With
Iran
as Co-Host,
Nowruz
Boycotted by
UK Not US,
Rice Has Other
Worries
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 21, updated
-- Tuesday
night's
celebration in
the UN General
Assembly of
Nowruz was
interesting
for those who
were and
weren't there.
The UK has
confirmed that
it was not
there, because
Iran was the
co-host. [Ambassador
Lyall Grant
confirmed this
to Inner City
Press, on UNTV
camera, at the
stakeout.]
But Inner City
Press greeted
and spoke with
US Mission's
affable Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Rosemary
DiCarlo as she
exited the GA
Hall.
The
following
morning at the
Security
Council, with
not only Syria
but also Iran
sanctions on
the agenda,
Inner City
Press asked US
Ambassador
Susan Rice as
she entered
the Council,
the UK
boycotted but
the US went to
Nowruz.
Rice
told Inner
City Press,
"I've got
enough trouble
without
worrying about
their social
schedule."
Rice
had been down
in Washington
at the House
Appropriations
subcommittee,
speaking about
Iran and
resolution
1929, and
calling
Palestine's
move to join
UNESCO
"reprehensible,"
and referring
to attempt as
UN membership
as line
cutting.
(Somehow this
doesn't apply
to Kosovo, an
issue close to
the heart of
Ambassador
DiCarlo.)
Inner
City Press
notes that the
other co-hosts
included
Pakistan,
Turkey,
Tajikistan,
Azerbaijan,
Uzbekistan and
others, each
of which laid
out a spread
containing
meat and rice.
There would
have been a
rationale for
the UK to go.
France also
was there, in
the form of
its Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Martin Briens
who when
spotted told
Inner City
Press he
didn't know
about
Thursday's
Arria formula
briefing about
Syria.
But
the UK, for
example,
recently blocked
Sri Lankan
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Shavendra
Silva from
attending a
Commonwealth
reception with
Foreign
Secretary
William Hague,
given Silva's
association
with war
crimes. While
this is
commendable,
when Inner
City Press asked
UK Ambassador
Mark Lyall
Grant to
explain
banning Silva
(as Ban
Ki-moon has
not done),
Lyall Grant
declined to
speak about it.
So it goes at
the UN.
, 
