Amid
UN
Negligence in
S. Sudan, US
Brags of
Cutting
Budget, Obama
Raises Funds
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 19 --
In the midst
of a crisis
in South Sudan
in
which the UN
stands accused
of negligence
in not
ensuring the
deployment of
peacekeepers
and "lethal
equipment to
dissuade"
attacks in
Jonglei state,
the Obama
administration
on Thursday
issued
a press
release
bragging of
"containing
the growth of
the UN
peacekeeping
budget...
by closing
peacekeeping
missions, as
appropriate,
and showing
increased
discipline in
establishing
new
missions."
It
was unclear
what missions
the US was
claiming
credit for
having closed.
The
mission in
Chad closed
because
President
Idriss Deby
threw it out.
The Mission in
Sudan closed
because
Khartoum
refused to
renew it; now
there are
complaints of
war crimes in
Southern
Kordofan and
Blue Nile
state where UN
peacekeepers
first sat
idle, then
left.
While
there are
things the US
Mission could
credibly brag
about, this
seems the
wrong
time to crow
about
"defeating a
proposed 57%
annual
increase in
the
reimbursement
rate for
troops in
peacekeeping
missions."
The
timing of the
press release
appears keyed
to a January
20 speech by
the US
Mission's
Ambassador for
Management Joe
Torsella.
While the
Council
on Foreign
Relations has
a large
facility on
Park Avenue
not far from
the UN,
Tosella will
speak at CFR
in Washington,
with UN
correspondents
only able to
listen, not
ask questions.
Among
the
questions one
would like
answered by
the US Mission
and State
Department,
beyond a 10-month
delayed
Freedom of
Information
Act request
and a
thRice-requested
more
forthright
appraisal of
the UN's
performance in
not arranging
for
replacement
helicopters in
South Sudan
after Russia
told the UN in
mid November
that it would
no longer be
flying there,
concerns who
will replace
Lynn Pascoe
atop the UN
Department of
Political
Affairs.
Inner
City Press
has already exclusively
named two of
what it's told
are three
nominees: Jane
Hall Lute, a
previous UN
peacekeeping
official who
presided over
a $100 million
"sole source"
contract for
Lockheed
Martin in
Darfur,
and Alejandro
Wolff, for a
time the
acting
chief then
deputy at the
US Mission to
the UN,
now Ambassador
to
Chile. Who is
the third
name?
Just
as the US
Mission issued
its press
release and
statement by
Ambassador
Susan
Rice, Obama
was nearly at
a $10,000 a
plate
fundraising at
Daniel on
Park Avenue
and 65th
Street, on his
way to another
fundraiser
with an
entry price
over $30,000.
Some wondered:
would Obama's
hedge funder
nominee to the
Federal
Reserve Board,
Jay Powell,
be present at
either? And if
it's true that
"we can't
wait," why not
a less
industry
compromised
recess
appointment to
the Fed?
(c) UN Photo
Obama &
Salva Kiir:
amid flawed
UNMISS
response, time
to brag of
cutting funds?
On
the housing
front, the Chicago
Tribune has
touted Obama's
support
for a Federal
Reserve
plan on "how
to turn
thousands of homes
held by the
government and
commercial
banks into
rental
properties.
Obama
administration
officials have
been mulling
the idea for
months, and
say they plan
to launch a
pilot program
in early
2012."
This
proposal,
which some
surmise will
involve
"dumping"
housing stock
into the hands
of slumlords
(and campaign
contributors)
may well
appear in
Obama's State
of the Union
address,
sources say.
Watch this
site.
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