neither
Ambassadors
Churkin or
Pankin, chided
Georgia for
"tiresome
cliches;"
Georgia said
twenty percent
of its
territory is
occupied. Reuters,
not present at
the Security
Council
stakeout,
filed a story
with the same
quote that
Russia opposes
30% of the
Syria draft
resolution
as Inner City
Press ran
22 hours before.
The
possibility of
heavy snow and
UN closure
might, some
said, cancel
UN
Humanitarian
chief Valerie
Amos' briefing
on the topic,
throwing off
the game plan
or time table
on the
resolution.
Sudan's charge
d'affaires
spoke near the
end, and asked
if Valerie
Amos who'd
spoken in the
morning could
still hear
him. He did
not call out
UN
Peacekeeping
head Herve
Ladsous, who
met with Sudan's
ICC-indicted
president Omar
al Bashir in
July.
During the
opening
session
Ladsous cited
Ban's stated
Human Rights
Due Diligence
Policy, of
which he made
a mockery in
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo by stonewalling on the DRC Army's mass
rapes in
Minova in
November 2012.
Ladsous' DPKO
won't provide
information on
any
convictions,
nor the results
of a closed
investigation
of alleged
rapes by UN
Peacekeepers
in Mali.
Ladsous also
sung the
praising of
the drones he
is now using
in the Congo,
saying they
are "making a
difference."
One already
crashed -- sources
tell Inner
City Press
Ladsous in
consultations
tried to
recharacterize
it as a "hard
landing" --
and it remains
unclear when
UN
Peacekeeping
will "neutralize"
the Hutu FDLR
militia.
Yesterday,
Ladsous
appeared on
UNTV to read a
statement but
refused to
answer any questions;
the question
of cluster
bombs being
used in South
Sudan, and by
whom, remains
unanswered.
Back
on January 29,
Chinese
Permanent
Representative
Liu Jieyi told
Inner City
Press he would
be raising the
issue of
Japanese prime
minister Abe
visiting the
Class A War
Criminals" in
the Yasukuni
shrine, and he
did. He said,
"What Abe is
doing is to
try to reverse
the verdict on
the war and
defend war
criminals."
Since then,
China has raised
questions
about Japan's
treatment of
letters by
kamikaze
pilots. But it
did not arise,
at least in
rights of
reply, in the
February 12
debate.
Lithuania's
Permanent
Representative
Raimonda
Murmokaite was
chairing at
the end, given
each replier
one turn and
then politely
explaining the
dearth so far
this month of
question and
answer
stakeouts,
which the Free UN Coalition for Access believes
should take
place after
each closed
consultation
of the
Council. Will
there be one
on February
13, along with
and after
Valerie Amos?
Watch this
site.
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