Thursday, April 26, 2018
On Douma, No UNSC Member Speaks Publicly After Dag Farm Truce, Syria PR Ja'afari Says He Would Have
UNITED NATIONS, April 25 – After a UN Security Council discussion on Syria during their retreat in Sweden, for which the UN refused to provide the Press with any list of attendees or costs, the Council's President for May, Peru, stood and read "Elements to the Press." Days later on April 25 when the Security Council met in New York about Syria, not a single Council member spoke in the public session, after the briefing by UN aid official Ursula Mueller. It seems to confirm the so-called truce among Council members on Syria rhetoric, at least in public. But the truce does not apply to Syria, whose Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told Inner City Press on his way out of the meeting, "I told them yesterday, if any of them spoke, I would." His delegation was clearly happy with the Council's silence. We'll have more on this. These largely repeated and referred to earlier statements, this time stating generically that "the use of chemical weapons is a violation of resolution 2118." This is less that the tweaked resolution's reference to the "reported" use of chemical weapons in Douma. Just the use, generally, would violation a resolution. Staffan de Mistura was there, with black Mercedes in the back; Izumi Nakamitsu, who Inner City Press first reported would be there, was not mentioned. On April 21 the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons team has reached Douma, the OPCW announced. Meanwhile, France, the UK and US have slightly modified their new draft resolution on chemical weapons, now referring to the "reported" use of chemical weapons and calling on Staffan de Mistura to move toward "a constitutional committee comprising representatives of all segments of the Syrian society." The Security Council members are on a retreat in Sweden, with as Inner City Press first reported Disarmament official Izumi Nakamitsu. On the 38th floor the word was that her agenda is "OPCW" - that is, Douma. And North Korea? No other media was up on the 38th floor for this, other than Inner City Press. The UN refused to provide the attendee list; Inner City Press asked at the April 20 noon briefing after reporting onNakamitsu. Is the draft still veto bait? Here's what the OPCW has just said: "The Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) team of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) visited one of the sites in Douma, Syrian Arab Republic today to collect samples for analysis in connection with allegations of chemical weapons use on 7 April 2018. The OPCW will evaluate the situation and consider future steps including another possible visit to Douma. The samples collected will be transported to the OPCW Laboratory in Rijswijk and then dispatched for analysis to the OPCW’s designated labs. Based on the analysis of the sample results as well other information and materials collected by the team, the FFM will compile their report for submission to the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention for their consideration." We'll have more on this. At 9 pm on April 13 US President Donald Trump announced airstrikes on Syria, with the UK and Syria. In the UN, Inner City Press rushed from the phone booth it works in to the UN Security Council, only to find the music and drinkers still pulsing from the UN Delegates Lounge. Video here. Russia called a UN Security Council meeting and had a draft resolution voted on. It failed, with three in favor (China, Bolivia and Russia), eight against and four abstentions. (Ethiopia called its abstention pragmatic). Video here.Just afterward, France, the UK and US put forward yet anther draft, described by many as veto bait. The draft "demands” that the Assad government negotiate “in good faith, constructively and without preconditions,” and expands the role of the OPCW. On the former, France for one never followed through on its Burundi resolutions; the UK never even sought an Any Other Business briefing on the crackdown in the former British Southern Cameroons. We'll have more on this - and on this: the self-described pro-Abe Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun, which missed the Washington news as it misses and bungles the news at the UN. On April 18 at a stakeout on Syria covered by Inner City Press, present were other Japanese media but not Sankei. Its Mayu Uetsuka "covered" Stormy Daniels, with cookie cutter comparisons of the US and France and swipes at evangelicals, absurdly under the rubric "Reading the United States." The actual US lists calls made by Acting Secretary of State Sullivan: "The following is attributable to Spokesperson Heather Nauert: On April 14, 2018, Acting Secretary Sullivan made the following calls to foreign leaders to brief on the strikes in Syria: Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Al Sabah, Czech Foreign Minister Stropnicky, Turkish Under Secretary Yalcin, Iraqi Foreign Minister al-Jaafari." Some wonder, why Czech Republic, where Chinese businessman and briber Ye Jianming remains an adviser to the President? Meanwhile there are reports of air strikes on Jabal Azzan - watch this site. After the UNSC meeting, Inner City Press asked Russia's Vassily Nebenzia if any of the abstentions surprised him. He stopped and said that Russia doesn't twist any arms, it is a sovereign decision of each country. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres left with his entourage; Inner City Press asked quite audibly. so are you going to Saudi Arabia now? He didn't answer; Inner City Press has asked his two top spokesmen now in writing to be informed, hour by hour. It is, after all, public money. Watch this site. The failed draft at the end, “Condemns the aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic by the US and its allies in violation of international law and the UN Charter [and] Demands that the US and its allies immediately and without delay cease the aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic and demands also to refrain from any further use of force in violation of international law and the UN Charter.” Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia mocked the UK and France as having joined a military action based only on the US Constitution; he used the word "neo colonialism."Moments before, Nikki Haley, entering the UN Security Council at 11 am on April 14 paused and said, The time for talk was over and the time for action had come, that's what happened last night. As she kept walking, there was a shouted question: What is the proof? Vine video here. Earlier on April 14 at the Pentagon, Lt Gen KennethMcKenzie bragged that there had been no military response, and that the deconfliction channel was working with Russia. Earlier still on April 14, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced, "The Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) team of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will continue its deployment to the Syrian Arab Republic to establish facts around the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma. The OPCW has been working in close collaboration with the United Nations Department of Safety and Security to assess the situation and ensure the safety of the team." There's to be a 9 am Pentagon briefing. Watch this site. At 11:49 pm on April 13 when UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was to leave for Saudi Arabia he issued a statement. In response to Inner City Press' question the UN said, SG is still in NY, then this: "The Secretary-General has decided to delay his scheduled travel to Saudi Arabia." Inner City Press checked - his publicly funded mansion's lights were blazing. But for now long?
