UNITED NATIONS, May 24 -- Despite promises of transparency for the Non-Proliferation Treaty conference this month, the distribution of the President's Draft of the Final Declaration on Monday night was laughable.
Inner City Press showed up at midnight at the Philippines Mission to the UN on Fifth Avenue and 45th Street, where it was said the draft would be released. A banner was unfurled, along with torches, for a New Zealand nuclear free zone.
But when the Philippines Mission opened the doors at midnight, only state parties were allowed in, and each that appeared was given only a single copy. The Mission had more than enough copies -- Inner City Press witnessed a stack being carried in -- but an attempt was made to exclude the Press and civil society.
After much complaining and persistence, a consultant to a Mission that will remain unnamed agreed to give Inner City Press a copy, a scan of which we are exclusively putting online here.
There has been much posturing. A Sudanese diplomat last week complained that "Western powers" were trying to divide the Non Aligned Movement, portending a total breakdown of the NPT.
On Monday a self-described Western diplomat, high above Manhattan, told the assembled Press that something would pass, but it would be weak. Inner City Press asked about China's nuclear deal with Pakistan. "That is academic," the Western diplomat responded. "Pakistan is not ripe for IAEA inspections."
Later on Monday, among the NGOs, it was said that this Western diplomat's country was in fact the problems. "We lack a solid US commitment," an NGO leader told Inner City Press, "unlike in 2000. It's that Obama has other priorities."
In any event, here as a public service is the draft. Watch this site.
