For
UNSC
Spain, Turkey
& NZ Face
Off, Of Smart
Phone Apps
& Future
Races
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 12,
more
here --
New Zealand,
Spain and
Turkey are
facing off
at the UN for
two seats on
the Security
Council. Which
one will be
left out?
Two
years ago
it was
Finland, whose
Permanent
Representative
gave Inner
City Press an
inflated
vote count of
165 on the
eve of the
election.
This has
become urban
legend and now
no one
makes
predictions.
But there is
spin.
New
Zealand is a
small country,
but one which
can relate to
outsiders
like Eritrea.
The last time
they were on
the Council,
they spoke up
for Rwanda.
They fought a
war with
Turkey, which
has led to a
bond.
Still, the
Kiwis were
surprised when
Turkey jumped
into what
would
have been a
“clean slate”
with Spain.
There
should have
been no
surprise:
Turkey feels
itself a
rising power,
they paid for
and branded
the area
outside the
Security
Council,
previously
open to the
press, into a
“Turkish
Lounge.”
But how
will their crackdowns
inside Turkey,
and now
reticence to
join up
with Obama's
coalition
against ISIS
play?
For
the European
Union, could
the live with
both Western
European and
Other Group
seats going to
non-EU
members? Then
again, it is
pointed
out, the EU
spans three UN
regional
groups: WEOG,
Eastern Europe
and
even the Asia
Pacific Group,
through
Cyprus. So how
could the UN
tell
its members
how to vote?
The election's
set for
October 16.
In
the next contested
WEOG race in
2016 it's
slated to be
Sweden, the
Netherlands
and Italy; in
2018 it'll be
Belgium,
Israel and
Germany. Inner
City Press --
and as regards
press freedom
issues, the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
-- will be
covering these
and other
races: Fiji
and Malaysia
this time; in
2016, Kenya
versus Seychelles,
Thailand
versus
Kazakhstan. In
2017, Kuwait
and Yemen face
off; in 2018,
Maldives and
Indonesia.
Watch this
site, and this one.
Footnote:
At
least since
1961, New
Zealand has
produced a UN
Handbook. Its
new
one was
unveiled on
September 12
at the
country's UN
mission on
Third
Avenue, in
hardcopy and a
smart phone
app. There was
Chardonnay and
schmoozing, a
handbook-themed
chocolate bar
(hopefully not
bad karma,
after
Finland's
Martti bar);
and previously
copies of the
handbook.
The 1961
edition listed
the UN General
Assembly's
“Committee for
the
Unification
and
Rehabilitation
of Korea,
UNCURK.” Plus
ca
change.
, 
