In
UN
Condemnation
Sweepstakes,
Iran Noses Out
North Korea
& Syria
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 19 --
Three human
rights votes
were taken
Monday
morning at the
UN, to condemn
the practices
of Syria,
North Korea
and
Iran.
All three have
been in the
news: Bashar
Assad for
Homs, North
Korea -- the
Democratic
People's
Republic of
Korea to some
-- for
Sunday's death
of Kim
Jong-Il, and
Iran of late
for finding a
US
drone and
then, they
said, a spy.
These
events and
trends may
have impacted
the vote
outcomes.
Syria drew the
most
condemnations,
133, with DPRK
second at 123
and the Iran
vote
decidedly more
mixed: 89
condemning, 30
supporting and
64 abstaining.
Iran might say
there were
more not
condemning,
including
abstentions,
than
condemning.
Sudan,
interestingly,
voted to
condemn Syria,
but not Iran
or North
Korea.
Skeptics
attribute
Khartoum's
anti-Assad
vote to an
attempt to "go
mainstream,"
or at least be
taken off the
US state
sponsor of
terrorism
list.
Qatar,
meanwhile,
seemed to some
to lack
coherence,
voting to
condemn Syria,
abstaining
on North Korea
and voting to
not condemn
Iran.
Saudi
Arabia,
which accused
Iran of trying
to kill its
ambassador to
Washington,
surprisingly
abstained on
Iran, while
voting to
condemn both
North
Korea and
Syria.
Iran's PR at
stakeout,
Saudi
abstention not
shown (c)
MRLee
Afterward
Iran's
Permanent
Representative
came to the
stakeout and
Inner City
Press
asked him
about Camp
Ashraf, which
Iraq says it
will close by
December 31.
He said that
most can
return easily
to Iran, but a
few
"need" to be
put on trial.
UN envoy
Martin Kobler
is
publicly
asking for an
extension of
time, while
privately
looking to
move the
Campers to an
ex-US base in
Iraq. Watch
this site.
Footnote:
following
Kim Jong-Il's
death,
statements
issued from
the US, China,
the UK, Russia
and Germany,
among others.
But after a
long silence
from Ban
Ki-moon, whose
office told
some
journalists
they would
revert early
Monday
morning, a
bland
statement was
read out at
the
noon briefing.
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
associate
spokesman
Farhan Haq if
Ban had, like
Obama, called
South Korean
President Lee.
Not yet, Haq
said. And by
four pm, still
nothing.
, 
