At UN, As Azerbaijan Takes SC for May, Terror on Agenda, New US Envoy to Baku In Place

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 -- As the US Presidency of the Security Council winds down, next up is Azerbaijan, which joined the Council at the beginning of the year. While so far relatively quiet on the Security Council, on May 4 its president Ilham Aliyev will come to New York and preside over a thematic debate about cooperation against the threat of terrorism. 

 

  On the morning of April 30 in the Security Council, rather than any meeting on Sudan, or Mali or Guinea Bissau, run by April's president US Ambassador Susan Rice, expert level diplomats trickled in to negotiate, some told Inner City Press, the "product" for the May 4 session on terrorism.

 There will, Azeri mission sources say, be at least two other debates in the month, on Kosovo and Bosnia. It is not yet clear if Azerbaijan will hold a so-called "horizon scanning" briefing by the Department of Political Affairs, which all other members except the United States have done.

 And, asked one wag, will Azerbaijan continue with one US innovation, having at the stakeout instead of just a microphone a rostrum from which to read notes?  To be fair, Ambassador Rice has spoken to the press much more in April than, for example, France did last May.

  On April 26, days before Azerbaijan takes over the President of the Security Council in which the US is working on such issues as Syria and North Korea, President Barack Obama announced

"Ambassador Richard L. Morningstar, Nominee for Ambassador to the Republic of Azerbaijan, Department of State: Ambassador Richard L. Morningstar is the Secretary of State’s Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy. Prior to his appointment in April 2009, he was a Senior Director for Stonebridge International LLC."

  It's noteworthy that the announcement uses this firm's former name: it's now called Albright Stonebridge, for managing partner Madeleine Albright.

  The US Presidency of the Council is slated to end with a Jazz Day celebration. Kim Jong-Un of North Korea has not tested a nuke; ECOWAS' plan on Mali and Guinea Bissau have not be considered by the Council and the Sudans are in the air, and seemingly at war. Azerbaijan is taking over as Council President - watch this site.