UNITED NATIONS, August 28 -- The UN's airbrushed versions of its history and present were on display Friday as Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, on his way to Norway, stopped in Vienna to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Vienna International Center there. When it was opened in August 1979, the ribbon was cut by then Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, an Austrian exposed for a Nazi past. At Friday's ceremony the film screened for Ban and local elected officials, "VIC-30 The Practice of Peace," notably had no footage of Waldheim. Who else could be erased?
Vienna sources of Inner City Press say that no questions were allowed about the devastating negative review of Ban's performance by Mona Juul, the deputy ambassador to the UN of Norway, Ban's next stop. Rather, a question about criticisms the UN is more comfortable with, those from "some in the United States," by implication on the right, were responded to. It seems impossible, thought, that Ban can avoid questions about the criticisms made from the left in the Juul memo -- of his performance in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, even on climate change -- when he arrives in Norway.
On climate change, Inner City Press is informed that staff of the UN's spokesperson in Vienna participated in the singing of "Come On - Seal the Deal," a reference to December's climate talks in Copenhagen. On the UN's internal web site, staff are being urged to dress in green. Take that, Mona Juul!
Reflecting on Waldheim and the UN Office in Vienna, and in light of the recent opening of UN offices in South Korea, some now envision that during Ban Ki-moon's tenure, whether it be one or two terms, a UN Office in Seoul will emerge. And in thirty years time...And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban4norwayunov082809.html
