UNITED
NATIONS, June
3 -- Amid the
protests and
crackdowns in
Taksin Square,
Istanbul and
elsewhere in
Turkey, what
has the UN had
to say?
Nothing.
It's
not that they
were not
asked. Early
on June 1,
more than 45
hours
before finally
publishing
this, Inner
City Press
asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
three top
spokespeople,
"does the UN
have
any comment or
guidance on
the response
to protests in
Istanbul and
elsewhere in
Turkey?"
Not
only was there
no response to
or
acknowledgment
of question,
which was
accompanied by
a request for
Ban's response
to 19
members of the
US
Congress
writing about
his dismissal
of 5000 legal
claims for the
UN
bringing
cholera to
Haiti, and
on other
issues -- the
UN has put out
no statement
at all.
Statements
are
what this UN
has been
reduced to.
They churn
them out at
breathtaking
speed, and
those who
cover Ban
write them up,
as it's
called, as
fast as they
come out. Ban
is "deeply
concerned"
about this,
"concerned
about that,"
"calls for
restraint,"
and so forth.
In
this case,
it's not that
Ban and his
Office have
not been
cranking
out
statements:
about malaria,
Tanzania,
post-2015
development,
Madagascar,
the World
Bank and,
of
course, Syria.
But nothing on
#OccupyGezi
or Turkey --
one of the
West's and
Ban's allies
on Syria.
Could that be
it?
Meanwhile
Ban's
UN, having
orchestrated
an entirely
unnecessary
reduction in
press access
and media
workspace in
front of the
relocating
Security
Council,
has also gone
silent.
Knowing of a
10 am Monday
deadline,
unlike Ban's
Office of the
Spokesperson
the
responsible department
did contact
Inner City
Press.
A
request was
made to hold
off to allow
the checking
and
consideration
of information
provided by
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
back on May
21, when the
proposed rule
(apparently supported
by the old UN
Correspondents
Association
and
explicitly by
Ban or at
least his
Office of the
Spokesperson,
video
here).
Inner
City Press did
turn
closer to home
and hold off,
it's unclear
for what.
Ironically,
a
cause or
justification
for the
impending
reduction in
media access
is... a new
so-called Turkish
Lounge.
We'll have
more on all
this. Watch
this site.
, 
