Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the United Nations to Wall Street to the Inner City

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 6 -- While the US' global spying and the UK's position on the Malvinas or Falkland Islands were the focus of many in the UN Security Council on Tuesday, there was also structural critique of the Council's Permanent Five veto system.

  Inner City Press caught up with Argentine president Cristina Fernandez Kirchner as she left the Council. She spoke of the Security Council veto system as an anachronism, contrasting it with the recent "consensual" conflict resolution of the CELAC and UNASUR blocs. Video here.

  She gave the example of attempted coups d'etat against Presidents Morales in Bolivia and Correa on Ecuador, and various disputes involving Colombia. She asked, what if Colombia had a veto?

  She concluded with a reference to a major focus of the, the US' assault on privacy, the NSA spying program exposed by Edward Snowden.

  As she spoke, a microphone crept in from Voice of America, run by the US State Department, with John Kerry on the VOA's Broadcast Board of Governors. At the end of the Security Council debate, US Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis (NOT Samantha Power) came and replied:

"All governments do things that are secret. All governments do things that are secret. It is a fact of modern governing and a necessity in light of the threats all our citizens face. Our counterterrorism policy is ultimately about saving people’s lives, which is why the United States works with other countries to protect our citizens and those of other nations from many threats. All nations should be concerned about the damage these disclosures can cause to our ability to collectively defend against these threats."

  And there you have it. Again, video here. Watch this site.