At
UN in 1st
Horizon
Briefing by
Feltman of SC,
Russia Asks
Why Not
Bahrain?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 7,
updated -- In
the run up to
Tuesday's
so-called
"horizon
scanning
briefing" of
the Security
Council, the
first by new
Department of
Political
Affairs chief
Jeffrey
Feltman, the
agenda
items were
only Somalia
and the former
Camp Ashraf in
Iraq.
Then
two other
items came up,
Inner City
Press has
learned. The
first was
without
controversy,
an information
point about
the attacks in
the
Sinai.
But,
sources tell
Inner City
Press, Russia
asked why
Bahrain wasn't
on the agenda,
and asked how
Feltman would
choose agenda
items in the
future.
Feltman
replied
that he would
follow the
standard
practices,
according to
sources. But
these are
described as
murky: the
Secretariat
proposes
topics to the
Council's
monthly
presidency,
which
circulate to
other
members. If
"one or two"
object, items
are stricken.
While
Western
members like
France, the UK
and Germany
have been very
upbeat
about Tuesday
DPA horizon
session,
others point
out that "it
is
the US which
killed the
briefings," or
at least broke
the
monthly
streak.
Now
with Russia's
question, what
comes next?
Watch this
site.
Updated:
When the
meeting broke
up, after
publication of
the above,
Inner City
Press asked UK
Permanent
Representative
Mark Lyall
Grant about
Russia's
intervention.
He indicated
he wasn't sure
why Bahrain
had not been
put on the
list, telling
Inner City
Press "we
wouldn't have
blocked it."
, 
