At
UN,
Israel's Reuben Trashes Ging on Gaza, Questions Erdogan
Connections, Flotilla Report Delayed
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 10 -- Israel's current lead Ambassador to the UN
didn't mince his words on December 9, about reports on the flotilla
incident, Turkey's
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UNRWA's John Ging.
Inner
City Press,
introduced as such, asked Meron Reuben about what a Turkish diplomat
had said earlier in the day, the Israel might turn in its report on
the flotilla “in Hebrew, so the UN would have to translate it.”
Reuben
scoffed
and said it will be submitted in English and it will be a “proper
report. We could have done a trumped up report but instead did a
proper one. Our government won't come out smelling like a rose, I can
promise you that.”
He
acknowledged
that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's panel, including former
Colombian president Uribe, canceled its December meeting to wait for
Israel's report, which he said will be submitted in 2011, “not at
the very beginning of the year.”
After
a pause,
Reuben said “It would be interesting to see how connected Erdowan
is to militant organizations connected to Al Qaeda.”
Meron Reuben in UNSC, good cop not shown
Earlier
in the
week at the US Mission to the UN, State Department spokesman PJ
Crowley was asked about Erodogan's threat to sue the US diplomats who
repeated unnamed sources allegations that Erdogan has secret bank
accounts in Switzerland. As with most things WikiLeaked, Crowley
declined to response in any detail.
Iner
City Press
asked Reuben about UNRWA's John Ging, who when Inner City Press asked
last week about shutdowns of the Gaza power plant called it an
“intra-Palestinian” matter about payment, and not any fuel
blockade by Israel.
Israel
was “not
impressed” by Ging's report, Reuben said. Sources tell Inner City
Press that Reuben has yet to present his credentials to UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon, being something of a recess appointment. How
long will the recess continue? Watch this site.
* * *
Wikileaks
Buzz
from
Turkey to UN, But Ban Quiet with Clinton, Assange as
Terrorist?
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December
1 -- As the new Wikileaks of US State Department
cables were the buzz at the UN on Wednesday, from Sri Lanka war
crimes to Russia's “Mafia state,” the UN Secretariat did all it
could to dodge questions about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's
directive that the UN and its officials be spied on.
But
at a Turkish
Mission reception on Wednesday evening, a European Ambassador told
Inner City Press that the leaks were going to cause trouble within
countries all over the world. “Why did the US distribute these
cables so widely?” he asked. “When I have information, I write
only to my minister and his chief of staff, no one else.”
Turkey's
Prime
Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to sue the American
diplomats who cabled home that Erdogan has secret bank accounts in
Switzerland. But well placed sources tell Inner City Press that the
origin of the Swiss bank detail is the “Turkish minister who covers
the European Union process.”
So maybe the
lawsuit, if there is one,
should be filed in Turkey itself.
After
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon met with Clinton in Astana, the UN said only
that
“they discussed... the complications caused by the recent massive
leak of US diplomatic cables.”
Inner
City
Press
asked the UN's Counter-Terrorism Executive Director Mike Smith about
calls to designate Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange as part
of a “Foreign Terrorist Organization.” Video here,
from
Minute
17:40.
Erdogan & Kerim, once
& future UN? Inner City Press scoop here
Smith
said
he would
“leave it up to the countries that are talking about that to work
it out through these systems, I'm not going to comment on that.” Of
course, it is within Smith's and the UN's stated job to speak on the
misuse of terrorism laws and designations.
Footnote:
beyond
Ban
Ki-moon's meeting with Hillary Clinton, the UN on
Wednesday afternoon confirmed to Inner City Press what it had asked
about Ban's meeting with South Korea's foreign minister. Yes they
met, including about two conferences in Seoul. But there was
apparently no meeting with Ukraine's president, despite Ukrainian
press reports that there would be.
