At
UN,
Hearty
Farewell To
Pascoe, Who
Grew Into the
Job, Whither
Feltman?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 27 -- For
five years B.
Lynn Pascoe
served Ban
Ki-moon
at the UN, and
Wednesday it
came to an
end. In the
Dag
Hammarskojld
Penthouse
farewell
speeches were
given, by
Assistant
Secretary
General Oscar
Fernandez
Taranco and a
mediation
staffer named
Sacha:
Alexandra
Pichler, team
leader for
policy
planning.
This
latter Sasha
nailed it,
saying that
while Pascoe
did not talk
about his
idealism,
he embodied
it, by working
late and
caring. Inner
City Press,
honored
to be present
at the
farewell,
heartily
agrees.
Jump
cut to a
late December
when the UN
was
essentially
closed. No
noon
briefings,
no Security
Council
meetings,
nothing. In
search of
news, Inner
City
Press went to
the North Lawn
building,
setting up
laptop in the
Vienna Cafe.
Total silence.
Then
who comes out
of the
Department of
Political
Affairs
office? B.
Lynn Pascoe,
headed
to the
bathroom.
"What about
Guinea
Bissau?" Inner
City
Press asked,
referring to
the coup
before last.
"The
coup
leader came in
an canoe,"
Pascoe
answered,
shaking his
head. He
did not say
"off the the
record." He
did not call
Security,
or like the
current head
of
Peacekeeping
say, I refuse
to answer your
questions. He
cared and
cares about
Guinea Bissau
and so he said
what he knew,
despite Press
criticism for
the UN's
handling of
Sri
Lanka. Lynn
Pascoe, we say
without
equivocation,
was and is a
class
act.
At
Wednesday
night's
farewell, he
joked about
his wife
Diane. Others
wished his
well with
grandchildren,
noting his
grueling
commute from
New York to
DC. But he did
it. Others
chided Inner
City Press for
naming then
questioning in
advance his
successor
Jeffrey
Feltman.
Because
under
fire, Inner
City Press
must emphasize
again: on
March 28 it
exclusively
reported that
Feltman would
replace
Pascoe. When a
wire
reported it on
May 21 it gave
not a word of
credit, while
Foreign
Policy's The
Cable did. To
complaint is
legitimate; to
seek to expel
is not. More
on this anon.
It
was said that
in
Pascoe's first
six months, he
repeatedly
said "United
States"
for "United
Nations" in
his talking
points. But
Feltman,
it's noted,
has been the
face of the US
in the
all-important
Middle
East.
Feltman
will have
as a
transition a
month that is
not Middle
East: travels
with Ban
Ki-moon to
China, the
Balkans and
the UK. But
then what?
Hezbollah?
Ban
Ki-moon, audio
taped by his
lead
spokesman,
joked genially
about the B in
B Lynn
Pascoe,
calling him
Bold and
Brilliant,
what we should
all B. Hilde
Johnson was in
the house, and
Menkerios too.
Others
recounted
however that
Joseph
Mutaboba's
long presence
in New York
during
Guinea
Bissau's most
recent coup
did not sit
well.
New
chief of staff
Malcorra
showed up,
chatted up by
Herve Ladsous.
This is a USG
who
has
aggressively
said he will
not answer
Press
questions,
while other
USGs, at least
outgoing, take
a different
view. Which
was is the UN
going: more or
less Press
friendly?
We'll see, and
soon. Watch
this
site.
Footnote
that
is more than a
footnote: we
really wish
Pascoe well,
after his
long nights in
the North
Lawn, worrying
about
thankless
tasks. He is
the kind of
person the UN
is about. God
speed.
, 
