UNITED
NATIONS, May
27 -- Before
European Union
foreign
ministers met
on May
27 and did not
extend the EU
arms embargo
on Syria,
Austrian
officials
repeatedly
said if the
embargo was
lifted they
would pull
their over 300
troops out of
the UN mission
in the Golan.
So
what was the
UN
Secretariat's
position, both
as the
(recently mis)
manager of the
UNDOF observer
mission and as
an
organization
ostensibly
against arming
and the arms
trade?
Typical
of
its increasing
invisibility
or cautious
opportunism,
the UN was
nowhere to be
seen on this.
Not the head
of UN
Peacekeeping
Herve
Ladsous, whose
interest
should be the
peacekeepers
in the UNDOF
mission but
who has
allowed them
to be
repeatedly
kidnapped
without
even properly
announcing it.
Ladsous
confined the most
recent
kidnapping to
a
"conversation"
with friendly
scribes.
And
where was
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on
this?
On
May
23, Inner
City Press asked
Ban's deputy
spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey:
Inner
City Press:
About the
Golan and
UNDOF [United
Nations
Disengagement
Observer
Force]. There
has been
renewed
statements by
Austria that
they would…
would withdraw
their 300-some
peacekeepers
if an arms
embargo is
modified to
Syria and the
rebels, and I
wonder, does
the
UN, given its
need for
peacekeepers,
does it have
any view on
that?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey:
Well, number
one, we have
no information
from
the Austrians
at all on any
decision they
may or may not
have taken,
so we are not
going to
comment any
further on
that.
The
Austrians'
position had
been publicly
stated, and
Ladsous as
head of
UN
peacekeeping,
the fourth
Frenchman in a
row to hold
the post, is
supposed to be
in touch with
the troop
contributing
countries. So
how
can it be, "no
information
from the
Austrians at
all"?
And
so on
May 24,
Inner City
Press asked
the UN's Del
Buey:
Inner
City Press: Austria,
now not just
the Defense
Minister,
now the
Foreign
Minister has
said today
that if the EU
Foreign
Ministers who
meet on Monday
in Brussels
remove the
arms embargo
on
Syria, there
are 'serious
problems with
Austria
remaining in
the
Golan Heights
and UNDOF.'
So, again, are
you saying you
haven’t
gotten any
letter from
them? Since
the UN is
running the
peacekeeping
mission of
UNDOF, is
there anyone
in the UN
system that
is trying to
make any UN
view known to
the EU foreign
ministers who
will vote on
this?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Del Buey:
Matthew, we
are constantly
monitoring the
situation in
all of our
missions
around the
world, but we
do not
address
speculation;
it is
[speculative].
We are not
going to
speculate on
what the
Austrians may
or may not do.
To the moment,
we
have not
received any
indication
from the
Austrians; we
have not
received any
communication
from them on
this, and that
is where we
stand.
So
the
UN said
nothing, and
now the
meeting has
ended and the
arms
embargo was
not extended.
It will expire
on June 1. If
the Austrians
leave, should
the UN have
spoken?
Was
the UN
Secretariat of
Ban
Ki-moon
reluctant to
anger France
and the UK,
who wanted the
embargo
off? Did
Ladsous
despite his
ostensible
duties to
UNDOF stay
silent
to serve the
position of
France, which
he served for
years and
years?
Watch this
site.
Footnotes:
Meanwhile
as a sample of
the UN
coverage of
the UN
Correspondents
Association
"leadership,"
UNCA president
Pamela Falk of
CBSNews sent
suck up tweets
to the French
and UK
Missions to
the UN
calling the
(non) decision
in Brussels a
victory for
them.
Earlier
in
the Memorial
Day weekend
she sent even
more newsless
tweets to the
UK Mission,
paparazzi
photos of its
Ambassador and
that of the
UAE,
which owns
Manchester
City football
club. (No
questions
about the
UAE's record
on gay rights,
despite Robbie
Rogers
suggesting
just
that question
in the New
York Times.)
Meanwhile
UNCA
trolls on
whom Falk at a
minimum has
refused to act
(audio
here and here)
sent bogus
social
media messages
to the UK
Mission in
Geneva
questioning
how the
investigative
Press is
funded. (They
have tried to
say dictators
and terrorists,
leading to
death threats.)
Answer:
Not
by high
frequency
stock traders
a
la
Reuters
and Bloomberg,
nor 41% by the
French
government
like AFP. But
what have
these wire
services' UN
bureaux and
UNCA under
Falk come to?
Watch this
site.
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