At
UN,
Serbia's Win
Ascribed to
Italy &
Poland, Small
5 Shrinks to
3?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 8 -- How
did Serbia's
Vuk Jeremic
win his race
to
General
Assembly
president
against
Lithuania,
despite the
still-heavy
burden of
Srebrenica for
example?
Before
Friday
morning's
vote, Inner
City Press predicted
Jeremic would
win
with 97 votes;
he ended up
with 99. So
who were the
extras?
After
the vote
outside the
GA, then later
at a UN Bike
event and
reception
in the garden
of the Dutch
ambassador's
luxury
apartment
building,
Inner City
Press was
approached by
a number of
those
involved.
They
said Jeremic
and Serbia has
"picked off"
seven European
Union members.
The obvious
wedge were the
EU members who
have not
recognized
Kosovo, each
for their
internal
separatist
reasons. But
Poland, too,
is said to
have a problem
with
Lithuania.
And
even the bike
ride's
sponsor, the
Netherlands,
was widely
rumored to
have broken
ranks with the
EU. Italy too,
based on
substantial
business ties
with Serbia.
More
interesting
going forward
is whether the
UN system can
allow Jeremic
to be a sort
of
counter-balance
to "Bland
Ki-moon," as
some
call him.
The
line seems to
be that to be
effective,
Jeremic will
have to work
with
Ban Ki-moon,
so while "more
articulate,"
as several
observers put
it, he "should
not take Ban
on."
A
respected
Nordic
Ambassador
opined that
Deiss and "the
Qatari"
have used the
PGA post to
travel the
world,
neglecting the
GA. "They
should cut out
those thematic
issues, too,"
the
representative
said.
In
terms of the
GA trying to
told the
Security
Council
accountable,
it
appears that
the Small Five
whose proposal
was killed by
Ban's top
lawyer
Patricia
O'Brien in a
stealth and
some say
sleaze letter
has shrunk to
the Small Four
(now minus
Singapore) or
even the Small
Three, if
Jordan follows
through and
drops out.
The
talk turned to
what one
Ambassador
called the "pathetic"
retaliation
against Inner
City Press of
the UN
Correspondent
Association's
Executive
Committee,
several
officials known and
unknown
(more on which
anon, or
Annan) and
Italian
president
Giampaolo
Pioli. "Who
the hell is
that guy?" an
Ambassador
demanded,
sipping cava.
"We never see
him at all.
"Look
in
the real
estate ads."
And watch this
site.
, 
