By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell Book
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN Book
UN GATE / SDNY, Feb 14 – How corrupt is today's United Nations under Antonio Guterres? Well, under Ban Ki-moon, the UN covered up the slaughter of Tamils in northern Sri Lanka. Under Guterres, the UN won't even answer on the plight of Tamils on the Chagos Islands.
On February 14 Inner City Press, which traveled to Sri Lanka with Ban Ki-moon and reported (critically) on his trip but is entirely banned from the UN by Guterres, asked UN Spokespeople and Guterres: "What are the comments and actions if any of SG Guterres on that The British government has confirmed that at least 89 Eelam Tamils, including 20 children, are amongst those being held at the US Naval base on the occupied island of Diego Garcia, with questions still to be answered on where they may be transferred to next. “The UK has been found to be in breach of international law for keeping hold of the Chagos Achipelago over the claims of the Mauritius. Can the UK now confirm it will not breach international law in how it treats refugees on the archipelago?”
Nine hours later, no answer at all. And recently Inner City Press also asked, "On the Chagos Islands and decolonization, what are the comments and actions if any of SG Guterres on that the Mauritian government has raised its national flag on board a boat heading to the disputed Chagos archipelago, deep in the Indian Ocean. This is the first time that Mauritius has sent a vessel independently to the islands, as it seeks to enforce its claim to a vast maritime zone." Now answer.
Also: NBA owner and Sri Lankan government tech "ambassador" Chamath Palihapitiya has said something often heard within the United Nations under SG Antonio Guterres, dismissively: "Nobody cares about what's happening to the Uyghurs."
Since Palihapitiya is a billionaire, beyond his ownership interest in the Golden State Warriors, and the NBA has billions on the line, not surprisingly there has been spin since.
This has included focusing on Palihapitiya's family being UN-accredited (or blue-washed) refugees from Sri Lanka, a country which has seen a genocide or mass-killing directed at the Tamil minority.
The implication is, how could a refugee from Sri Lanka be accused of genocide denial? Well...
Even cursory research find Palihapitiya's lineage to be Sinhalese, that of the Rajapaksa brother who with the UN's support and collusion slaughtered tens of thousands of Tamils.
And is it not just lineage. Tellingly, Palihapitiya agreed to be the "ICT Ambassador" to Silicon Valley of the Rajapaksa book-ended government of Maithripala Sirisena:
"Chamath Palihapitiya, a Sri Lankan-born businessman and investor in Silicon Valley, has been appointed as Sri Lanka’s ICT ambassador by President Maithripala Sirisena to promote Sri Lanka in Silicon Valley as well as to provide the necessary support to bring down the latest technology from Silicon Valley to Sri Lanka."
This gushing report is from a pro-government Sri Lankan media which carried threats against Inner City Press when it questioned genocide denial by the UN and its Correspondents Association, giving a screening to the "Lies Agreed To" film at the request of another Sri Lankan ambassador accused of war crimes, who paid the Correspondents Association president money then worked together to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN.
Now in 2022, with genocide- (and trafficking-) linked Secretary General Antonio Guterres banning Inner City Press from any entry of the UN and refusing any answer to written questions or a pro bono law firm letter seeking an end to censorship, Sri Lanka's government is denying what's happening to the Uighurs while seeking economic concession from the China government.
How extensive is the Chinese government's domination of the United Nations?
A recently published novella, "Belt and Roadkill," raises these questions.
The corruption of the UN, its documented domination by China as evidenced by two recent real-world bribery prosecutions in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York, are the soil or message of the text. But the meta questions about what is a novel(la) is raised by its form and length. (It is available, first on Kindle, here).
Earlier this month Parul Sehgal in The New Yorker bemoaned the democratization of literature, or content, by Amazon and Kindle Direct Publishing. But who are the gatekeepers? Who should they be?
The author of Belt and Roadkill, years ago, was on the threshold of elite / elitist publishing, summoned to a venerable firm on Union Square in Manhattan and told that if only the actual names of Citigroup's predatory lenders could be dropped, it might be possible to move forward.
But aren't public figures open to satire, without danger of libel lawsuits?
Aren't those Predatory Benders who foreclose on thousands of homes just targets, like those at the UN who cover up hundreds of rapes by peacekeepers, and ten thousand Haitians killed by cholera, as only two examples?
Belt and Roadkill does not mention Haiti, even once. It does, however, name-check Cameroon and Western Sahara, Huawei and the January 6, 2021 insurrection, breach or protest, whatever your politics.
Let a hundred flowers bloom, as Mao said before moving to cut them down. There will be more.
[Belt and Roadkill: A Story of Dis-United Nations, by Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City Press is on Kindle, and paperback here.]
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