By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, September 3 -- Shifting today to the lobbying firm Mercury from the State Department, which he represented in Bahrain from 2007 to 2011, Adam Ereli in the spirit of transparency announced his pay-day on Twitter.
He linked to his biography on Mercury's web site noted "as Ambassador to Bahrain from 2007-2011, Ambassador Ereli tripled U.S. foreign direct investment, including significant joint-venture partnerships with such industry leaders as Occidental Petroleum and Thomson-Reuters."
Mercury, meanwhile, works and spies for Wal-Mart. Ah, the revolving door.
In the days before he passed through the revolving door, Ereli tweeted the speeches of John Kerry, and "analysis" from State Department run Voice of America, on whose Broadcasting Board of Governors John Kerry serves.
Previously, both US Ambassador Susan Rice and UK Ambassador to Jordan Peter Millett have expressed disappointment at the lack of agreement in the Security Council to visit Jordan, or to visit only Jordan.
Russia is said to have agreed in principle to a visit to Jordan -- IF the long requested visit to Palestine also takes place.
The visit has been dangled several times; once after it was pulled back Inner City Press asked Ambassador Rice why it had been an acceptable idea in the morning, then not some hours later. She called it a package deal -- that is, not put a resolution to the vote and "make" the US veto. And so it goes.
Inner City Press reported, without quoting Millett, on the UK Embassy in Jordan partnering in full with the ostensibly independent Reuters, to train Jordanians on investigative journalism (while Reuters tries repeatedly to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN).
Now with Millett tweeting of the Security Council's failure to agree to visit Jordan, and that the UK supported the proposal, it seems apt to look back at Millett's quote in what was in essence a Reuters press release on its Thomson Reuters /Trust.org site.
It begins, "Coinciding with World Press Freedom Day, the British Embassy in Amman and Thomson Reuters Foundation are pleased to announce the launch of a one-year project."
Then, "The British Ambassador Peter Millett said: 'A responsible and professional media is the backbone of any democracy, and journalists have a key role to play in tackling corruption. We are happy to support this project through our Arab Partnership Programme and to share the UK’s experience and expertise in this field.'"
Does this mean that Reuters "expertise" is the UK's? Voice of America, for example, is run by the US State Department. But what is the relation between Reuters and the UK FCO? Or between Reuters and the UN? (Hint: spying. Story here,audio here, document here.) Watch this site.
