At
UN,
Saudi US
Resolution
Text, Waiting
on Syria &
Palestine,
Name &
Island Fights
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 17 --
An advance
unedited
version of a
Saudi and US
General
Assembly
resolution to
condemn a plot
to assassinate
Saudi
Arabia's
ambassador to
the US and to
call on Iran
to "comply
with all of
its
obligations"
was coursing
around the UN
on
November 17;
Inner City
Press is
putting it
online, here
(Page 1)
and here
(Page 2 of 2).
The
idea is to
vote on it in
the General
Assembly as
early as
November 18.
For
Palestine
another date
is named:
November 29,
the day of
solidarity.
Whether it
could be the
hook for a
fated vote in
the Security
Council
for UN
membership, or
in the General
Assembly for
"enhanced
non-member
Observer state
status" is not
known.
Meanwhile
in the
GA's Third
Committee on
November 17
despite media
interest in a
Syria
resolution,
the afternoon
saw ritualized
fights about
Russia's
anti-Nazi
resolution,
Cuba's
anti-mercenary
resolution and
a duel
between
Argentina and
the UK about
the Malvinas
or Falkland
Islands.
(c) UN Photo
Ban Ki-moon
and Saudi
Amb. Adel
al-Jubeir,
court results
not shown
The
US spoke
against
Russia's
resolution,
saying it
violated free
speech. On
mercenaries,
the US opposed
dealing with
private
military
companies
in the Third
Committee. For
free speech,
it had 21
fellow "no"
votes, and 31
abstentions;
for PMCs it
had more: 51,
but only five
abstainers.
Before
the First
Committee
ended, the
ritual fight
about North
Korea's name
--
technically,
the Democratic
People's
Republic of
Korea --
gained a
new
participant.
DPRK objected
when it was
called North
Korea, but
that in its
speech
referred to
"South Korea."
Germany
objected,
saying that
the country,
the native
land of
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon,
should be
called the
Republic of
Korea. And so
it goes at
the UN.
, 
