By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, March 19 -- After UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Italian foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni on March 18, Gentiloni told the Italian media that he had raised the case of two Italian marines on trial in India for murder to Ban.
Gentiloni said "he had sought new intervention by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who 'intends to do it in the coming weeks.'"
Inner City Press at the March 19 UN noon briefing asked Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson if it's true that Ban intends some "new intervention" in the coming weeks.
Haq said the issue was raised in the meeting with Ban, but that Ban's position "remains the same." That is, from more than a year ago, that it requires a "mutually agreeable" solution. So, what "new intervention"?
This is a pattern of sleight of hand, and misleading reporting.
With Italy already beginning a campaign against Sweden and the Netherlands for two UN Security Council seats of the WEOG group, could a win be used on this issue, if it takes that long? Or does using the UN in this way impact on the campaign?
Back on January 6 with an India trip for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon just announced, there was another off-camera comment by Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric, that India's prosecution of Italian sailor who killed Indian fishermen is an unresolved issued that requires a mutual solution.
While this was reported in Italian and other media as a new fear, a new position, when Inner City Press asked on January 9, Ban's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq confirmed it was only a statement from February 2014, re-read and re-heated. Video here.
