By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 2 --
Follow Saudi
Arabia's
announcement it
would not take
the UN
Security
Council seat
it without
competition
won, the
last two
weekends have
featured
orchestrated
moves by the
Arab Group at
the UN in New
York to ask
Saudi Arabia
to
reconsidered.
Two
weeks ago, a press
release to
this effect
was sent out,
but several
Arab Group
members
complained
to Inner City
Press that the
statement
had
not properly
been
circulated or
approved.
This was cured
last weekend,
after an
in-person
meeting of the
Arab Group
ambassadors on
October 25.
Now
things are
moving up a
notch. The
League of Arab
States will
meet at the
ministerial
level in Cairo
on November 3,
on paper about
Syria and to
meet Saudi-sponsored
opposition
figure Ahmed
al Jarba
-- but also,
sources tell
Inner City
Press, to
formally ask
Saudi Arabia
to reverse
itself and
take the
Security
Council seat.
This
is to be
sealed with US
Secretary of
State John
Kerry's visit
after Cairo to
Saudi King
Abdullah in
Riyadh, where
the sources
predict to
Inner City
Press Kerry
will "so
supplicate" to
the King that
Saudi Arabia
will claim
victory and
taken the
position: have
its seat and
eat it too.
Meanwhile
Kerry's
spokesperson
is hyping
other portions
of his
upcoming trip,
on Saturday
"welcoming" to
Twitter
Jordan's
Nasser Judeh
(who
has long been
on Twitter)
and saying
Kerry looks
forward to
meeting him
his week.
What
about the
Saudi King?
What's that
Kerry
visit about?
The
other stops on
Kerry's trip,
beyond Cairo,
Riyadh and
Amman, are
Warsaw,
Jerusalem,
Bethlehem, Abu
Dhabi,
Algiers, and
Rabat.
In New
York, Inner
City Press has
repeatedly
asked UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokespeople
to name the
last date on
which Ban met
with the
Saudis, and
now to confirm
or deny that
Saudi Arabia
declined a
visit by UN
(and Arab
League) envoy
on Syria
Lakhdar
Brahimi.
Ban's
office will
answer none of
this;
instead Ban
offered the
type of praise
of Saudi
Arabia that
Kerry is
expected to
deliver -- or
even top -- in
Riyadh. Watch
this site.
Longer
form analysis
here,
on Beacon
Reader
(subscription)
site.
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