With
UN On Syria
Ground, If
Obama Shoots
Missile, Will
Ban
Ki-moon Clap?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 25 --
Amid the
drumbeat of
media coverage
predicting
US missile
strikes on
Syria,
regardless of
what the UN
chemical
weapons
investigation
team find in
the suburbs of
Damascus, a
question
arises whether
the strikes
would take
place with the
UN team
still in the
country.
UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
office put out
a statement on
Sunday
noting that
"the
Government of
the Syrian
Arab Republic
affirmed
that it will
provide the
necessary
cooperation,
including the
observance of
the cessation
of hostilities
at the
locations
related
to the
incident."
But
did Ban ask
the Obama
administration
not to fire
missiles, at
last at
this time? Will
he?
Also,
the UN's
Office for the
Coordination
of
Humanitarian
Affairs has
been
putting out
maps of where
UN agencies
and
international
non-governmental
organizations
have a
presence
inside Syria.
Will
they be
informed or
avoided? Or
was that the purpose
of the maps?
On
US Sunday
morning talk
shows, CBS'
Margaret
Brennan noted
that
Jeffrey
Feltman, now
Ban's
political
chief but
until recently
the US
State
Department's
face in the
Middle East,
will be
heading to
Iran
after his
quiet, some
say craven,
trip to Egypt.
She implied
Feltman
could carry a
message from
the Obama
administration,
or about the
threatened
strikes, to
Tehran. But is
that the UN's
role?
(How Feltman's
post-Egypt itinerary,
including
Doha, was
announced not
by the UN but
to for example
the FARS News
Agency, State
Department
press and
columnists
remains a
question,
which will be
pursued by the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access.)
Those
who fetishize
international
law point out
that the
exception to
needing UN
Security
Council
approval for
the use of
force is
Article
51 of the UN
Charter,
which concerns
SELF-defense.
Could a US
missile
strike be
construed as
that?
As
to the UN,
will Ban
Ki-moon be
seeking to
speak for
international
law, or only
to be seen as
"in the loop"
before a
strike
takes place?
Watch this
site.
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