| After Burma
Ambassador in NY Fired NYT Errs and Says
Geneva Now Canned Guterres Spox
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
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SDNY / UN GATE,
Feb 28 – After the Burma coup
regime fired its New
York-based UN ambassador U
Kyaw Moe Tun for his speech in
New York in the usually
scripted UN General Assembly,
the New York Times reported
that the speech had been in
Geneva.
Seven hours
later, that remained
uncorrected. Still, an
official of Volkan Bozkir, who
in fine Myanmar fashion
refuses to circulate the
letters and CVs of opponents
to UN Sec-Gen Antonio
Guterres, bragged about the
session.
Now a day
late and a dollar short,
Guterres has this canned
statement: "The
Secretary-General strongly
condemns the violent crackdown
in Myanmar. He is deeply
disturbed by the increase in
deaths and serious injuries.
The use of lethal force
against peaceful protestors
and arbitrary arrests are
unacceptable.
The Secretary-General urges
the international community to
come together and send a clear
signal to the military that it
must respect the will of the
people of Myanmar as expressed
through the election and stop
the
repression.
Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman
for the
Secretary-General New
York, 28 February 2021."
Dujarric, while taking public
money to work for the UN, says
he is the spokesman for the
incumbent, like part of a
political campaign. We'll have
more on this.
The United
Kingdom as President of the
UNSC for February, now virtue
signaling, did not even push
to have the February meeting
on Burma be open, and UK
Ambassador Barbara Woodward on
February 1 banned the Press -
which was given access to
Tuesday's background briefing
- from her UN "press"
conference (at which not a
single question on Africa, for
example, was taken).
Since then,
Woodward and her UK Mission
have not only refused to
circulate the letters and CVs
of opponents of Guterres -
they won't even confirm
receipt. Democracy indeed.
Here was
and is Inner City Press'
question to the UK, as UNSC
President: ""on
deadline, for
UK's response
to current
developments
in Myanmar /
Burma. Please
confirm
receipt." This
was sent on
January 31 to
PR Barbara Woodward,
Jaclyn Licht,
Sorcha Lowry
and Isabella
Olex; no
answer from
them or
"spokesman"
Mungo
Woodifield.
Later
at the
February 2 US
State
Department
briefing,
Spokesman Ned
Price said,
"When it comes
to Burma,
look, I don’t
think the
military
takeover, the
military coup,
is in the
interest –
it’s certainly
not in our
interest.
It’s certainly
not in the
interest of
our likeminded
partners.
I think you
will also find
that it’s not
in the
interest of
the
Chinese.
So our first
concern, of
course, is the
restoration of
civilian
leadership in
Burma.
Our concern,
consistent
with that, is
ensuring that
as we
undertake this
review, now
that we have
determined
that a coup
has taken
place on
February 1st,
the
civilian-led
government has
been deposed
by the
military – our
first concern
as we do that
review will be
to ensure that
of the $135
million we
contribute
annually to
the people of
Burma, that we
don’t do
anything that
would affect
the
long-suffering
people of
Burma,
including the
Rohingya in
this case." Inner
City Press will have more on
this.
***
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