By Matthew Russell Lee, Text here on Patreon
UNITED NATIONS, November 5 – In the run up to the UN Peacekeeping meeting in Canada in a week's time, Canada still hasn't made its long promised commitment to UN DPKO and other countries are trying to find or re-find their role, like Japan. Ending a deployment in South Sudan, duty logs went missing and a Defense Minister had to resign. Now those remaining are pitching Japan's continuing commitment, most recently to the Toronto Star. First, this set up on what the UN has said about the summit: on November 1, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, UN transcript here:
Inner City Press: Canada had made a… had said that it would be making some pledge to UN peacekeeping. There's been a lot of back-and-forth about it. Now they have a conference coming up on 14 November in Vancouver. So, some people are saying that's kind of a deadline. I wanted to know if you have any response to… they're committing police to Colombia but not through… apparently through the UN Mission there. They seem to see that it's… they think it would be better to do so bilaterally. And can you give any up… do you have any… do you think that that's the right way for countries to go given that there's a UN Mission there? And do you have any update on… on discussions between the UN and Canada in terms of getting the… something real… Spokesman: The discussions are continuing. We will have the Head of our Peacekeeping Department and I believe the Head of the Field [support] Department, Mr. Lacroix and Mr. Khare will both be in Vancouver for this meeting." And so will Japan. In fact, as pitched to the Star, “Canada and Japan are very closely co-operating on this file,” said Kohei Nakamura, director of the international peace co-operation bureau in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But why are these two cooperating? How? Cynics might say that both want to be perceived as helping the UN - Japan still wants a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, and Canada now wants an elected seat - but are reticent to put their troops in harm's way. If there are two more sizzle than steak commitments, it will be harder to critique either of them. A less cynical analysis holds open the possibility of an innovative new commitment from Japan. Masaki Noke, director general of the International Peace Co-operation Headquarters in the government cabinet office, may have telegraphed it, telling the Star that "capacity building is very pertinent area." But capacity building where? For whom? Watch this site.When UNESCO's Manos Antoninis took questions on October 26, Inner City Press asked him how the Paris-based agency is responding to the United States leaving it. He responded, diplomatically perhaps, with praise of some in the US, those who root out climate change denial from school curriculum. Inner City Press previously exclusively reported on an emergency conference call convened by the Department of Public Information, though Antonio Guterres' spokespeople have refused to confirm it, as they refuse even to say where Guterres is. But at UNESCO, the pull-out of the US gives the spotlight and leverage to the agency's second biggest funder, Japan. And Japan has effectively used it. Previously the country withheld dues to try to block the registration of documents about its actions in Nanjing, China. But "Documents on the Nanking Massacre” were, in fact, registered. This year, with the additional leverage, the fight was about documentation of so-called comfort women or sex slaves the Japanese military took in World War II. South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk said last week,"Our government is working on the listing with the basic attitude that a lesson should be learned from the comfort women issue." But on November 1, UNESCO's International Advisory Committee declined to act, postponing the decision. Yoshihide Suga, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, called it the "proper action." South Korea's Foreign Minister under former Ban Ki-moon UN official Kang Kyung-wha expressed regret and said, "We will continue possible diplomatic efforts to make the records on comfort women objectively and fairly evaluated going forward." Good luck. In the pie in the sky world of the UN's Disarmament Committee, various resolutions on the "total elimination of nuclear weapons" were put to a vote on October 27. Japan's long-time resolution L35, "United action with renewed determination toward the total elimination of nuclear weapons" was put over from October 26 to October 27. (On the 26th in front of the UN Security Council, Inner City Press asked Japanese Ambassador Koro Bessho if it would come up that afternoon; he told Inner City Press, "I think it is delayed a little." In fact, it was for a whole day. But before it came up, North Korea denounced it as a product of “Japan's sick and impure political purposes” and said that particular paragraphs “jeopardize our supreme interests.” Egypt, too, said it would abstain as the draft focused on the duties of non-nuclear states. When the resolution came up for a vote "as a whole," it passed with 144 voting Yes, four No and 27 abstentions. And the voting on other resolutions, including on the dumping of radioactive waste," continued. There would be a Halloween party later, in the Ex-Press Bar, for money. While North Korea's diplomats might not be there, one finds it hard to believe recent quotes about never seeing the North Koreans. They show up at many receptions, sometimes complimenting the quality of the food. We'll have more on this. When North Korea's Deputy Ambassador Kim In Ryong appeared in the UN Disarmament Committee on October 16, his written text said “As long as one does not take part in the US. military actions against the DPRK, we have no intention to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against any other country.” But it seems he did not read it out loud. Inner City Press got the written text, and notes that in the UN, whose chairing meetings often ask speakers to deliver only a part of their written speeches, and turn in the rest for the record. So Inner City Press publicly asked the UN General Assembly President's spokesman whether this North Korean statement should be considered official or not. The PGA Spokesman after 5 pm e-mailed Inner City Press this answer: "In the General Assembly, only the portions of statements that are read aloud form part of the verbatim record. The verbatim record is then considered to be an “official record” of the United Nations. Delegations can distribute longer written versions of their statements, but those do not form part of the verbatim or “official” records of General Assembly meetings." We'll have more on this. The UN's North Korea sanctions list was expanded by four ships, including the Jiu Shun recently outed by the Washington Post as carrying thousands of rocket propelled grenades to Egypt. See listing quietly added to UN Security Council 1718 Sanctions Committee website, here. Recent Inner City Press asked the Committee's chair, Sebastiano Cardi of Italy, if there was any discussion in the Committee of North Korean arms sales to the UAE or Egypt and he said no. Now, this listing. We'll have more on this. Days after the UN Security Council banned textile exports from North Korea, the country fired another missile over Japan's Hokkeido. On September 23, North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho delivered this speech in the UN General Assembly hall, then came to meet UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, USg Jeffrey Feltman and others. There was a photo op, well attended by wire services and largely Japanese and some South Korean photographers - and Inner City Press. Saturday Periscope video here. Then on Monday September 25 Ri held a press encounter - no questions, just two statements - in front of the One UN Hotel / Millennium Hilton. Inner City Press streamed Periscope, here. He said, all options are on the operations table. Inner City Press asked the North Korea Mission to the UN if the international legal conference they have been asking for was discussed; the North Korean Mission to the UN told Inner City Press its “Foreign Minister raised that issue during the meeting. He also told UNSG to be most impartial, not to take one-sided.” We'll see.
