On
Syria,
Ban Takes 2
Qs, Paid-For
Race for
Relevance,
Khan
Asal Erased
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 3 --
The UN's
response to
its
marginalization
in
the debate
about Syria
was, on
Tuesday, to
cancel its
normal noon
briefing in
deference to a
15-minute
"press
encounter" on
Syria by
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon. Inner
City Press tweeted
photo here.
But
when the time
came, Ban took
only two
questions, the
first of which
was
pre-selected
and lame, from
Pamela Falk of
CBS News as
president
of the UN
Correspondents
Association, a
group which
facilitated a
murky
"UN briefing"
by
Saudi-sponsored
rebel boss
Jarba,
publicized
only to those
who paid UNCA
money.
Click
here for
Inner
City Press' story on
that;
questions on
the UN's role,
reiterated by
Inner City
Press Tuesday
before Ban's
encounter,
have yet to be
answered.
UNCA's Falk
asked what's
inside the
UN's
"toolbox." The
answer should
have been
obvious.
The
second and
last question
on Tuesday
asked who
limited the
mandate of
the UN
inspection
team to only
if chemical
weapons were
used, and not
WHO used them.
Ban claimed
that he made
the decision.
But as a Syria
letter Inner
City Press put online
Tuesday
morning shows,
Syria says
in March it
asked the UN
to say WHO
used chemical
weapons in
Khan al
Asad, but
France, the UK
and US opposed
it. Guess
which way Ban
went?
Ban
said that his
High
Representative
on Disarmament
Angela
Kane's
meeting with
the countries
which
requested the
investigative
shift to
August 21
would take
place in the
afternoon.
What is the
goal of the
meeting?
What was the
goal of Ban's
two-question
press
encounter?
Inner City Press
has
dubbed it the
Race for
Relevance.
Watch this
site.
Footnote:
Even
before Ban's
two-question
encounter,
Inner City
Press
submitted
questions on
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo,
Somalia and
Sri
Lanka, and
reiterated
others.
The Free
UN Coalition
for Access
@FUNCA_info
wrote
to Ban's two
top
spokespeople:
"The Free UN
Coalition for
Access
opposes the
cancellation
of the daily
noon briefing,
particularly
for
a short media
encounter on a
single
subject. Other
questions,
particularly
on the DRC and
Great Lakes,
should be
answered."
But
in the
briefing room,
even when a
former UNCA
president
asked current
president
Pamela Falk to
complain about
Ban not
holding "real"
press
conference,
Falk made
excuses,
saying Ban was
on his way to
the
airport. And
that's why the
noon briefing
on all other
topics was
canceled? UNCA
has further
declined, to
become the UN
Censorship
Alliance. That's
why this
UN gives it
the first
question.
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