By Matthew Russell Lee, Partial Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, July 17 -- As the Syria resolution showdown looms, late Monday French Ambassador Gerard Araud told the press that "no one is raising the Russian draft."
But Tuesday morning Russian Deputy Permanent Representative Sasha Pankin told the Press that the Russian draft -- which Inner City Press first put online, here -- is being amended again.
UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant stopped and told the press that while the vote on the UK-table draft is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, that could be extended if there are "serious negotiations."
And other sources exclusively told Inner City Press that a DPR level meeting about the Russian draft has been scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, after a closed door session about Kosovo. Nevertheless Morocco's Permanent Representative Loulichki told the press that there is no meeting on Syria resolution(s) on Tuesday.
After hearing from Pankin, Inner City Press directly asked Araud of Russia amending its draft. "Yes," he says, "they have amended their draft."
Moments later Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to head UN Peacekeeping, once again refused to answer ANY questions from Inner City Press, including on DPKO killings in the Congo -- more on that soon.
The Kosovo session, Pankin told Inner City Press, focused not just on two Serbs recently killed in Kosovo, but on what he called the 1000 murders of returning Serbs in Kosovo, of which he said only one killer voluntarily turned himself in to police.
He also mentioned a visit to Kosovo by "fighters in Syria." Other talk of a more recent visit to Kosovo by Libyans, and of two more possible recognitions of Kosovo, by Libya once the government is settled, and prospectively by Syria if Assad is overthrown. There are side-stakes on all this. Watch this site.
