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On
Ukraine,
Nuland Said
Feltman "Got"
Ban to Agree
to
Serry, FSA Qs
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 6 --
The leaked
audio of the
US State
Department's
Victoria
Nuland about
Ukraine, best
known for her
"f*ck the
EU"
comment, is
also revealing
regarding
relations
between the US
Administration
and the United
Nations, at
least former
US official
Jeffrey
Feltman.
As
Inner City
Press first
highlighted,
at Minute 2:40
Nuland says
she
spoke to
Feltman and
"he's now
gotten both
Serry and Ban
Ki-moon
to agree that
Serry could
come in Monday
or Tuesday"
and "have
the UN glue
this thing,
f*ck the EU."
Listen
here.
Significant
here
is that Ban,
ostensibly
Feltman's
boss,
apparently
didn't tell
Feltman what
to do. Rather,
Feltman "got"
Ban Ki-moon to
agree to
something that
was pleasing
to the US, to
help the US "f*ck
the
EU."
On
January 29,
Inner
City Press had
asked Ban's
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq to
confirm
that the
Ukraine trip
of Robert
Serry, who
would seem to
have a full
time job as
the UN's
Middle East
process
coordinator:
Inner
City Press: In
the Ukraine,
I’m not sure
if I missed
some
announcement
on your part
that Robert
Serry met with
President
[Yevgeny]
Yanukovich and
I wanted to
know: is that
the case?
What’s
the UN’s… why
was it him,
given his
title? And
what’s the UN
seeking to
accomplish?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson
Haq: The
Secretary-General
asked Mr.
Robert
Serry to
travel to Kiev
on his behalf
to convey the
United
Nations’
solidarity
with Ukraine
and to
encourage
dialogue. He
will be in
Ukraine from
yesterday
until
Thursday,
tomorrow. As
for his past
experience, he
has worked in
the Ukraine
before. He
continues to
be
the Special
Coordinator
for the Middle
East Peace
Process. That
hasn’t
changed.
Haq
confirmed the
assignment --
now we know by
whom -- and later Ban
explained that
Serry had been
his native
Netherlands'
ambassador to
Ukraine.
Since
Nuland says
she'd spoken
to Feltman
that morning
and he had a
"new
name" for
Ukraine, one
is left
wondering who
the first
choice,
perhaps by Ban
or some other
operative, had
been.
The
US State
Department and
Mission,
despite Inner
City Press' written
questions to
the latter
since January
30 for an
explanation of
how
the US can
support the
Free Syrian
Army now
that it is
named in the
UN
report
Inner City
Press first
quoted on
January 29 as
a recruiter
and user of
child soldiers,
has not
answered,
despite the
terms of the US Child
Soldiers
Prevention Act
of 2008.
When
Ambassador
Samantha
Power spoke
about Syria at
the UN on
February 6,
only two
questions were
taken: Al
Jazeera and Al
Hurra, on
whose
Broadcasting
Board of
Governors John
Kerry serves.
Nor
has a simple
question been
answered about
why
the proposed
replacement
for UN Reform
Ambassador Joe
Torsella,
Leslie Berger
Kiernam, had
her name
"withdrawn."
So we are less
than
confident that
the US will
explain the
dynamic
between the
State
Department and
Feltman as
reflect in
Nuland's
leaked audio.
Perhaps
the UN or
Feltman -- or
even Serry --
will explain.
Watch this
site.
* * *
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reports
are
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News and on Lexis-Nexis.
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