By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 20 --
After Iran was
invited to the
Syria talks
beginning in
Montreux
January 22,
the Istanbul
based Syrian
National
Coalition has
set a deadline
of 7 pm
Greenwich Mean
Time on
January 20 for
the invitation
to be rescinded.
Soner Ahmed, an
SNC spokesman,
said Ban
"waited to
invite Iran
until after
the
coalition’s
decision to
attend the
conference.
That is
immoral, even
in politics."
Ban
previously met
with the SNC's
Ahmad al Jarba
in Ban's UN
provided
residence;
when the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
asked
why it had not
been on his
schedule, the
meeting was
called personal.
Now, things
have really
gotten
personal.
Among
UNanswered
questions is
whether the
SNC would or
would have
brought any
Kurdish
representatives,
and why or
whether the
Kurds will not
now be
invited.
Saudi Arabia
shot back at
the invitation
of Iran by
saying they should
not attend
because it
"has military
forces in
Syria." But
doesn't Uganda
have fighting
forces in
South Sudan,
while being a
member of
"mediator"
IGAD?
UN-consistency.
Ban made his Iran
invitation
announcement
in a hastily
thrown
together press
conference
held Sunday
evening in an
nearly empty
UN building,
on barely an
hour's notice.
Nevertheless,
Ban's
spokesperson
automatically
gave the first
question to
the United
Nations
Correspondents
Association, a
partisan group
which for
example held a
faux "UN
briefing" for
Ahmad al Jarba
of the
Turkey-based
Syrian
Coalition.
Click here
for Inner City
Press story
on
that.
Ban
Ki-moon dodged
and did not
answer on the
weakness
of Jarba's
Coalition,
from which
over 40
members
decided not to
attend the
vote approving
attended at
the talks in
Switzerland.
Nor until the
end of this
press
conference did
Ban mention
the inclusion
of women.
Has he asked
Jarba about
that?
Ban
said he spoke
with Iranian
foreign
minister Javad
Zarif, who
"committed to
play a
constructive
and positive
role." Ban
repeated this
line when
asked about
the litmus
test of
accepting that
Geneva II is
about Geneva I
which was
about
"establishing
a transitional
governing body
with full
executive
powers" -- on
mutual
consent,
whatever that
means.
Ban
also announced
supplemental
invitations to
Montreux for,
among others,
Australia,
Bahrain,
Belgium,
Greece,
Luxembourg,
Mexico, the
Netherlands
and, yes,
South Korea.
It was
at 4:21 pm
that the UN
sent out an
email that Ban
would appear
for a "brief
and important
statement" in
the UN at 5:30
pm. When that
time arrived,
the so-called
UNCA chair (or
"Holy Seat")
on which the
UN has affixed
a metal tag
was filled --
and from that
seat a
complaint was
made to try to
get another
correspondent
moved.
UNCA's
president
Pamela Falk of
CBS was not
there; nor was
her first vice
president, who
nonetheless
was heard to
call into the
room. It is
time to end
the practice
of the UN
automatically
giving the
first question
to
UNCA - a group
of which
executive
committee
members tried
to get the
investigative
Press thrown
out of
the UN
(and to get leaked
documents
removed from
Google's
search under a
specious DMCA
filing by
Reuters'
bureau chief)
and which has
not reformed
in any way
since then.
The Free UN Coalition for Access
additionally
asks why this
announcement
was made this
way. There is
more and more
staging at the
UN, faux
Q&A and
UNTV footage
put out hoping
it will be
used as B
roll. The UN
should be more
transparent,
less of a
scam. We'll
have more on
this.
, 
