UN
Budget Panel
Chair Won by
Mexico Over UK
"Spy," Moon
Ties Gabon for
Vice
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 19, updated
-- In the UN's
Advisory
Committee on
Administrative
and Budgetary
Questions,
a new
chairperson
was elected on
November 21: Carlos
Ruiz Massieu
of Mexico.
He won 9-7
over the UK's
Robert Moon.
Ever classy,
the UK Mission
tweeted
its
congratulations.
Later
a UK spokesman
added, "The UK
always
supports those
we believe to
be the best
candidates for
the job. We
have a
rigorous
selection
process for
selecting all
UK
candidates."
After that
first vote,
Moon ran for
Vice Chair,
tying 7-7 with
the member
from Gabon.
As Inner City
Press reported
on November
19, multiple
sources have
exclusively
detailed to it
how UK
Permanent
Representative
Mark Lyall
Grant was
calling his
counterparts
of the native
countries of
other ACABQ
members,
lobbying
for this Moon,
has been on
ACABQ since
January 2011.
It's said that
such lobbying
for ACABQ is
standard
practice. There
is
a question of
principle
here: if it is
argued that
ACABQ members
and
chairpersons
do not
represent
their
countries, how
much lobbying
by their
country to get
the position
is
appropriate?
Since vice
chairs like Carlos
Ruiz Massieu
often move up
to chair,
Moon's seven
votes in the
first round
show efficacy
of Lyall
Grant's and
the UK's
lobbying. But
the second
round tie?
The UK notes,
Moon was on
the "GA's
Fifth
Committee from
1999 to 2003;
and then moved
to the ACABQ,
leaving at the
end of 2004.
He has been a
member of the
Committee on
Contributions
since 2005."
Opponents
of
Richard Moon
becoming chair
- and they do
exist -- have
made much
of a
website
listing the
UK's overseas
spies
which lists a
"Richard
John Moon: dob
1959; 85
Jakarta, 93
Rome, 99 New"
York. These do
line up with Moon's
c.v. on
the UK
Mission web
site.
In fairness
even if true
there is a lot
of back and
forth between
diplomatic and
intelligence
service:
witness not
only Sir John
Sawers but
many other
switches, in
both
directions, in
the Permanent
Five members
of the
Security
Council and
beyond.
And we
now note, in
terms of the
"spy" list's
credibility or
lack thereof,
the UK Mission
spokesperson
until November
2010 is
listed: "2004
Kabul, 2007
Ankara. 5.
Cross,
Harriett
Victoria
Saltonstall."
Regardless,
some
have told
Inner City
Press they
find the UK's
lobbying
inappropriate,
either because
ACABQ members
are supposed
to serve in
their personal
capacities
only -- yeah,
right -- or
because a
Permanent Five
member
of the
Security
Council should
also chair the
ACABQ.
Of
course, the
American Susan
McLurg
previously
chaired the
ACABQ. But
perhaps
pushback at
the P5 is only
growing, as
reflected by
the recent
passage of the
resolution
requiring Ban
Ki-moon to be
more
transparent on
how the P5's
Special
Political
Missions are
decided on
and funded.
On the other
hand, there
was a
competing and
devious theory
that the
Secretariat,
represented by
chef
de cabinet Susana
Malcorra
of Argentina,
reached out to
Kelapile to
see if he
would use his
position to
support
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
"mobility"
proposal.
Once
rebuffed, the
theory goes,
Malcorra "got
GRULAC," the
Group of Latin
American and
Caribbean
States, to
support
Kelapile's
ouster,
assuming that
the vice
chair, Carlos
Ruiz Massieu
of Mexico, an
expert on
issues ranging
from Darfur to
the Capital
Master Plan,
would assume
the top stop
and be more
amenable.
This theory
has been
directly
denied, as
well as any
pre-existing
support of
Ban's mobility
proposal,
which we will
be following.
Watch this
site.
, 
