ICP
Asks UN About
Canada Delay
& Diss of
UN
Peacekeeping,
Trudeau on Bad
Behavior
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Periscope;
Video
UNITED NATIONS,
November 1 – Canada under Justin
Trudeau said it would get
involved with UN Peacekeeping,
but hasn't. (At the UN, Trudeau
five weeks ago refused Inner
City Press' question about
Canada's arms sales to Saudi
Arabia, calling the question
"bad behavior, see below). On
November 1, Inner City Press
asked UN Spokesman Stephane
Dujarric, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: Canada had
made a… had said that it would
be making some pledge to UN
peacekeeping. There's been
a lot of back-and-forth about
it. Now they have a
conference coming up on 14
November in Vancouver. So,
some people are saying that's
kind of a deadline. I
wanted to know if you have any
response to… they're committing
police to Colombia but not
through… apparently through the
UN Mission there. They
seem to see that it's… they
think it would be better to do
so bilaterally. And can
you give any up… do you have
any… do you think that that's
the right way for countries to
go given that there's a UN
Mission there? And do you
have any update on… on
discussions between the UN and
Canada in terms of getting the…
something real… Spokesman:
The discussions are
continuing. We will have
the Head of our Peacekeeping
Department and I believe the
Head of the Field [support]
Department, Mr. Lacroix and Mr.
Khare will both be in Vancouver
for this meeting. Inner City
Press: Right. Colombia?
Spokesman: And as… as for
Colombia, I think… I would have
to know a bit more about the
details of their… their
deployment to comment on it.
Inner City Press: The Foreign
Minister of Canada was here
recently. She was up at
the… did… did… are you aware of
any UN discussion with her about
this peacekeeping
proposal? There's some
talk that they're going to come
out with a women peace and
security announcement.
Spokesman: I'm not
aware. Doesn't mean it's
not happening. I'm just
not aware." While Canada joins
The Netherlands at the UN in
Geneva in calling for an
investigation of possible war
crimes in Yemen including the
Saudi-led coalition's killing of
civilians, Canada has continued
a $15 billion arms deal with
Saudi Arabia. When Canadian
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
held a press conference at the
UN on September 21, Inner City
Press went early, intending to
ask him to explain this
incongruity or seeming
hypocrisy. Trudeau's spokesman
announced that the questioners
had been “pre-determined,” but
did not explain how. So in a
lull after what the spokesman
called the last question - would
Trudeau be a mediator on
Venezuela - Inner City Press
asked about Canadian arms sales
to Saudi while calling for a
probe. At first Trudeau said he
was happy to answer the
question. Then he said no, he
would not reward “bad behavior,”
and instead reached out for
question in French about day
care. Now Inner City Press has
seen that Google / You Tube have
ruled that the video of this
question and answer is "not
suitable for most advertisers,"
and those not monetizable. Photo
here.
Why not? (Inner City Press has
spoken more recently on October
12 on Canadian TV, about its
national's sell-out of Rohingya
in Myanmar, here.)
And why, suddenly amid its
questions about hypocrisy and
Yemen and Cameroon and UN
corruption, has Inner City Press
been downgraded in Google News?
We'll have more on this. (Inner
City Press notes that
pre-determining questioners is
bad behavior. Apparently the CBC
journalist who was given the
first question agreed to it; the
organization only the day before
sent an Egyptian state media
correspondent as the lone “pooler”
in Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' meeting with General
Sisi.) Earlier on September 21
when UK minister Alistair Burt
came in front of the UN Security
Council to speak about
accountability for Daesh in
Iraq, Inner City Press deferred
to a timely question about the
referendum in Kurdistan. Then
during lull - identical to
that in which it put its
question to Trudeau - Inner City
Press asked Burt about his
quote, about accountability for
the bombing of civilians in
Yemen by the Saudi-led Coalition
with UK bombs, that "Our view is
that it is for the Coalition
itself, in the first instance,
to conduct such investigations.
They have the best insight into
their own military procedures
and will be able to conduct the
most thorough and conclusive
investigations.” Inner City
Press asked how he can say this,
given that the Saudis have
investigated less than five
percent of the killings. Video here.
Burt's answer focused on the
peace process - what peace
process? At least Burt answered,
and did not like Trudeau try to
call merely asking the question
in a lull "bad behavior" - we'll
have more on this.
***
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