“White
Helmets”
Documentary
For Netflix Is
Moving, Misses
Turkey's Role,
Qs of Yemen,
Lanka, Gaza
By Matthew
Russell Lee,
Review
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 30 --
The “White
Helmets”
documentary
slated to air
on Netflix on
September 16
starts with
dramatic
footage of
airstrikes and
searching
through
buildings,
saving a
week-old baby
from a
collapsed wall
- then settles
into a
training camp
in Turkey.
The
director and
producer,
Orlando von
Einsiedel and
Joanna
Natasegara,
collaborated
in 2014's
Virunga, about
gorillas in
the Congo.
This time for
Netflix they
wade into the
Syrian
conflict, with
amazing
footage but,
at least for
some viewers,
a lack of
analysis.
Turkey, for
example, is
portrayed as a
helpful haven
across the
border. Now
Turkey has
entered Syria
to fight not
ISIS but the
Kurds. Could
these nuances
not be
included in a
40-minute
documentary?
In terms of
the politics
of Netflix,
one wonders if
a
similar-length
documentary
for example
about Gaza, or
more to this
point Sri
Lanka, would
be aired.
There were
airstrikes on
civilians in
Sri Lanka;
Channel 4
aired Callum
Macrae's “No
Fire Zone.”
But would a
paean to a
Tamil Tiger
medical teams
be screened on
Netflix?
In
“White
Helmets,” the
protagonists
give heartfelt
testimony
looking
straight into
the camera.
One White
Helmet has a
two-week old
son while a
one week old
baby is
rescued. In
the long
Turkey
segment,
another cranes
into his cell
phone to see
the most
recent car
bomb in
Aleppo. In a
tip of the hat
to balance,
the phrase
“ISIS on the
ground, the
Russians in
the air” is
used. The
United
Nations,
tellingly, is
not or barely
mentioned.
UNrelevant.
Turkey is
portrayed as a
paradise, and
in fairness
the filming in
early 2016 was
before the
attempted
coup. Still,
Turkey had and
has an
interest in
Syria, now
largely
targeting the
Kurds, and
this is not
mentioned.
Instead there
are long
segments of
fireman
training - one
wonders, will
Dennis Leary
endorse the
film?
In one
sequence in
Turkey,
television
news mentions
MSF, Doctors
Without
Borders. As
their
facilities in
Yemen have
been destroyed
by the
Saudi-led
Coalition
supported by
the US, is
Netflix
considering
any coverage
of Yemen?
Still, “White
Helmets” is
moving and
well-produced.
It should be
seen - but so
should much
else.
Before the UN
Security
Council
meeting on the
Syria chemical
weapons report
on August 30,
the Permanent
Representatives
of four of the
Council's five
Permanent
members spoke
about the
report, not on
UN Television
but capture by
Inner City
Press, here.
Russian
Ambassador
Vitaly
Churkin, when
asked if
Russia had
given Turkey
the “green
light” in
Syria, said
no, that is
not true.
UK
Ambassador
Matthew
Rycroft, when
asked of
Turkey's
operations in
Syria,
supported them
unequivocally,
not echoed in
US State
Department
briefings this
week. Inner
City Press
shouted out to
Rycroft on the
Next Secretary
General race,
if the piece
by UK Andrew
Mitchell
against Irina
Bokova was
coordinated
with the
government,
but this was
not answered.
French
Ambassador
Delattre
spoke; earlier
in the day he
answered on
Burundi (Beyond
the Vine here)
and Western
Sahara,
here.
And
finally US
Ambassador
Samantha
Power, for
whom the glass
door locked to
non-resident
correspondents
at the UN was
opened spoke.
When asked if
any ICC
referral, she
said, we'll
see what the
traffic bears.
Here was UK
Rycroft's
answer, as
transcribed by
the UK
Mission:
Q: Ambassador,
about Syria
again, Turkey
just entered
the war
recently.
What’s the
UK’s position
on this?
The UK
position is
that we stand
shoulder-to-shoulder
with Turkey,
both in this
fight against
terrorism and
as a frontline
in Syria.
Turkey has the
right to
defend itself,
and we’re
working very
closely with
Turkey. Turkey
is a leading
member of the
International
Syria Support
Group and will
be
instrumental
in finding a
final
resolution to
the ongoing
conflict in
Syria.
As
Turkey's
August 24
military
operations
inside Syria
began, in New
York the
Turkish
mission filed
a letter with
the UN
Security
Council, which
Inner City
Press puts
online here.
In the letter,
Turkey's
outgoing
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Halit Cevik
cited not only
Article 51 of
the UN Charter
but also UNSC
resolutions
1373, 2170 and
2178. It does
not mention
the Kurds but
only DEASH
(sic).
Turkey's
letter states
among other
things that
“Turkey
initiated a
military
operation in
the early
hours of
August 24,
2016, against
DEASH which
has been
directly and
deliberately
targeting
Turkey.” It
states that
Turkey
respects
Syria's
territorial
integrity and
political
unity. The
word
sovereignty is
not used, but
“political
transition”
is.
Meanwhile a
journalist
from Turkey's
state media
TRT, also
apparently
outgoing, to
his credit
disclosed that
his interview
with Cevik's
Syrian
counterpart
Bashar
Ja'afari was
unceremoniously
pulled from
broadcast and
won't be
online.
As
noted, Ban
Ki-moon's UN
gives this
same Turkish
state media
TRT a solo
office, (for)
now next to
Egypt state
media Akhbar
al Yom, while
throwing the
independent
Press into the
street and
confining it
to minders.
We'll have
more on all
this.
On the evening
of August 23,
an item was
added to UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
online
schedule:
* 9:30 a.m.
Briefing on
the “Report of
the OPCW-UN
Joint
Investigative
Mechanism and
other Issues
related to
Chemical
Weapons in the
Syrian Arab
Republic”
Then UN
Television
said it would
broadcast this
“photo op” at
10:30
am.
Doesn't
“briefing”
connote more
than photo op?
And why isn't
it in the UN's
Media Alert?
Inner City
Press wrote to
Ban's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric:
Q: UNTV has
just announced
a “photo op”
of the
Secretary
General,
seemingly
related to the
revised
listing * 9:30
a.m. Briefing
on the “Report
of the OPCW-UN
Joint
Investigative
Mechanism and
other Issues
related to
Chemical
Weapons in the
Syrian Arab
Republic”
Where is this
“briefing”?
Who has been
informed of
it, and who
will be
permitted to
attend /
observe this
“briefing”?
And if it is a
briefing, why
does DPI's
UNTV describe
it as a
photo-op?
What is the
update on this
fourth round
of questions
on Burundian
Lt Col Mayuyu,
email of 29
hours ago?
Dujarric, we
report upon
receipt,
responded:
"At 9:30 the
SG will
receive the
report of the
OPCW/UN
mission and be
briefed on its
content. The
report will
then be
transmitted to
the Security
Council. The
photo-op is
just the
handover of
the
report.
When I
something on
Burundi, I
will share it
with you."
It's
appreciated -
but on the
Burundi
question,
Inner City
Press has
asked it four
times; UN
Peacekeeping
or after this
amount of time
the mission in
CAR should be
able to
answer. On
Syria, why a
photo-op is
created - with
Kim Won-soo? -
is UNclear.
But it is
appreciated.
Watch this
site.
On August 11
when the the
UN's third
Syria envoy
Staffan de
Mistura
invited the
media to a
question and
answer
stakeout on
August 11, the
turn-out was
decidedly
light. While
the UN used to
provide
interpretation
of stakeouts,
this time it
didn't.
Present
for a
predictable
question was
Voice of
America, with
which
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman has
worked to
evict the
critical Press
(one FOIA
document here,
more
forthcoming).
Ban finally
did the
eviction
earlier this
year, film
here. This
is Ban's UN.
In his
prepared
statement, de
Mistura added
a word to the
UN's old saw,
saying there
is no
“sustainable”
military
solution. He
quoted a
response the
day prior in
New York by
OCHA's Stephen
O'Brien - an
answer which
the UN
Department of
Public
Information
under Cristina
Gallach didn't
even include
when it put up
the video of
the OCHA
briefing
(which was
about South
Sudan, another
failure of
Ban's UN.)
More than
anything,
Ban's UN seems
to want to be
perceived as
relevant: it
wants to be
spoken with,
and to brag
about its
discussions.
De Mistura
told the
near-empty
stakeout about
his work in
previous
mediation. Ban
himself was
out in Los
Angeles,
bragging about
talks with...
Norman Lear.
This is
today's UN.
, 
