Hyping
Hollande,
White House
Talks Up Syria
Aid, No
Congress
Because
SF
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 10 --
To pump up
French
president
Francois
Hollande's
solo visit to
the United
States, the
White House
held a
background
press call on
February 10. A
correspondent
from Le Figaro
asked, Why
isn't Hollande
being allowed
to speak to a
joint session
of Congress,
as on visits
by previous
French
presidents?
A
self-described
Senior
Administration
Official cited
Hollande's
scheduling,
that he's
traveling to
"California to
visit some of
our most
innovative
business." And
it's true, on
February 12
Hollande is
slated to be
in San
Francisco,
where France
has a
consulate
which Inner
City Press has previously
covered.
Voice
of
America, which
is in essence
US state media,
asked a
questions
about the
"counter-terrorism"
operation in
Central
African
Republic. It
seemed a
strange
formulation;
to some it
cast in a
different
light what UN High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights Navi
Pillay says
was France
putting Muslim
communities at
risk by first
disarming the
ex Seleka.
Al
Hayat asked
what President
Obama can
"offer"
Hollande on
Syria, and if
the US will be
attending a
Friends of
Lebanon Group
meeting in
Paris. The
Senior
Administration
Official
responded that
Obama and
Hollande will
discuss
efforts on
humanitarian
aid in Syria:
seemingly, the
draft UN
Security
Council
resolution
that Russia
has
already said
is a
non-starter.
While the
Senior Administration
Official said
Obama and
Hollande will
talk about
Syria's
"moderate
opposition,"
there was no
mention, or
question,
about the UN's
finding that
the Free
Syrian Army
recruits and
uses child
soldiers,
supposedly a
big issue for
France (and
subject of the
US 2008 Child
Soldiers
Prevention
Act). We'll
have more on
this.
In
other
diplomatic
news, in UN
Federal court
in New York a
UN Office of
Legal Affairs
letter has
been filed
stating that
Indian
diplomat
Khobragade,
who was
arrested and
strip searched
and who the US
says
it will still
go after if
she returns to
the US,
had or
obtained full
diplomatic
immunity.
Watch this
site.
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