By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, October 3 -- The UN seems to make even articulate people bland, and to turn everything into buzzwords and cliches. So it seemed at Vuk Jeremic's first press conference as President of the UN General Assembly.
His deputy spokesman chose only five question -- by the end of which, the obvious word "Kosovo" had not once been said.
Only on the seventh and last pre-drinks questions was the word broached. Jeremic answered indirectly, saying that just as he fought "for five and a half years" as Serbian foreign minister for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia, now he would fight for those things for the whole world. Is that a message to the proponents of Azawad in Northern Mali? Inner City Press has covered Mali's on-again, then off-again recognition of Kosovo.
More pertinently, is it true as buzzed at the UN that the "new" Egypt may move to recognize Kosovo? What if anything could a PGA try to do?
Inner City Press covered -- and called -- Jeremic's election as General Assembly President, and when the media in Serbia contacted it for stories about Jeremic's budget, Inner City Press also asked Jeremic's predecessor how much Qatar had spent (this was never answered).
But now one wants to know if it is true that the request to and contribution of Serbia is down to $1.5 million, and what the actual budgets of the office will be.
Wednesday these questions were not taken, nor more generic ones about mediation and the G-20. Team Jeremic offered drinks and cheese cubes to the correspondents, but that time might have been better spent on answering these questions. Perhaps in the future they will be answered. Watch this site.
