By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 4 -- While
in Myanmar, UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
held an event
with
businesses,
praising them
for their
Burmese
engagements.
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
Spokesperson,
twice, which
businesses
were in
attendance to
receive Ban's
thanks. After
the
second request
a list was
provided, and
the delay
perhaps became
more
understandable.
Invited
and
thanked was a
company which
has sold
surveillance
and spying
equipment,
including to
Gaddafi's
Libya: ZTE
Corporation. See
this
link and
Wall
Street Journal
of August 30,
2011.
With
this company
in attendance,
Ban Ki-moon
concluded on
the 1st of
May, "I wish
you strength
and success in
your important
efforts, and I
very much
welcome your
partnership
with the
United
Nations."
Success
for this
company, it
seems, is
selling
surveillance
equipment, as
for example
France's
Amesys / Bull
SA. But a spy
company
partnering
with the UN?
Already
Ban's had
of
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous,
the fourth
Frenchman in a
row to hold
the job, has
proposed the
UN using
surveillance
drones. But
wiretapping?
Also
in attendance
and praised by
Ban were,
among others,
SK Telecom,
PTT
International, Mitsubishi,
Total and
Alcatel -
Lucent.
In
Tripoli as
reported
by the WSJ,
"on
the
ground floor
of a six-story
building here,
agents working
for
Moammar
Gadhafi sat in
an open room,
spying on
emails and
chat
messages with
the help of
technology
Libya acquired
from the West.
The recently
abandoned room
is lined with
posters and
English-language
training
manuals
stamped with
the name
Amesys, a
unit of French
technology
firm Bull SA,
which
installed the
monitoring
center. A
warning by the
door bears the
Amesys logo.
The
sign reads:
'Help keep our
classified
business
secret. Don't
discuss
classified
information
out of the
HQ.'"
This
is more than
a little
ironic, given
that outgoing
French
president
Nicolas
Sarkozy
is now
threatening to
sue Mediapart
for publishing
Moussa
Koussa's
letter to
Bachir Saleh.
A documentary
on the
subject,
including
Sarkozy
adviser
Jean-David
Levitte, is
scheduled for
broadcast on
May
8, two days
after
Sarkozy's
expected
electoral loss
despite his
plea
to National
Front
supporters.
This has led
to questions
of whether
not only Alain
Juppe but at
least some in
the French
Mission to the
UN would also
be replaced.
Watch this
site.
Inner
City
Press: On
Myanmar, Ban
Ki-moon gave a
speech with
the, promoting
the Global
Compact. But,
is there a way
to get a list
of the
businesses he
cited? He
said, I am
here with
these
businesses,
many
people think
that most of
the businesses
in the country
are
affiliated
with the, you
called it a
dictatorship.
But, the
former
military
Government.
You may not
have it, but
is it possible
to get
a list of the
businesses in
attendance or
certainly the
ones that he
was citing as,
you know, the
future of a
non-military
Myanmar?
Deputy
Spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey: We’ll
have to check
on that,
Matthew.
From
the
UN's noon
briefing
transcript of
May 2:
Inner
City
Press: were
you able to
get the
businesses
that he was
referring
to when he
introduced the
Global Compact
in Myanmar.
Ban's speech
definitely
says "the
businesses
here,"
referring to
particular
businesses.
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Yeah, we’ll
get that for
you.
