UNITED
NATIONS, July
29 -- When the
UK handed over
the Olympic
baton to
Brazil with
the UN's Ban
Ki-moon and
his empty
track suit
presiding,
Inner City
Press expected
that at least
a few
questions
would be
taken.
They
had, after
all, asked
journalists to
RSVP and put
it in the UN
Media
Alert, unlike
the morning's
General
Assembly
briefing on
Syria.
A
range of
Permanent
Representatives
showed up:
Sylvie Lucas
of
Luxembourg and
her
counterparts
Costa Rica's
Eduardo
Ulibarri-Bilbao,
Bolivia's
Sacha Sergio
Llorentty
Solíz, Gabon's
Nelson
Messone, New
Zealand's Jim
Mclay,
Kazakhstan's
Byrganym
Aitimova (an
Olympian, who
also spoke
at China's Li
Baodong's
farewell)
and Saudi
Arabia's
Abdallah Yahya
A.
Al-Mouallimi
and Kenya's
Macharia Kamau
(more on
these last two
later.)
A
riser for
camera-persons
had been set
up; there were
speakers for
sound and UNTV
was there. Ban
Ki-moon, fresh
from issuing a
statement
about the
attack on a
building
housing
Turkish
personnel in
Mogadishu,
arrived and
the speeches
began.
The
UK's Mark
Lyall Grant
joked about
"Big Ban" in
front of Big
Ben; Ban used
the
opportunity to
talk up the
2018 Winter
Olympics in
his native
South Korea,
which Yonhap
says he will
visit for six
days
in late
August.
Brazil's new
Permanent
Representative
Luiz Alberto
Figueiredo
Machado talked
about trying
to live up to
London's
standard.
This
was the
question that
with all due respect
should have
been allowed
and asked:
what does the
UN make of the
protests of
Brazil's
spending
on the World
Cup and
Olympics?
Since Ban
cited
sustainability,
does
building a
stadium in the
middle of the
jungle meet
that
definition?
As the Games,
and World Cup
before then,
get closer the
questions
will continue
to be asked.
(As
will why FIFA
gave the World
Cup to Qatar,
with talk now
turning to
holding it in
the winter due
to heat. Or
does Ban
Ki-moon think
it's
"sustainable"
to try to
air-condition
an outdoor
stadium?)
At
the end of the
event, Saudi
Arabia's
Permanent
Representative
Abdallah Yahya
A.
Al-Mouallimi
who spoke
earlier about
Syria was seen
chatting up
Lyall Grant on
something.
Inner City
Press asked
Kenya's
affable
Permanent
Representative
Macharia Kamau
what brought
him to
the event. We
always do
well, he
joked, we need
commitments to
get
good starting
places. Watch
this site.
Footnote:
the new
Free UN Coalition for Access,
which complained
of the hurdles
the UN put up
to covering the
morning's
General
Assembly
meeting on
Syria, is
proposing
the the UN and
where
applicable member
states make clear
in advance
when events
will not allow
any questions.
While the UN's response
for now has
been, "your
presence is
not mandatory,"
followed
by threats,
we're expecting
more on this.
Watch this
site.
, 
