On
Occupy
Wall Street,
UN Has No
Comment, Soros
Blurs Tea
Party,
Small Business
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 3 --
Two days after
700
non-violent
protesters
were
arrested on
the Brooklyn
Bridge,
Inner City
Press on
Monday asked
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
if Ban or the
UN had
anything to
say about the
arrests.
Nesirky
said,
"Obviously we
are aware of
the reports. I
don't have
anything
immediately
for you,
nothing at the
moment." Video
here,
from Minute
9:40.
The UN is less
than 100
blocks south
of the
United Nations
which has
issued
pronouncements
usually
following the
US' about
crackdowns in
Syria, Libya
and elsewhere
in the Middle
East
and North
Africa.
Reports
of the
arrests had
gone all over
the world, and
Ban Ki-moon
was in New
York
over the
weekend,
arriving
Monday morning
to swear in
the fourth
consecutive
French chief
of UN
Peacekeeping,
Herve Ladsous.
Whereas
sometimes Ban
sees advantage
in commenting,
here he
apparently saw
none.
Zuccotti Park
on October 2,
Ban Ki-moon
not shown, (c)
MRLee
At
a previously
scheduled
press
conference at
the UN George
Soros was also
asked
about the
Occupy Wall
Street
protests. He
answered that
he
"understood
the
sentiment,"
then talked
about small
businesses
having their
credit card
interest rates
raised from
eight
to twenty
eight percent
and mentioned
the Tea Party.
Inner City
Press, having
been at the
protest on
October 1 and
the next day
in
Zuccotti Park
saw fewer
small
businesses --
other than
book sales and
quilt repairs
-- and little
direct
discussion of
small business
credit card
rates. The
critique was
more
fundamental,
that
"Predatory
Lenders" --
and perhaps
currency
speculators --
"Ate My
World."
George
Soros &
Jeff Sachs at
UN Oct 3, OWS
not shown (c)
MRLee
Also
at Monday's
UN noon
briefing,
Nesirky gave a
long answer to
Inner City
Press'
question from
September 30,
about a plan
to build a new
building for
the UN on top
of what is now
a public
playground.
Nesirky said
that
the plan is by
the UN
Development
Corporation,
not the UN,
and the UN
has not been
part of the
planning.
Inner
City Press
asked if the
UN
Foundation
having hired a
lobbyist to
counter
opposition to
the loss
of the
playground
could be
attributed to
the UN.
Apparently
not. And
so it goes at
the UN.
, 
