By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, February 7 -- The Sochi Olympics opening ceremony was shown in the UN Delegates Lounge on Friday morning on a too-small television to Ambassadors ranging from Russia's Vitaly Churkin to the State of Palestine's Permanent Observer Riyad Mansour. Photo here.
Much of the talk, however, was of politics. The leaked audio of US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland bragging that former US official Jeff Feltman "got" UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to agree to send Robert Serry to Ukraine drew a lot of comment, and laughter.
More darkly, a delegate asked Inner City Press to predict "who will be the first to break the Olympic truce" or ceasefire. Some said South Sudan, other pointed at Syria.
On screen, Ban Ki-moon appeared. His office had hours earlier send out a read-out of his meeting in Sochi with Ukraine's president. The point, one delegate opined to Inner City Press, was to re-assert that it was Ban who chose Serry and sent him to Ukraine. But that's not what the more off the cuff leaked Nuland audio says.
The UN put online video of Ban Ki-moon in Sochi, with his senior adviser Kim Won-soo right behind him. A well-placed UN staffer asked Inner City Press, who's paying for that? There was talk of a UN Department of Management town hall meeting earlier in the day, which will be our next story. Watch this site.
