|
At UN, Russia's
Day Ranges from Georgia to Espresso, N. Korea Praise, No Sri
Lanka
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 11 -- Russia' foreign minister Sergey Lavrov met Monday morning
with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, then in the afternoon with the
foreign ministers of Turkey and Austria. In between he chaired the
Security Council's meeting on the Middle East and held a short press
conference at which he took only seven questions. One was on Sri
Lanka: why has Russia fought to keep the carnage there off the
Council's formal agenda? Lavrov answered that Russia is of course
concerned as civilian casualties -- but only on in Sri Lanka, also
Afghanistan and now Pakistan's Swat Valley. He said that civilian
casualties should not be politicized.
Some remember
back in August, when Russia called the casualties of Georgia in South
Ossetia to be victims of war crimes. There was a Security Council
meeting, requested by Russia, which began at 1 a.m.. Inner City
Press was present and covered it. But in the face of over 400
civilians deaths over the weekend in Sri Lanka, not a single Council
meeting. In another context on Monday, Lavrov decried the use of
violence to solve political problems.
Lavrov was
accompanied by the Russian Mission's previously spokeswoman, Maria
Zarakhova. Before an open microphone, she said that they had recently
visited North Korea. It is going better there, she said. The people
have cell phones and she'd even seen a Hummer vehicle. That's why the
last round of sanctions targeted luxury goods, she said. There
improvements are less visible to those seeking to flee into China.
Monday after
the Council's lunch, the Turkish delegation went into the Security
Council. Lavrov followed, telling a security officer that “they
have good coffee, please bring two cups of espresso, one for me and
one for the Turkish minister.” A well known Arab League staffer,
who will leave unnamed for now, is known to have fought to keep good
coffee in the Council, when Lavrov was Russia's Ambassador. Using an
espresso machine donated by Mexico, he ordered roasted beans,
wholesale from Chicago. Others speak of the small bar by the Council
chamber, always open during Lavrov's time, and how he saved the job
of the bartender. Those were the days, many people say. Not Tamils,
at least not recently.
Russia's Lavrov looms over Ban Ki-moon
Throughout
Monday, the highest ranking Russian UN official in New York, Dmitri
Titov, squired Lavrov around. First to the elevator up to meet with
Ban Ki-moon. (Titov's boss Alain Le Roy made a point that it was him,
and not Titov, who attended the meeting with Ban.) Then Titov went in
and out of the Council, during Lavrov's bilateral meetings, at 2:52
and 3:14 p.m.. Finally, the UN Secretary provided a corrected
read-out of the morning's meeting, which we run in corrected form:
Subject:
Your question at noon (SG-Lavrov readout)
To:
Inner City Press
From:
UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply/NY/UNO
Date:
05/11/2009
The
Secretary-General (SG) met with the Foreign Minister of the Russian
Federation this morning and had a constructive meeting. They spoke
about the Middle East, the forthcoming SG's debate to the Security
Council on [the Middle East], the SG's fourteenth report on the
Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea, and Kosovo.
One wag joked
that Russia, for its month atop the Council, wanted an issue which
does not directly impact its interests. It could have made Georgia
the topic, but time is on its side. The trend is the opposite on
Kosovo but nothing, it seems, can stop that. And so, the Middle East,
and a Presidential Statement which an OIC Ambassador told Inner City
Press is very weak, “it would have been better to pass nothing, it
is intended to publicize a Moscow event that will never happen." We'll
see.
At 3:37 p.m.,
with an air kiss from Maria Zarakhova and a cursory wave from Lavrov,
they were gone, headed back to Moscow. From Russia with love...
Click here
for a new YouTube video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian
deaths
in Sri Lanka.
Click here for Inner City
Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN
Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017
USA
Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's
mobile (and
weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com -
|
, 
