As
Sandy Silences
UN Worldwide,
Bloomberg
Chats with
Geithner,
Disses Bronx
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 29 --
As Hurricane
Sandy was
bearing down
on New
York on Monday
afternoon, the
United Nations
was closed
shut. A
few
staff members
and diplomats
moved cars in
the UN's
underground
garage. The
East River
rose; on First
Avenue
tourists
stared
forlornly in
at the bent-up
gun meant to
symbolize the
UN's work for
peace.
The
actual work
wasn't going
so well.
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon was
out of town in
South Korea,
from which he
expressed
belated
disappointment
on the
immediate
breakdown of a
much hyped
ceasefire
in Syria.
The UN told
Inner City
Press it had nothing new
on Myanmar
since four
days previous,
despite ethnic
cleansing and
murder of
stateless
Rohingya.
There was no
word of filings
about bombings
in (and
by) Sudan.
As
of 6:40 pm on
Monday, no
daily
"highlights"
or statements
of any kind
had been
posted on the
UN
Spokesperson's
website. One
wag
wondered, has
the whole
world stopped?
Various
countries'
mission to
the UN
announced
their staff
would be
working, from
home.
In
Moscow, Syria
envoy Ladkhar
Brahimi
assured
reporters that
the UN was
not sending
peacekeepers,
only making
plans through
its Under
Secretary
General Herve
Ladsous, who
closed down
the first
UNSMIS
mission and refuses
to answer any
Press
questions
about
safeguards.
On
48th Street a
tree fell
down. The UN
announced it
would be
closed for
a second day
on Tuesday.
Cancellations
included a
Security
Council
session about
Somalia, and
press
conference on
the right to
water on
"human rights
and
transnational
corporations."
New
York Mayor
Mike Bloomberg
appeared at a
press
conference and
reflexively
defended the
construction
conglomerate
Bovis, despite
its
57th Street
crane
collapsing and
its
involvement in
the Deutsche
Bank
building
scandal.
Bloomberg
recounted
that he had
spoken not
only with
President
Barack Obama
but
also Treasury
Secretary Tim
Geithner. One
wondered, why
Geither and
not for
example Ben
Bernanke of
the Federal
Reserve?
Geithner's
name
has been
floated after
he leaves
government
"service
"as
moving to Citigroup, a post once
held by
"Sandy" Weill.
In
comments
echoing
previous
Mayor's
dismissal of
New York
City's outer
boroughs,
Bloomberg said
the City's
system is
getting too
many 911
calls from
Queens.
Meanwhile in
at the
Kingsbridge
Armory in The
Bronx,
National
Guardsmen were
mobilized to
help people
in, yes,
Manhattan. And
so it goes.
Watch this
site.
, 
