Still
No Gaza
Ceasefire,
Still No UNSC
Open Meeting
or Vote;
Congolese
Circus
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 20 --
It's
confirmed,
that the UN
Security
Council
is a
backwater,
this week on
Gaza.
On
the way into a
6 pm
consultation
of the
Council,
Russian
Ambassador
Vitaly Churkin
said that in
the meeting,
"someone is
supposed to
tell us what's
happening and
what the Arab
League wants."
Churkin
added,
"Whatever they
[Arab League]
want we're
going to
support."
He
noted that a
ceasefire
keeps being
promised,
"something
will
happen in an
hour or maybe
two hours,
somebody will
arrive on the
scene and the
right policy."
Some took this
has a
reference to
Hillary
Clinton, and
who will take
or get credit
for a
ceasefire.
Asking
what happened
to the Russian
resolution,
Churkin mused
that he
wouldn't mind
losing this
vote, "In this
situation we
just raise
our hand at
right time."
But
less than an
hour later
when the
meeting broken
up, the
outcome was
what had been
predicted to
Inner City
Press in the
afternoon: the
"threat" of an
open debate at
3 pm on
Wednesday, if
a
ceasefire is
not in place
by that time.
The
sideshow that
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo has
become, with
the UN
Peacekeepers
standing by as
the M23
mutineers took
over Goma,
gave rise to a
separate
update.
French
Ambassador
Araud had said
that the 24
hour rule
invoked by
"one
country" runs
out at 2 pm.
Then the
French Mission
said it would
probably be
voted on
Tuesday
evening.
As of 7:20 pm,
there were
"expert"
negotiations
with the Troop
Contributing
Countries, one
of whose
representatives
told Inner
City Press,
you can't make
people fight.
Earlier some
said the DRC
vote was back
to Wednesday
night, or
"maybe
morning,"
according to
the UK. Either
way,
it seems
unlikely the
M23 will obey
the French
draft's urging
that
they
"disband." And
on Gaza,
nothing.
Absolutely
nothing.
Watch this
site.
, 
