Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the Inner City to Wall Street to the United Nations

At UN Before Syria Vote, IBSA Vote Doesn't Count, Unacceptable Means Veto?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 4 -- Seven hours before the Syria resolution vote is scheduled in the UN Security Council, one of the IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) Ambassadors walked into the Council. Inner City Press asked about the upcoming vote, and the reply was "My vote doesn't matter... if you're getting a veto."

   Are we getting a veto? A nod, yes.

  Minutes later, China's Permanent Representative Li Baodong told Inner City Press, "the European members are consulting again to decide if they want to hold the vote tonight at five." To many, this implies that the veto threat is solidly on the table.

  Inner City Press asked Syrian Permanent Representative Bashar Ja'afari if there'd be a vote at 5 pm. "Don't expect anything," he said.

Churkin, Li Baodong & Osorio, Ja'afari of Syria over Li's left shoulder

  That's the buzz, "from the wires" out of Moscow: that the current draft "is unacceptable." But does that mean a veto or abstention? There was bluster about "red lines."

 Other wondered why there was never such or any focus in the Security Council on crackdowns in Bahrain, whose reforms, praised by the US and Ban Ki-moon, are not qualitatively different from Syria's announcements. But that's another question. Watch this site.