At
UN,
Churkin
Previews Syria
Statement,
Chides Rice,
Met
with Ban
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 23 --
When Russia's
Permanent
Representative
to the
UN Vitaly
Churkin called
a press
conference on
the Friday
before
Christmas,
some assumed
he wanted to
have the final
year end say
in
his recent
skirmishes
with US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
and to a
lesser
extent UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon.
Churkin
has
criticized Ban
being "misled
by NATO" about
the lack of
civilian
casualties
from NATO
members'
bombing in
Libya; Rice
calls
Churkin's call
for a UN probe
on this
"bombast and
bogus
claims."
On
Friday,
Churkin
scoffed of
Rice, "you
can't beat a
Stanford
education" and
suggested she
make her
vocabulary
"more
Victorian."
Inner
City Press
twice asked
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
to respond to
Russia's
critique; both
times Nesirky
refused to
comment. So
Inner City
Press
asked Churkin
if he expected
or had
received a
response, or
if his
comments about
Ban had just
been a shot
across the
bow.
"I
spoke with
Secretary
General,"
Churkin
replied with a
smile, "it was
a
very good
conversation."
Journalists in
attendence
giggled.
Churkin hadn't
called anyone
"bogus," but a
message had
been sent.
Victorian,
indeed.
(c) UN Photo
Churkin &
Rice, Stanford
education,
Victorian
vocabulary not
shown
On
Syria, Churkin
read out loud
a Russian
drafted press
statement
welcoming the
Arab
League
monitoring
mission, which
he said "the
usual five"
suspects had
blocked. (One
assumes the
European Four
plus the
United
States.)
He said he'd
circulated
another draft
press
statement,
about
the bombings
in Damascus,
with the
"silence
procedure"
running
through 3:30
pm. He said
the language
was standard.
Inner
City Press
asked if
Russia's draft
included the usually
standard
proviso that
efforts to
combat
terrorism
should comply
with human
rights law.
Churkin seemed
to say yes,
while adding
that two words
were missing.
(The guess was
he omitted
sympathy "for
the
government,"
as
a sop to "even
the most
anti-Damascus,"
as he put it.)
Inner
City Press
ended the
press
conference by
asking Churkin
to explain the
lack of
action on the
proposal for a
Security
Council
resolution
appointing a
UN Special
Representative
on
investigating
alleged organ
trading by
Kosovar
officials.
Churkin
replied that
Serbia decided
to wait. For
the five new
members who
join the
Council in
January,
including
Pakistan and
Azerbaijan?
"Serbia will
make their
assessment,"
Churkin said.
, 
