Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/unga1coldwar091908.html
UNITED NATIONS, September 19, updated -- The mounting tensions between Russia and the U.S. resulted in security officers being called to restore order to a closed meeting of the UN General Assembly's General Committee this week. Responding to a heated dispute between the U.S. and Russian representatives on the Committee, the new General Assembly President, Father Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua, called a half-hour adjournment of the meeting, and UN Security. Since it was a closed meeting, attempt have been made to keep the incident quiet. Inner City Press, however, has been told the same story by numerous witnesses, and now reports it.
It was on the morning of September 17, during the General Committee's debate of putting a resolution to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the famine in Ukraine on the General Assembly's agenda. There was a list of speakers, starting with Kazakhstan and including Belarus. But the U.S. sought to speak first by claiming a point of order. The microphone of the Kazakh representative was cut off, and she spoke more loudly about the "outrage."
The U.S. representative pushed forward, and he and Russia's Representative got into a tit-for-tat through serial points of order. Finally the President of the Assembly, presiding over his first such meeting, thought it had gotten out of hand and called an adjournment and security. A half an hour later, things have been cooled, the U.S. apologized and allowed proceedings to continue. No press release was issued, and attempt to withhold the recordings have been made. But Inner City Press reports it here.
In public, in the Security Council during its last meeting on Georgia, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin intoned
"If here in our chamber today for the first time we had had aliens from outer space, I'm sure that having listened to our discussion he would have been filled with pride for the member of the Security Council, how consistently they champion the principles of international law. I must say I in particular liked the statement of the permanent representative of the United States, reminding the members of the Security Council that states in their activity must refrain from the use or the threat of the use of force.
"And I would like to ask the distinguished rep of the United States, weapons of mass destruction, have you found them yet in Iraq? I would like to ask the distinguished rep of the US as to whether there are threats coming out of Washington against another member of the UN to use force against that other member and even wipe it off the face of the earth. Now, several other members of the Council have referred to the importance of complying with resolutions of the Security Council, complying with the principle of territorial integrity. And where, dear colleagues, were you when we were discussing Kosovo?"
Being debated in the General Committee was a draft resolution by Serbia, seeking to have the General Assembly request an advisory opinion on the legality of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence earlier this year. Russia supports Serbia's position, and as quoted above, cites Kosovo as a precedent for its recognition of the independence from Georgia of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Russia's Vitaly Churkin and Zalmay Khalilzad of U.S., d'Escoto Brockmann not shown
Following d'Escoto Brockmann's speech heavily criticizing the U.S., Ambassador Khalilzad was asked to comment on "the GA president's speech." Khalilizad responded
Ambassador Khalilzad: Well, it's very important to know what the role of the president of the GA is. He is the president of the entire 192 tribes that are here. And his role is to facilitate the discussion, to follow the rules, to do things that makes this organization work and brings people together. So I hope that the president appreciates that, that is his role, and that's the expectation of the members of this organization. For him to succeed in the role that – he has to play his role, and that role is to be a unifier, to look forward representing the interests of all members rather than picking on some members, siding with others. That, I think, would undermine his effectiveness, and I don't think that's in his interests or the interests of the organization.
On September 19, Inner City Press asked Brockmann's spokesman about the comments, and was told that the two had met and agreed to work together.
Watch this site, and this (UN) debate.
And see, www.innercitypress.com/unga1coldwar091908.html
