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Snubs by Bush and World Bank Recounted on UN's Road to
Doha by Miguel d'Escoto
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
November 25 -- On the road to Doha,
there is no time to be insulted. This appeared to be the message on
Tuesday of
the President of the UN General Assembly, Father Miguel d'Escoto
Brockman.
Inner City Press asked him if he was surprised that neither the IMF's
or World
Bank's top official will be attending the financing for development
meetings
upcoming in Doha. No, d'Escoto said, I am not surprised, because they
always
ignore me. He said both Bretton Woods institutions are dominated by the
U.S.,
and that President Bush during his recent appearance in the GA had gone
out of
his way not to recognize d'Escoto. He is against multilateralism,
d'Escoto
said. Video here, from Minute 19:04.
Afterwards,
Inner City Press asked d'Escoto if the snubbing might be attributable
to the
U.S.'s historically rocky relations with his country, Nicaragua. No,
d'Escoto
insisted. It's that they hate the UN. He
said that once Bush
snubbed him, he was advised to leave the podium in the hands of a vice
president, but said no. He was advised to thanks Bush "on behalf of the
Presidency," but said no. He was advised not to shake Bush' hand, but
said
no. He did not say, however, who was
giving him this advice.
PGA d'Escoto sits above Bush, snubs and advice not
shown
Norway's Johan
Lovald said anyone who undermines the Doha process, "that's very
serious." Egypt's Ambassador still help out hope that the IMF and World
Bank chiefs may change their mind and appear. This seems less and less
likely.
And while the Executive Secretary of the talks admitted to Inner City
Press on
Monday that little will be accomplished about tax evasion, Lovald said
this is
a major issue that will be address. Egypt's Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz
called
it merely technical -- which is just how such tax havens as
Liechtenstein and
the UK's many islands would like to leave it.
Click here for Inner City
Press Nov. 7 debate on the war in Congo
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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