As Burkina Faso Keeps Internet Shut UN Guterres Silent Dictator Supporting Censorship

 

By Matthew Russell Lee, Book
Patreon - BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras

UN GATE / SDNY Court, Nov 27 – As Burkina Faso continues its shut down of the Internet to try to block protests to the ruler, the United Nations of equally censoring Antonio Guterres is entirely silent. Guterres just throwns critical Press out, and bans it from entry, ordering hapless spokespeople like Paulina Kubiak to not answer basic questions about transparency.

– What is a novel? How long should it be? How corrupt is the United Nations? What is the line between real world injustice and fiction, black comedy?

A just published novella, "Belt and Roadkill," raises these questions.

The corruption of the UN, its documented domination by China as evidenced by two recent real-world bribery prosecutions in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York, are the soil or message of the text. But the meta questions about what is a novel(la) is raised by its form and length. (It is available, first on Kindle, here).

Earlier this month Parul Sehgal in The New Yorker bemoaned the democratization of literature, or content, by Amazon and Kindle Direct Publishing. But who are the gatekeepers? Who should they be?

The author of Belt and Roadkill, years ago, was on the threshold of elite / elitist publishing, summoned to a venerable firm on Union Square in Manhattan and told that if only the actual names of Citigroup's predatory lenders could be dropped, it might be possible to move forward.

But aren't public figures open to satire, without danger of libel lawsuits?

Aren't those Predatory Benders who foreclose on thousands of homes just targets, like those at the UN who cover up hundreds of rapes by peacekeepers, and ten thousand Haitians killed by cholera, as only two examples?

 Belt and Roadkill does not mention Haiti, even once. It does, however, name-check Cameroon and Western Sahara, Huawei and the January 6, 2021 insurrection, breach or protest, whatever your politics.

 Let a hundred flowers bloom, as Mao said before moving to cut them down. There will be more. 

[Belt and Roadkill: A Story of Dis-United Nations, by Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City Press is on Kindle, and paperback here.]

***

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Belt and Roadkill in Cambodia Is Lower Sesan 2 Dam As UN Guterres Bans Press Exposing Him

 

By Matthew Russell Lee, Book
Patreon - BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras

UN GATE / SDNY Court, Nov 27 – China's "Belt and Road Initiative" is swallowing up the United Nations, invited in by gluttonous UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres who has personal financial links to it, see below.

Now this: A huge Belt and Road financed hydroelectric dam in NE Cambodia, completed in 2018, has undermined the lives and livelihoods of thousands of Indigenous and ethnic minority people. The Lower Sesan 2 dam flooded large areas upstream of the confluence of the Sesan and Srepok Rivers, two tributaries of the Mekong River, displacing almost 5,000 people whose families had lived in the area for generations. Many were coerced into accepting inadequate compensation for lost property and income, provided with poor housing and services at resettlement sites, and given no training or assistance to secure new livelihoods. Other affected communities upstream and downstream of the dam received no compensation or assistance - like the Haitian families whose bread earners were killed the cholera the UN brought.

  China Huaneng Group, a large Chinese state-owned electricity generation company, built and operates the dam. Cambodia’s Royal Group and Vietnam’s state-owned electricity company, EVN, hold minor stakes. Chinese government banks provided most of the financing, reportedly budgeted at over $800 million....

  Speaking of money, Guterres omitted from his public financial disclosure money he took from the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. When Inner City Press, which reported exclusively on the UN bribery trial of Patrick Ho of CEFC China Energy in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, asked about the omission at the UN where it was a resident correspondent since the last days of Kofi Annan, Guterres had Inner City Press thrown out, and banned since.

So now: how corrupt is the United Nations? What is the line between real world injustice and fiction, black comedy?

A just published novella, "Belt and Roadkill," raises these questions.

The corruption of the UN, its documented domination by China as evidenced by two recent real-world bribery prosecutions in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York, are the soil or message of the text. But the meta questions about what is a novel(la) is raised by its form and length. (It is available, first on Kindle, here).

Earlier this month Parul Sehgal in The New Yorker bemoaned the democratization of literature, or content, by Amazon and Kindle Direct Publishing. But who are the gatekeepers? Who should they be?

The author of Belt and Roadkill, years ago, was on the threshold of elite / elitist publishing, summoned to a venerable firm on Union Square in Manhattan and told that if only the actual names of Citigroup's predatory lenders could be dropped, it might be possible to move forward.

But aren't public figures open to satire, without danger of libel lawsuits?

Aren't those Predatory Benders who foreclose on thousands of homes just targets, like those at the UN who cover up hundreds of rapes by peacekeepers, and ten thousand Haitians killed by cholera, as only two examples?

 Belt and Roadkill does not mention Haiti, even once. It does, however, name-check Cameroon and Western Sahara, Huawei and the January 6, 2021 insurrection, breach or protest, whatever your politics.

 Let a hundred flowers bloom, as Mao said before moving to cut them down. There will be more. 

[Belt and Roadkill: A Story of Dis-United Nations, by Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City Press is on Kindle, and by paperback soon.]

***

Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.

In Prince Andrew Case Giuffre Asks to Seal 2009 Epstein Deal & 2020 With Victims Fund

 

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Podcast Vlog
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN

SDNY COURTHOUSE, Nov 26 –  Prince Andrew was sued on August 9 by Virginia Giuffre, under the New York State Child Victims Act, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (where Inner City Press found it that day in the docket).  

 On September 13, a proceeding before SDNY Judge Lewis A. Kaplan largely about service of process, but also the settlement agreement the sealing of which is being challenged before SDNY Judge Loretta Preska. Inner City Press live tweeted the September 13 proceeding, here and below (podcast here)

 On November 3 in a routine proceeding Judge Kaplan issued a supplemental scheduling order that "any requests for letters rogatory or letters of request, and any notices pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 44.1, shall be filed no later than December 15, 2021.

Opposition and reply papers with respect to defendant's pending motion to dismiss the complaint shall be filed by 11/29/2021. Reply due by 12/13/2021. (Signed by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan on 11/3/21)."

On November 26, the day after Thanksgiving, Giuffre's lawyers asked Judge Kaplan for permission to file under seal not only Giuffre's 2009 settlement agreement with Epstein, but only the 2020 settlement with the Epstein Victims' Competition Fund, or least the amount and "the names of nonparties that Plaintiff did not release." Ghislaine Maxwell and her collaborators? Full letter on Patreon here.
 Watch this site.

On October 6, Judge Preska so-ordered the release of the Epstein deal to Prince Andrew. The request from David Boies (who also represented Harvey Weinstein, and Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos): "We write in our capacity as counsel to Plaintiff Virginia Giuffre in Giuffre v. Prince  Andrew, Duke of York, 1:21-cv-06702-LAK, pending before Judge Lewis Kaplan, to follow up on  our letter dated September 23, 2021. ECF No. 344. Jeffrey Epstein’s Estate has now consented  to Ms. Giuffre providing a copy of the confidential agreement at issue to Prince Andrew. We  thus request permission from the Court pursuant to this Court’s Protective Order to furnish a  copy of the release to Prince Andrew’s counsel."

On October 25, Judge Kaplan set a (long) schedule for Giuffre v. Prince Andrew: "CONSENT SCHEDULING ORDER: It is hereby ORDERED as follows: Amended Pleadings due by 12/15/2021. Joinder of Parties due by 12/15/2021. Deposition due by 7/14/2022. Discovery due by 7/14/2022. Pretrial Order due by 7/28/2022. (Signed by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan on 10/25/21)."  Watch this site.

On September 24 Prince Andrew's lawyer Andrew B. Brettler signed an agreement that Andrew "will not challenge service of process."

On September 28 Judge Kaplan docketed this: "ORDER RE SCHEDULING AND PRETRIAL CONFERENCE, It is hereby, ORDERED as follows: Counsel for both parties promptly shall confer regarding an agreed scheduling order. If counsel are able to agree on a schedule and the agreed schedule calls for filing of the pretrial order not more than six (6) months from the date of this order, counsel shall sign and file within twenty-one (21) days from the date hereof a consent order in the form previously attached to Dkt. 7 for consideration by the Court. If counsel are unable to agree on such a scheduling order, plaintiff and defendant each shall file with the Court, on or before October 22, 2021, a letter setting forth that party's proposed schedule, the rationale for its proposal and any objections to its adversary's proposal, and a description of the discovery that it proposes to conduct, including proposed depositions. 2. Regardless of whether a proposed consent scheduling order is filed on or before October 22, 2021, a video or teleconference will be held on November 3, 2021 at 11 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time." Watch this site.

On the evening of September 16, Judge Kaplan approved Guiffre's motion for alternative service. Game on.

There's the famous photo, with Prince Andrew with his arm around Giuffe's waist and Maxwell in the background.   The first cause of action is Battery.

Then, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, and damages. Inner City Press will follow and report on the case. 

The case is Giuffre v. Prince Andrew, 21-cv-6702 (Kaplan). 

***

Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.

UN PGA Spox Paulina Kubiak Has Not Answered Press Questions Which Are Now Sent Again

 

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN

UN GATE / SDNY COURT, Nov 26 –  The United Nations under SG Antonio Guterres turns people into thieves and censors.

This week's example is the new spokesperson for UN General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid. Previous UN PGAs John Ashe (who was indicted for corruption then died under a barbell) and Sam Kutesa were shown to take bribes. The UN said future PGAs would disclose who pays each of their staff members.

But Shahid refuses to. His past spokesperson quit. The job has gone to Paulina Kubiak, at one point perfectly friendly at the UN Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit which implemented Guterres throw-out-the-Press order.

She tweeted - as Paulina Greer -- that she was holding a press briefing on November 19. Inner City Press emailed her -- at her listed email and the one she used on November 26, see below - and the Office's Carl Mercer this, at 1 pm:

"Hi - this is a Press question about the UN PGA's office, in light of the previous corruption scandals of PGA John Ashe with Ng Lap Seng, and Sam Kutesa with Patrick Ho of CEFC China Energy, etc   It was was in the wake of those SDNY convictions that future PGAs would disclose who paid each of their staff members.   But the current PGA says only "The staff of the Office of the President of the General Assembly (OPGA) are identifiable through their biographies on the website."   That does not identify funding. Please on deadline provide the funding informatoin, and explain why it was not provided until now.   Also, please ensure that Inner City Press which has covered this issues about and in the UN for some time, but is currently banned due to UN censorship, can enter the UN to cover the GA and PGA - please provide your response to this immediately. Please confirm receipt, and thank you for your attention."

  A week later, and four more messages with new questions send, and still nothing at all. Then on November 26, this: " I was looking through headlines related to the PGA and came across  your post.  I never received the questions to which you refer. Could you forward to me here?"

  This is more than strange, as her request came from the very email address to which the questions were sent. Could it be that the UN of Guterres, which for a time blocked Inner City Press' IP from even visiting UN website, blocks its questions even to the PGA's spokesperson? We have sent all questions and await substantive response. Watch this site.

It came on a week that the IMF, by contrast, answered Inner City Press' questions on Myanmar, Ethiopia / Tigray, Chad and Zambia, here. Kubiak's is censorship; to take public money to not do one's job is theft.

This is simply stealing public money, particularly given the polite letter from the Quinn Emanuel law firm sent in July to the UN's Melissa Fleming and the UN's partners. No answers, though receipted was confirmed here.

And note that UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, on camera, "We continue to answer e-mailed questions from Mr Lee/ Inner City Press," here.

This is censorship - and theft. We'll have more, much more, on this - as long as it takes. Watch this site.

***

Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.

On Peng Shuai UN Guterres Has Not Comments As Belt and Roadkill Exposes His Pro China Corruption

 

By Matthew Russell Lee, Book

NEW YORK CITY, Nov 25 – How corrupt is China, and today's UN under Antonio Guterres which backs China up? On November 18, Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric, was asked: "There's a lot of concern around the world about a missing Chinese tennis player, and there are questions about the email that she may have sent or may have been fabricated.  Does… is the Secretary‑General joining all of those who are concerned about the whereabouts of this tennis player and urging for there to be proper proof that she's safe and well? "

Duarric for Guterres said, " I don't have any comment on this at this particular moment."   And he hasn't since. There is nothing China could do to trigger Guterres critique, and Guterres ruthlessly wants to keep the Press that asked banned from "his" UN. But it is not his. Or if it is, it is worthless.

What is a novel? How long should it be? How corrupt is the United Nations? What is the line between real world injustice and fiction, black comedy?

A just published novella, "Belt and Roadkill," raises these questions.

The corruption of the UN, its documented domination by China as evidenced by two recent real-world bribery prosecutions in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York, are the soil or message of the text. But the meta questions about what is a novel(la) is raised by its form and length. (It is available, first on Kindle, here).

Earlier this month Parul Sehgal in The New Yorker bemoaned the democratization of literature, or content, by Amazon and Kindle Direct Publishing. But who are the gatekeepers? Who should they be?

The author of Belt and Roadkill, years ago, was on the threshold of elite / elitist publishing, summoned to a venerable firm on Union Square in Manhattan and told that if only the actual names of Citigroup's predatory lenders could be dropped, it might be possible to move forward.

But aren't public figures open to satire, without danger of libel lawsuits?

Aren't those Predatory Benders who foreclose on thousands of homes just targets, like those at the UN who cover up hundreds of rapes by peacekeepers, and ten thousand Haitians killed by cholera, as only two examples?

 Belt and Roadkill does not mention Haiti, even once. It does, however, name-check Cameroon and Western Sahara, Huawei and the January 6, 2021 insurrection, breach or protest, whatever your politics.

 Let a hundred flowers bloom, as Mao said before moving to cut them down. There will be more. 

[Belt and Roadkill: A Story of Dis-United Nations, by Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City Press is on Kindle, and by paperback soon.]

***

Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.