At
World Cup UN
Guterres Says
Predicting
Portugal Win
Would Be Wrong
Amid
Censorship
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Video,
Sweden,
1st
UNITED NATIONS,
June 20 –
To view the 2018 World Cup TV
screens have been set up in
the Security Council on the
UN's second floor down to the
Vienna Cafe in its basement.
Periscope video here.
Inner City Press covered the
opening on June 14 without
incident - but now
on June 18
Twitter, with
no due
process,
suspended
Inner City
Press'
Periscope
account for
its
broadcasting
of how
the World Cup is
watched at the
UN, on screens
set up in
public areas, see
below. Meanwhile
UN Secretary
General Antonio
Guterres has
used public
funds to travel to
Moscow to watch
his Portugal
play Morocco
on June 20. Asked at
one of his
pretext stops,
Guterres said with what
some saw as
characteristic
faux
humility, "I
was never able
to make a
correct
prediction of
a result of a
football game,
so I will not
be trying
again this
time because I
am sure that
my prediction
will be wrong."
This game
is probably
not hard to predict.
Where Guterres
is wrong is on
such ongoing
issues as his
targeted Press
censorship in
the UN,
and inaction
on the burning of
villages in
Cameroon. On
Western
Sahara, we may
have more. On
June 18, Inner
City Press before
its planned
broadcasts
of the UN noon
briefing (on
Libya,
Colombia and
Togo) and on
Yemen launched
a broadcast of
people
watching the
Belgium -
Panama match.
Viewers
asked Inner
City Press to
focus more on
the TV and
Inner City
Press declined,
saying the purpose
is to show how
it is viewed
and used at
the UN. Suddenly
the broadcast
was cut, and
account suspended.
This email
arrived: "Your
broadcast has
been disabled
in response to
the DMCA
takedown
notice copied
at the bottom
of this email.
Please note
that repeat
violations of
this policy
may result in
suspension of
your account.
In order to
avoid this, do
not post
additional
material in
violation of
third-party
copyrights and
immediately
remove any
material from
your account
for which you
are not
authorized to
broadcast...
Dear
Periscope, We
write to you
on behalf of
Fédération
Internationale
de Football
Association
(“FIFA”) who
owns and/or
controls all
audiovisual,
visual only
and audio only
rights in the
2018 FIFA
World Cup
Russia™.
We have
noticed that
your platform
is making
available
and/or
promoting
unauthorised
digital
transmissions
of audiovisual
content
relating to
the 2018 FIFA
World Cup
Russia™, the
intellectual
property in
respect of
which is
exclusively
owned and/or
controlled by
FIFA (the
“Protected
Content”).
On behalf of
FIFA, we
hereby assert
that your
making
available
and/or
promoting of
the Protected
Content on
your Platform
is not
authorised by
FIFA, its
agent nor the
law and that
your
activities in
this regard
serve as a
serious
infringement
of FIFA’s
exclusive
rights.
Contact
Information of
official
representative:
Jonathan
Schmitz
Richard-Byrd-St
31
50829 Cologne
Germany
+49 221 35554
360
Name of the
copyright
owner:
FIFA
Fédération
Internationale
de Football
Association
Description of
original work: FIFA
Copyright
Protected
Match Footage"
The UN and
DCMS have a
sordid history,
with
then-Reuters
correspondent
Louis
Charbonneau citing the DCMA to
claim that his
complaint to
UN Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric to
get Inner City
Press thrown
out of the UN
- which
happened - as
copyrights.
The leaked
complaint
remains blocked
from Search.
To Twitter, including
a staffer
than recruited
Inner city
Press to be
part of a
Periscope NYC
channel, Inner
City PRess
immediately
wrote: "I am a
journalist who
covers the
United
Nations.
Currently the
Russian
Mission to the
UN has set up
TV screens
with the games
in three
locations in
the UN. I was
seeking to
show crowd
reactions.
Since I use my
Periscope
account to
report on the
UN including a
noon briefing
in 13 minutes
and a Yemen
meeting after
that, I ask
that it be
immediately
restored.
Please
confirm."
Nothing. Watch
this site.
There are also screens in the
UN Delegates' Lounge, where
the first game of Russia
versus Saudi Arabia was seen
by both countries' Ambassadors
and others, including the
President of the General
Assembly. Video here.
Many ambassadors of qualifying
countries showed up in their
country's jersey, all with the
number 10 except for Russia's
deputy, who wore 9. Morocco's
Ambassador Hilale did not wear
a jersey. Photos here
and here.
It was 2-0 Russia by half time
(when Russian Ambassador
Vassily Nebenzia
walked from the Lounge to the
Security Council to chair a
meeting about the Saudi led
coalition's assault on Hodeida
in Yemen), and 5-0 Russia by
the end. What will be the
result of Uruguay and Egypt,
whose team with recurperating
Salah did its final training
in Chechnya? Watch this site.
On June 13 Inner City Press,
having first reported that
Antonio Guterres will be in
Moscow to watch his Portugal
play Morocco on June 20, asked
Russian Ambassador Vassily
Nebenzia if his June 14 photo
op would include Council
members not qualified for the
Cup, like the Netherlands and
US. Yes, he said. The Deputy
Ambassador of qualifier
Sweden, Carl Skau, said he is
"not very optimistic" about
the Swedish team's chances.
Inner City Press Periscope
video here.
Sweden is in Group F with
incoming Security Council
member Germany, Mexico and
denuclearization hopeful South
Korea. We'll have more on this
- and on the other Groups.
Guterres pre-announced his
trip on June 2 and then took
some softball questions. Video
here.
After Inner City Press shot
the video on Periscope, which
Guterres has banned on his
38th floor of the UN, and put
it on YouTube, it was picked
up and linked to be
pro-Morocco media, here.
On June 4, Inner City Press
asked Guterres' spokesman
Stephane Dujarric, UN
transcript here:
Inner City Press: it seemed to
me that the Secretary-General
said on… on Friday that he
will be in Moscow on 20 June
for the Portugal-Morocco game,
and he called it an official
visit. Can you give us
some more… when does it begin?
When does it end?
Spokesman: No, it begin
around the time of the game,
and we'll have a bit more of
an official announcement for
an official visit closer to
official time.
Inner City Press: Are there
any other stops on the trail?
Spokesman: There'll be…
everything will be announced
in due course." More than a
week later, without sending
any of it to Inner City Press
which had asked, Dujarric at
the June 12 noon briefing
announced that Guterres will
be in Moscow for two nights,
with one each in Finland and
Norway before that, back to
New York on June 22. Asked who
Guterres will be rooting for,
Dujarric first said "guess"
then said the UN is for fair
play like in the briefing
(room) - the briefing room he
evicted Inner City Press from
while leaving in other
correspondents he'd lent it
to. Worse than FIFA?
Guterres and Dujarric
neglected to announce
Guterres' recent
publicly-funded trip to Lisbon
where he brainstormed with
that country's government, as
Inner City Press reported and
asked about. This while
Guterres refuses Press
questions on what's called his
reform of the UN development
system.
Inner City Press
on May 30 sought to ask
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric a question in
advance. But Dujarric, who
evicted Inner City Press from
the UN Press Briefing Room as
it pursued the still unresolved
story of UN bribery and keeps
it restricted, ran off. Video
here.
So here is the question: why
even for this reform has
Guterres not prepared the UN's
usual “Program Budget
Implication” statement? How
much will the reform cost? On
May 31, Inner City Press asked
Guterres' spokesman Stephane
Dujarric who offered an
evasive answer and then ran
off the podium. From the UN's
sanitized transcript:
Inner City Press: I wanted to
ask you about the development
system reform. In
talking to some people on the
Fifth Committee, they said
that it's strange that there's
no Program Budget Implication,
PBI, filed in connection with
this pretty major
proposal. Like, even for
the envoy on Myanmar, there
had to be a PBI. How can
it be something this big
doesn't have a price tag?
Spokesman: Well, I mean,
I think everything was
negotiated with the Fifth
Committee, and I think they
got all the documents they
needed." And then he ran off.
So Inner City Press went and
asked the question to
Guterres, repeatedly, who
ignored the audible question
(but appeared to give a small
wave). Video here.
This while Guterres
accompanied by Dujarric and
Alison Smale wined
and dined no-question
correspondents with pan seered
corvina
and restricting Inner City
Press which alone asks about
these budget issues, and
corruption. Today's UN is
corrupt - and a censor.
On June 1, Inner
City Press asked Guterres'
deputy spokesman Farhan Haq,
UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: yesterday in
the… in the meeting to… on
the… on the development system
reform, there was a sort of
formal statement of the
Secretariat that said, quote,
"The Secretariat is not in a
position to provide a detailed
statement of programme budget
implications (PBI) prior to
the finalization of the
implementation plan." So
I wanted to ask what I was
trying to ask Stéphane
yesterday. What is the…
usually, I mean, at least in
my experience, usually the PBI
is done before the vote.
Maybe this is… I'm sure States
agreed to this, but what is
the plan for the
Secretariat? What's the
time frame to actually say how
much it's going to cost?
Deputy Spokesman: What's
happening now — we're very
appreciative of the adoption
of the resolution yesterday by
the Member States. We
had informed the Member States
in a note of our… of the
process that we're going
through, and what we're going
to do now is that we are
engaging… as of now, we're
engaging with the Fifth
Committee to provide more
information, and we'll do this
so that, as the
Secretary-General made clear,
we can hit the ground running
on 1 January 2019.
Inner City Press: So
that's in this May section, in
this… in this current session,
that… that this information is
going to be provided, the PBI?
Deputy Spokesman: Like I
said, we have started, as of
this past day, we're starting
our dialogue with the Fifth
Committee on this." But the
resolution says during THIS
General Assembly - and the
final Budget Committee session
of this GA ends soon...
The
reform, such as it is, is to
move authority for the UN's
resident coordinator system
from the UN Development
Program over to Guterres'
deputy secretary general Amina
J. Mohammed. Guterres had
wanted to get regular assessed
budget funding for this, but
he lost in that attempt. An
undefined “hybrid” funding
system is yet to be specified,
despite a rubber stamp vote
being calle on the reform on
May 31. How will it be paid
for? It is undisclosed, just
like Guterres' visit to his
home in Portugal on May 28 was
undisclosed until Inner City
Press asked.
According to what
senior Fifth (Budget)
Committee sources exclusively
tell Inner City Press,
Guterres claims he can't
estimate the cost or PBI until
he finds out what states will
voluntarily give him. Then how
can this reform be voted on
and be claimed to be
completed, a rare victory for
Guterres? (The sources also
tell Inner City Press that
Guterres made his appointment
of Achim Steiner to replace
Helen Clark as head of UNDP
contingent on Steiner
supporting UNDP's loss of the
resident coordinator system to
Amina Mohammed.) Dujarric did
not want to answer, and if the
past is any guide he will
pre-select the questions to
Guterres from among his
allies. Watch this site.
***
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