Amid
US-Russia Deal
on Syria, UN's
Whining Is
High
Pitched,
BanKi-Leaks
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 14
-- Amid
complaints
about the
Syria deal the
US
and Russia cut
in Geneva, the
UN's whining
can only be
heard, like a
dog
whistle, by a
trained ear.
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon
tried hard to
be relevant.
He held press
conference
at
headquarters,
which has been
increasingly
rare for him.
So what if he
only took two
or five
questions?
He got
television
face
time.
And US
President
Barack Obama
in his prime
time speech
did finally
get around to
mentioning the
UN, near
the end of his
speech. No
mention of Ban
Ki-moon, though:
this was
noticed.
On
Friday Ban got
TV face time
for comments
in a
"closed"
meeting of the
Women's
International
Forum, that
his report,
held back
until Monday,
will be
"overwhelming"
in showing the
use of
"chemical
agents."
Ban went on
that
Assad has
committed many
crimes against
humanity and
will face
accountability.
Click
here for
Inner City
Press story,
here
for
YouTube video.
Some call it
BanKi-leaks.
But
in terms of UN
relevance,
even Ban's gun
jumping came
too late.
Whatever the
report says,
this deal has
been cut.
Perhaps Ban
will
say that his
eleven hour
leaking of the
report helped
bring Russia
and Syria to
the table. But
that would be
a weak claim,
like the
claim
his UN didn't
bring the
cholera to
Haiti.
Even
on the
humanitarian
front, on
which
certainly some
good work is
being
done, the UN
went out of
its way not to
confirm much
less complain
about threats
to aid workers
by extremist
rebels, such
as by ISIS in
Jarabulus.
When Inner
City Press asked, it
was disclosed
that 11 UN
staffers have
been killed
and others are
still held
hostage --
then
no more
information
was given.
Will it, now?
Look
at what the UN
dropped, in it
race for
relevance on
Syria: in the
Central
African
Republic, in
one example
reported
by Inner City
Press,
slaughter and
mayhem went on
throughout the
month of
August
with little to
know UN
action.
Okay
the Security
Council's
failure to
pass a
resolution was
due to French
diplomats
being on
vacation,
and
taking the
Council's pen
with them.
(The country
holding the
pen on a
Council agenda
item are
charged with
drafting
resolutions
and
statements.)
Ban
insisted he
had not seen
Ake
Sellstrom's
report and
would have
nothing to say
until he did.
Then he jumped
the gun and
told the
Women's
International
Forum the
report will be
"overwhelming."
(Lady's man,
one wag
commented.)
But it came
too late.
How
will Kerry's
deal with
Lavrov, and
the UN's
too-late role,
be
reviewed by
non-Administration
sources in
Washington?
How will those
who waited for
Obama -- or
Obomber as
some took to
calling him --
for
deliver a big
blow react
now? From the
real world,
we'll have
more on
this.
Footnote:
The
UN with little
transparency
gives a big
room on the
third floor,
just above the
Security
Council, to a
group called
the UN
Correspondents
Association.
It does not
represent all
resident
correspondents
at the UN.
It represents
less then ten
percent of the
reporters who
will cover the
upcoming
General
Assembly, and
is allowed or
used
by some in the
UN to
stealthy attack
critical
journalists.
But
it has its
functions:
under 2013
president
Pamela Falk of
CBS and
first
vice president
Louis
Charbonneau of
Reuters,
UNCA used the
given room to
hold a faux
"UN briefing"
for the
Saudi-sponsored
Syria rebel boss
Ahmad al Jarba.
The UN never
clarified,
despite
requests from
the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
@FUNCA_info,
whether this
was
somehow a "UN
briefing."
Will
they now
sponsor and
amplify
Jarba's
complaints or
just move on
to the next...
project? Watch
this
site.
, 
