At
UN, Hollande
Micro-Manages
Room But Not
Time, Blather
on Mali
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 25
-- Giving a
speech at the
UN General
Assembly
may give one
15 minutes of
fame, as Andy
Warhol
promised. But
one
doesn't know
when they will
be.
This
French
president
Francois
Hollande
learned or
should have
learned on
Tuesday. He
scheduled his
press
conference for
12:30 pm, then
moved
it back to
1:30, then
finally after
2 pm as
speakers
before him
went
overtime.
During
this time, the
French Mission
to the UN had
the Dag
Hammarskkjold
Auditorium
cleared out,
such that a
crowd of
journalists
built up in
the hall in
front of the
Capital Master
Plan office.
Not
so the room
could be
sniffed by
dogs for
bombs, Inner
City Press was
told, but to
try to ensure
that French
diplomats and
traveling
media
got places in
the front row,
which were
marked
"Reserved."
The back row,
too, was
marked
"Reserved,"
and the
microphone to
ask questions
was closely
controlled.
He
was not asked,
for example,
about France's
continuing
colonialism in
Africa, for
example twice
now being the
one to
announce the
wishes of
the post-coup
government in
Mali, all the
while offering
"logistical"
help for
retaking
northern Mali.
Click
here for
the Inner City
Press
story
written before
Hollande's
speech and
press
conference,
but not
able to be
updated with
any answer.
Another
of
France's pet
projects is
"innovative
financing."
For
this, they
have sent
to the UN
their ex
minister
Philippe
Douste-Blazy,
who has run
the
"MassiveGood"
project into
the ground,
with a
$500,000 film
by Spike Lee
featuring
among others
Bill Clinton.
Hollande
was
asked what he
thought of
Barack Obama
not even
attending the
Secretary
General's
luncheon, at
which US
Presidents
traditionally
give the
toast. He
excused Obama,
smiling that
he is busy. He
added
that he'll see
Obama after
November, one
imagines.
That was
in French;
when asked a
rare permitted
question in
English,
Hollande
grabbed a
special ear
piece, smaller
than given to
the
journalists.
As
run,
Hollande was
largely asked
softball
questions,
from beginning
to
end.
Ultimately,
after Hollande
had made much
of his
commitment to
a
new
environmental
agency for the
UN, he cut 20
minutes into
the time
of UNFCCC
climate change
chief
Figueres.
Then Hollande
and his large
entourage --
or "retinue"
as the
translator
called it --
headed out. It
includes former
French Mission
political
coordinator
Emmanuel
Bonne.
They'll be in
New York until
Thursday.
Watch this
site.
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