On
Syria, As
Russia Nixes
Ahtisaari,
India On
Abstention,
Strange
Rights of
Reply
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Partial
exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 3 --
When the UN
General
Assembly
reconvened for
speeches after
the Saudi
resolution on
Syria was
adopted with
133 in
favor, 31
abstaining and
12 against,
Inner City
Press asked
Russian
Permanent
Representative
Vitaly Churkin
what his
country
thought of
Maarti
Ahtisaari as a
replacement
for Kofi Annan
as envoy to
Syria.
"No,
no, he is in
deep
retirement,"
Churkin told
Inner City
Press. Russia
clashed with
Ahtisaari over
his position
on Kosovo.
Inner
City Press
asked Indian
Permanent
Representative
Hardeep Singh
Puri
about his
country's
abstention. He
indicated that
if the
"welcoming"
of the Arab
League's
resolution had
instead been
"noting,"
India might
have voted
yes. He also,
in the GA
Hall,
condemned
terrorism in
Syria.
India's
abstention
allowed the
argument, made
to Inner City
Press at the
beginning of
the
afternoon's
session, that
more the half
of the
world's
population did
not support
the Saudi
resolution.
Inner
City Press
asked the
Saudi
Permanent
Representative
about this and
he
said, Then
they could
change the way
we vote.
India's
Hardeep Singh
Puri added, we
believe in One
Country, One
Vote.
Syria's
Permanent
Representative
Bashar
Ja'afari
indicated that
this couldn't
be an Arab
League
resolution,
since two Arab
countries had
not
supported it.
Beyond Syria's
negative vote,
Algeria
abstained.
Inner
City Press was
asked via
Twitter why
Yemen
sponsored the
resolution
but then did
not vote. The
answer is that
Yemen is
behind in due
and
not allowed to
vote, despite
being pointed
to as one of
the UN's few
"successes"
this year.
Tanzania
also
abstained,
explaining it
was due to
resolution's
lack of focus
on "external
forces."
Argentina,
whose
opposition to
the stronger
version of the
draft had an
impact
as exclusively
reported by
Inner City
Press, voted
yes but said
afterward the
resolution
does NOT in
any way
authorize
force to
protect
civilians.
Thou dost
protest too
much?
Similarly,
Nigeria
said it does
NOT support
the Arab
League's July
22 decisions
or telling the
Syrian
opposition to
unify. But
Nigeria voted
yes.
New
Zealand said
that it "joins
China" in
regretting
Kofi Annan
quitting. Why
China? Well,
New Zealand
will be
running for a
UN
Security
Council seat
in a year.
That's often
what these
speeches are
about.
Canada
opined that
"Annan" Six
Point Plan is
dead. But like
Russia's
Churkin said
of the UNSMIS
mission, it
could just be
renamed.
Libya's
Ibrahim
Dabbashi --
many are
unclear if he
or Shalgam is
the
Permanent
Representative
-- called on
the General
Assembly to do
two
things it
can't --
impose
sanctions and
make referrals
to the
International
Criminal Court
-- and one
thing it could
do: try to
strip
credentials,
as happened
also for
Laurent
Gbagbo's Cote
d'Ivoire.
At
the end there
were Right to
Reply
statements.
Iran trashed
the
"Zionist
Regime."
Germany spoke,
but did not
reply on
Syria's
statement
about its sale
of nuclear
submarines to
Israel.
The
EU deputy
representative
spoke, but did
not reply to
critique of EU
sanctions.
Afterward he
told Inner
City Press
that under the
current
resolution,
the EU does
not HAVE a
right to
reply. That
might be a
problem.
Bahrain
replied
that the
forces in its
borders "are
from Al
Jazeera." One
wag mused,
well that
clears it up.
And then the
debate ended.
We
will have more
on this --
watch this
site.
, 
