After
UN Thugs
Smashed ICP
Camera At Ban
Ki-moon Event,
Gallach Views
Periscope
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December
17 --
Outgoing
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
headlined a
$1200 a ticket
event on Wall
Street on
Friday night.
Inner City
Press went to
cover the
event, and
while
live-streaming
Periscope
video outside
was physically
attacked by
thugs exiting
the UN event.
Video here.
Video here.
First UN
Correspondents
Association
president
Giampaolo
Pioli came out
to shout,
“You're
crazy.” Then
his colleague
and UNCA
second vice
president
Valeria
Robecco of
ANSA told
Inner City
Press to
“f*cking go
home, we are
so tired of
you.”
Then yet
another
Italian with
UN office
space,
Francesco
Semprini, came
into Inner
City Press'
face, and
camera, to
blather about
how much he
writes about
Yemen and the
Rohingya,
telling Inner
City Press to
Google him.
(More on this
to come.).
An another
tuxedo-ed man
next to him,
seemingly
Giovanni
Palacardo of
Banca IMI
Securities
Corp, got
involved.
Inner City
Press'
Periscope-broadcasting
phone, which
had garnered
over 10,000
viewers
earlier in the
day asking US
Ambassador
Samantha Power
about South
Sudan, was
grabbed and
thrown down
the street
with the
intent to
break it and
stop the
broadcast.
This happened
a second time.
This is
censorship.
Since then,
the UN's Under
Secretary
General for
Public
Information
Cristina
Gallach, who
did no due
diligence as
Ng Lap Seng
bribed the UN,
including
under a
previous
Cipriani “UNCA
Ball,” has
watched the
re-broadcast
of the
Periscope. Photo
here.
Is it to find
out which of
her UN
resident
correspondents
trying to
physically
censor the
Press by
breaking its
phone? Or does
she routinely
monitor the
social media
of UN
non-resident
correspondents
who have asked
her about her
links to the
UN bribery
scandal? We'll
have more on
this.
Shortly
before, Inner
City Press
spoke with Ban
Ki-moon, now
Antonio
Guterres
official
Kyung-wha
Kang. She
said, of Inner
City Press'
eviction from
the UN and
nine months
and counting
of minders,
“There must be
a process.”
But there is
no process, no
rule, no
appeal right.
And, it is now
confirmed,
there are
thugs.
Outgoing
Deputy
Secretary
General Jan
Eliasson, who
has received a
petition on
the matter, to
his credit
came over and
greeted Inner
City Press --
before the
attack.
Representatives
of the US
Mission to the
UN, who did
nothing about
the earlier
eviction
despite a request
by the
Government
Accountability
Project,
did not.
Not seen was
UN Under
Secretary
General
Cristina
Gallach, who
by her no due
process
eviction, audio
here, and
allowing UNCA
chief Pioli to
at the
televised UN
Security
Council
stakeout call
Inner City
Press a*hole,
audio
here, created
this
atmosphere.
But where is
the Committee
to Protect
Journalists,
ostensibly now
concerned
about press
freedom inside
the
terroritorial
United States?
Hours after
Ban had
answered a
pre-selected
questions
about Aleppo,
Syria by
reading from
notes, he
attended an
event where
he'd
previously
been put
together with
Macau-based
businessman Ng
Lap Seng, now
under house
arrest for UN
bribery
involving
Ban's
Secretariat.
But Ban
has his eye on
the Blue
House, South
Korea's
presidential
palace. In
front of 55
Wall Street on
Friday night,
with its own
velvet rope
and carpet,
was a red
“Lamborghini
Huracan, V-10
naturally
aspirated 610
horsepower.” Photo
here.
This glitzy
display,
bitterly
dubbed the
“Aleppo
mobile,” was
courtesy of
the United
Nations
Correspondents
Association.
Inner City
Press, which
quit UNCA in
2012 and,
after UNCA
threatened to
get it thrown
out of the UN,
actually was
in 2016 by Ban
and his head
of
communications
Cristina
Gallach,
covered the
event from the
sidewalk
outside. Periscope
I here.
Deputy
Secretary
General Jan
Eliasson came
over for a
handshake; at
least one
Permanent Five
member of the
Security
Council's
Permanent
Representative
came to joke.
But the
travesty made
at and of the
UN by Ban
Ki-moon and
his UN
Censorship
Alliance is no
joke. Periscope
II here.
When Ban
Ki-moon held
his last
staged press
conference on
December 16,
he took only
six questions,
not only of
them critical.
There was
nothing on the
UN under his
leadership
bringing
cholera to
Haiti and
killing over
10,000 people,
nor on his
peacekeepers'
rapes of
children in
the Central
African
Republic.
Ban read from
notes in
response to
several,
including the
first set-up
question about
his upcoming
run for the
South Korean
presidency.
In Ban's
opening
remarks he
mentioned
South Sudan,
but not the
day's real
news, that the
UN Mission
there gave
weapons to
warlord James
Koang, who
killed
civilians.
Unlike at
Ban's “press”
conference,
Inner City
Press was able
to ask for
example UK
Ambassador
Rycroft, and
the New
Zealand
foreign
minister,
about South
Sudan,
video here.
Inner City
Press which on
December 15
was the ONLY
media to ask
questions at
the day's UN
noon briefing,
and which put
its name first
on the list to
ask a question
to Ban, was
not called on
by Ban's
outgoing
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric.
So at the end,
while there
was still
time, Inner
City Press
asked quite
audible about
Myanmar, and
Ban's brother
Ki-ho doing
mining there
after being on
a UN
delegation. Vine here. Ban did not answer
this -
surreally, he
came over to
shake hands. Video
here.
Nor did Ban
answer about
the pending Ng
Lap Seng UN
bribery case,
in which the
Macau-based
businessman
bought a
document from
Ban's
Secretariat
and held
events with no
due diligence
by Ban's head
of
Communications
Cristina
Gallach.
Later on
December 16
Ban was
scheduled to
appear on Wall
Street, with
the UN
Correspondents
Association
charging
$1,200 to hear
him. It was
UNCA that got
the first
question and
used it to set
him up for
South Korea's
presidency, or
at least a
short speech
on the topic.
This is how
Ban's UN works
- or doesn't.
Since October
14, Ban
Ki-moon has
refused to
make public
the speech he
gave on
October 14
before the
Council of
Korean
Americans,
which sought
$100,000
sponsorships
to hear Banspeak.
Now on
December 16
Ban Ki-moon is
slated to
appear at
Cipriani Wall
Street at an
event for
which $1,200
individual
admittance
tickets are
being sold,
even to
journalists
needing to
cover Ban
since he is,
with whatever
merits,
running for
President of
South Korea
(in the
alternative
the
journalists
would be
required to
join Ban's UN
Censorship
Alliance, like
a forced
state-controlled
union).
From the
pitch: “RAFFLE
PRIZES include
business class
airline
tickets around
the world,
luxury
products
(Dior,
Burberry,
MaxMara, Luisa
Brini), dining
for 6, weekend
spa,
big-screen
high-def TV,
and two grand
prize weekends
with a
Lamborghini
Huracan, V-10
naturally
aspirated 610
horsepower.”
For this, UNCA
board members
are asking /
telling people
in front of
the UN
Security
Council that
they are
expected to be
there.
On December
15, Inner City
Press asked
Ban Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric if
the UN Ethics
office has
reviewed and
approved the
charging of
$1200 to hear
Ban Ki-moon.
Dujarric
rather than
answering that
question said
that Inner
City Press had
in the past
attended the
“UNCA dinner
at the highest
level,” and
that it will
go forward. UN
Ethics? Video
here,UN transcript
here:
Inner City
Press: I have
a couple more,
but I want to
make sure to
ask this one
before… I
wanted to ask
you, whether
the Ethics
Office has
signed off on
the
Secretary-General
appearing for
talks for
which $1,200
are
charged.
And I’m
asking… this
is going to
take place
tomorrow, and
I’m asking it
not on my
behalf, but I
know
journalists
that want to
or are
required by
their
employers to
cover it, and
they were told
they either
have to pay
that amount to
cover
it. So I
wanted to
know… it seems
like a strange
practice.
I know he’s
giving a free
speech in
Southern
Illinois
University
next
week.
But what are
the ethics or…
in terms of UN
ethics, not
moral ethics…?
Spokesman:
The UNCA
[United
Nations
Correspondents
Association]
dinner is a
longstanding
tradition to
which you
participated
at the highest
levels on a
number of
occasions in
the same
format.
It’s a
tradition and
a tradition
that will go
on.
Thank you.
Dujarric then
walked off the
podium,
preventing not
only follow up
but also any
questions on
such crises
(and Ban
failures) as
Yemen and
Myanmar, where
Ban's friends
and family are
involved in
mining.
Inner City
Press quit
UNCA, but here
is a
photograph of
Ban Ki-moon at
the event with
executives of
South South
News --
Francis
Lorenzo and
Vivian Wang
who have
pleaded guilty
to UN bribery
including of
Ban's
Secretariat,
and indicted
Ng Lap Seng,
here.
It was
to see if UNCA
would discuss
the Ng Lap
Seng case that
Inner City
Press sought
to cover an
event in the
UN Press
Briefing Room
on January 29,
2016. Dujarric
was summoned
and told Inner
City Press to
leave so he
could go see
his “F-ing
children.” Video here.
Inner City
Press said he
shouldn't give
the UN Press
Briefing Room
to some but
not all
journalists
but that it
would leave if
shown anything
that the
meeting was
“Closed” or if
asked by a UN
Security
officer. One
officer came
and said that
spokesman
wants you to
go, and Inner
City Press
left.
For
that, three
weeks later
without a
single
opportunity to
be heard Under
Secretary
General for
DPI Cristina
Gallach
ordered Inner
City Press out
of the UN on
two hours
notice,
accomplished
by eight
officers,
audio here.
Inner City
Press' long
time office
was evicted in
April and the
space being
given to an
Egyptian state
media whose
correspondent
Sanaa Youssef,
UNCA President
in 1984,
rarely comes
in and has not
asked a single
question in
the last nine
months.
At the
December 15
noon briefing,
only Inner
City Press
asked Dujarric
questions. But
he is sure to
disallow any
questions by
Inner City
Press to Ban
Ki-moon,
whether on
Burundi, Yemen
or nepotism.
This is
censorship,
and
corruption.
What Ban gets,
or got prior
to the steep
decline in his
South Korea
presidential
changes, from
letting the
Council of
Korean
Americans
raise money
off him is
clear.
But especially
after a
similar
appearance at
Cipriani 42nd
Street gave
now indicted
Ng Lap Seng
and members of
his retinue
who have since
pleaded guilty
to UN bribery
visible access
to Ban and his
wife, what's
in it for him?
Well, Ban has
used the group
hosting and
selling him on
December 16 as
a mouthpiece
for his
presidential
ambitions, and
as a battering
ram against
those who dare
question him.
It was
for seeking to
cover a
January 29,
2016 event by
Ban's December
16 host, held
in the UN
Press Briefing
Room lent to
them without
any written
record by
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric, that
Inner City
Press was
physically
thrown out of
the UN on
February 19,
and had a
decade's worth
of
investigative
filed evicted
out onto First
Avenue on
April 16.
Since then,
Inner City
Press has been
confined to
one of Ban
Ki-moon's and
his
Communications
chief Cristina
Gallach's
minders to
cover any
General
Assembly,
ECOSOC or
other second
floor meeting.
So it's the UN
Censorship
Alliance.
And as Ban's
deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq
chose to go
public with on
December 8,
the Egptian
state media to
which Ban and
Gallach are
giving Inner
City Press'
longtime
office, while
rarely present
at the UN in
recent months
and years, was
a former
president of
the UN
Correspondents
Association.
One hand
washes the
other.
Even a
UN journalist
who, like
Inner City
Press which
quit UNCA
after it
screened a Sri
Lankan
government war
crimes denial
film after
UNCA's
outgoing
president -
who has chosen
and endorsed
his successor
- is not a
member of UNCA
was going to
be charged the
full $1200 to
cover Ban,
until they
joined UNCA.
So Ban's UN
coerces
independent
journalists to
join the UN
Censorship
Alliance. By
contrast, even
CPJ allow the
Press to cover
the speeches
at its Waldorf
fundraising
without paying
for the
privilege. A
correspondents
association
which gets
journalists
evicted for
trying to
cover its
meetings, and
tries to
charge other
reporters
money to cover
its events, is
not a group
for free preEven
a UN
journalist
who, like
Inner City
Press which
quit UNCA
after it
screened a Sri
Lankan
government war
crimes denial
film after
UNCA's
outgoing
president -
who has chosen
and endorsed
his successor
- is not a
member of UNCA
was going to
be charged the
full $1200 to
cover Ban,
unless they
joined UNCA.
So Ban's UN
coerces
independent
journalists to
join the UN
Censorship
Alliance. By
contrast, even
CPJ allows the
Press to cover
the speeches
at its Waldorf
fundraising
without paying
for the
privilege.
A
correspondents
association
which gets
journalists
evicted for
trying to
cover its
meetings, and
tries to
charge other
reporters
money to cover
its events, is
not a group
for free
press.
Separately,
this group
calling itself
the United
Nations
Correspondents
Association
will be giving
its own
members
including
unopposed
president
journalism
awards on
December 16,
before an
election in
which there is
no competition
for any of the
six official
position. Ban
Ki-moon stands
for democracy
and freedom of
the press --
not. But
that's another
story.
On October 25,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric, UN transcript
here:
Inner City
Press: Thanks
for announcing
the
Secretary-General's
speech in… at
Columbia.
I want to ask
again.
Rather than… I
may have
misread your
[inaudible].
Last time I
asked, where
is Ban
Ki-moon's
speech to the
Council of
Korean-Americans,
for which they
raised
$100,000, just
to release
it? You
seem… I
somehow read
into your face
that, like, it
might be
coming.
Is there some
reason that
that speech
is… is… of all
the speeches
that he gave
in the last
two weeks…
withheld?
Spokesman:
He's given
speeches to
private
events.
I really have
nothing else
to add on the
issue.
Thank you.
How many
"private
events"? For
which groups?
We'll have
more on this.
On October 21,
even as UN
staff
protested
Ban's lack of
judgment in
naming a
cartoon
character,
Wonder Woman,
a UN
ambassador,
Ban made
public to
Reuters not
this speech
but his
ambition to be
president of
South Korea.
Reuters did
not ask about
the day's
protest, much
less the
“private”
speech.
Reuters
“reported”
that “Ban said
it was the
first time he
had spoken
publicly about
his future
beyond the
United
Nations.” So
what was new,
given that Ban
held a 20
minute public
“photo op”
with South
Korea
legislators,
with Korean
media (and
Inner City
Press)
present?
At the
October 24
noon briefing,
Inner City
Press put the
question to
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric who
was present at
the 20 minute
photo op, even
told the
Department of
Public
Information to
break from its
stated rules
and allow
Korean
print-only
reporters up
to witness
Ban's
announcement.
Dujarric
repeatedly cut
off the
question, not
allowing Inner
City Press to
a related
follow up.
Later he said
it's not for
Ban to comment
on any changes
to allow an
additional
presidential
term --
precisely an
issue at stake
in Burundi.
What will
Ban's platform
be? At the UN,
he he give the
top job in
Kenya to his
own son in
law, without
recusing
himself. He
has allowed
his mentor Han
Seung-soo to
be a UN
official while
on the boards
of directors
of Doosan and
of Standard
Chartered
bank, which
has UN
contracts. He
has evicted
the Press
which has
asked about
his nepotism
throughout his
tenure. See
here. So:
corruption,
nepotism and
censorship?
We'll have
more on this.
On October 17,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's outgoing
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric why
his office had
not made
available
Ban's speech
in Washington
DC on October
14 to the
Council of
Korean-Americans
but had widely
emailed out
Ban's speech
the same day
while getting
another
honorary
degree in
Maryland.
Dujarric
replied, with
characteristic
defensiveness,
that Ban's
Friday evening
speech at the
Ronald Reagan
International
Trade Center
in DC was
private. Vine
video here. On
October 18
when Inner
City Press
followed up
and asked how
much was
charged or
sought to hear
Ban, Dujarric
said to ask
the
organizers.
Well,
the Council of
Korean
Americans
began
promoting
Ban's
attendance, as
UN Secretary
General, as
early as
August - and
sought
$100,000
“platinum”
sponsorships.
Here's
a tweet from
September.
Is this
ethical?
Separately,
did Ban get
any UN Ethics
Office opinion
on this? Inner
City Press
asked these
questions and
more on
October 20;
Dujarric said
to... ask the
Ethics Office.
Isn't he the
UN spokesman?
He separately
refused to say
how much the
outside
counsel Ban's
UN has hired
in connection
with the Ng
Lap Seng UN
bribery case
(in which
Ban's
Secretariat
changed a
General
Assembly
document to
insert the
name of Ng Lap
Seng's
company) is
paid, and from
which budget
line or slush
fund. The
lawyer's firm
does not have
an active
contract in
the UN
Procurement
database. Earlier in the day
the UN's own
Special
Rapporteur
David Kaye
published his
report, which
included his
and Rapporteur
Michel Forst's
letter asking
Gallach why
she evicted
Inner City
Press, and her
belated
response that
Inner City
Press has
“trespassed”
in the UN
Press Briefing
Room.
But a UN
Secretary
General
allowing his
image and the
UN flag to be
used to raise
$100,000
sponsorships -
is it ethical?
Inner City
Press asked
Dujarric,
wouldn't it be
fair at least
to infer Ban
supports the
views of the
group he let
charge
$100,000 for
him / the UN?
Dujarric said
no: but why?
We'll have
more on the
group's views,
including on
matter on the
agenda of the
UN Security
Council. Watch
this site.
Inner City
Press: You'd
said that Ban
Ki-moon's
speech on
Friday in
Washington to
the Council of
Korean-Americans
at the Ronald
Reagan
International
Trade Center
was somehow a
private
appearance,
but I've seen
pictures of
it. He
was in a
tuxedo with a
big screen
behind him,
and the media
was
present.
So, I'm left…
I guess what I
wonder is,
what do you
mean by
"private"?
Was it open
only to some
media?
What… was…
Spokesman:
You'd have to
ask the
organizers.
Inner City
Press:
But, if he
spent… the
money question
is this… if it
was a private…
Spokesman:
He was in
Washington for
a UN-related
event, and he
participated
in a… in this
event
organized by
this
foundation,
which was
considered a
private event.
ICP
Question:
Was money
charged to
attend it?
Spokesman:
You'd have to
ask the
organizers.
ICP
Question:
Would that be
against UN
rules?
Spokesman:
The
Secretary-General
and others
appear
sometimes in
dinners where
money is
charged.
We'll have
more on this.
The Council of
Korean-American's
speech was
covered with
headlines like
“Ban Ki-moon
defends
leadership to
counter
Western
media’s
criticism.”
Ban's defense,
it seems, is
merely
“personal” -
in a parallel
fictitious
universe like
Wonder Woman.
Watch this
site.
, 
