ICP Asks UN's Syria Commission About Abuses by FSA or Coalition

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 20 -- As the UN's Syria Commission of Inquiry -- they would later take Press questions, see below -- began briefing the UN Security Council at 10 am on February 20 in basement Conference Room 11, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights sent a link to the CoI's report to its email list (here).)

  Some, not all, had been given the report in advance under embargo, and bragged about it, then downplayed the abuses of ISIS and Nusra also detailed in the report.  Other abuses were hardly mentioned. This is how today's UN works.

  The four Commissioners and UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant then came to take media questions.  After Al Jazeera, CBS and Reuters, Inner City Press asked the Commissioners if, beyond the Government, Nusra and ISIS they cataloged abuses by the Kurds, Free Syrian Army or even Coalition.

 It was Vitit Muntarbhorn who answered for the other Commissioners, saying, We cover all sides: the authorities, their colleagues so to speak, the non-state armed groups in their variety, we cover the Kurds as well. One recurrent issues is the use of child soldiers particularly under ISIS. Video here.

  What about the Coalition? And the Free Syrian Army which is listed even by the UN as recruiting child soldiers?

 The other Commissioners, all present, are Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro (Chair), Karen Koning AbuZayd and Carla del Ponte. Given her history with Kosovo, one wanted to ask her about the new organ trafficking allegations against ISIS in Iraq. But the rule was, Syria only.

  Similarly, the UN's monthly report on humanitarian access in Syria was not placed as before in the UN Spokesperson's Office for all, but only to some. 

  Not (yet) asked is how to square this ninth released Syria CoI report with High Commissioner Zeid's recommendation this week to withhold a similar report about the 40,000 people killed in Sri Lanka in 2009.

  Despite all the talk of accountability in Syria, if there were a change would the reports and calls all be buried or "deferred"? We'll have more on this.

  Back on January 28, the UN's Syria humanitarian monthly briefing had this to say about Islamic State:

“access to ISIL controlled Raqqa and Deir ez Zor is particularly concerning. UN agencies were unable to deliver food to the entire caseload of 600,000 people in these two governorates in December due to lack of agreement with armed groups on the ground."

  So is Islamic State the "armed group" the UN is referring to? And were none of the 600,000 people served, or not all of them?

    The government “has continued to condut airstrikes, including barrel bombs, in densely populated areas... for nearly two weeks, Al Nusra Front has cut water supplies to Idlib city, affecting some 600,000 people.”

  This monthly breifing was given on January 28 by Kyung-wha Kang "on behalf of Valerie Amos," who leaves the UN in March. (Click herefor Inner City Press exclusive coverage.) The underlying report was not distributed in advance through the UN Spokesperson's office "gray lady" system, see below, instead handed selectively to Western wire service(s).

  The Syria humanitarian resolution adopted by the UN Security Council back on December 17 covers "all parties to the Syrian domestic conflict."

  After the adoption, Inner City Press asked Australian Permanent Representative Gary Quinlan, yes or no, if any of the obligations in the resolution apply to the US-led campaign of air strikes in Syria.

  "No," Quinlan replied.

   "Why not?" Inner City Press asked.

  Quinlan said "I know where you are going" with that, but emphasized that the resolution had been adopted unanimously.

   But the question is, why carve out anyone, particularly one using force from the air, from a Security Council resolution about international humanitarian law?  To some, the answer is obvious, involving Israel being exempt from resolutions about the Golan Heights, US aversion to the International Criminal Court, etc. 

  But why are these double standards simply accepted without question? After Quinlan and his counterparts from Luxembourg and Jordan finished speaking at the Security Council stakeout microphone, the dozen journalists listening to them left as Syria's Permanent Representative Bashar Ja'afari came to the microphone to reply. And so it goes at the UN.

When outgoing UN humanitarian aid chief Valerie Amos briefed the Security Council about Syria on December 15, there was in the Spokesperson's Office no accompanying report. Amos' briefing to the Council did not address casualties from US and Gulf allies' air strikes, as November's written report had.

 Instead, Amos said that “all parties to the conflict continue to violate the most basic laws with devastating consequences. The Government has continued to use barrel bombs in densely populated areas, killing and maiming people. The use of barrel bombs has been particularly acute in Aleppo, Hama, Idlib, Rural Damascus, Deir Ez-Zor, Ar-Raqqa and Da'ra.”

 She did mention that “opposition groups have also prevented medical supplies from reaching besieged communities in Nubul and Zarah.” 

 Most troublingly, Amos said that the UN has received reports of 350 children, some as young as five years old, being trained for combat in a military camp in Ar-Raqqa by ISIL.

  Back in late November, the UN released its Syria aid access report  in the same pre-spun way it did on April 23, then on May 22, on June 20and then on July 24 and August 28. Unlike other reports, for example onSudan where both the UN's Herve Ladsous and Valerie Amos have been petitioned by Darfuri groups, here, the UN put an advance copy of this Syria report its its so-called "gray lady."

  As previously reported, the "gray lady" holds documents, of late only the month's Security Council program of work, of which advance copies are released, sometimes with a heads-up to favored media. 

  Who decided for the UN Secretariat and Spokesman which are the important issues meriting such treatment? The Free UN Coalition for Access posits that it should be all reports, with no advance notice to favored media. The system could be fixed, but to simply without explanation return to the current murk is UNacceptable - and typically UN.

  In December, a correspondent was told, "there is no more gray lady."

   In this system, selective reports circulate for days before the UN's actual report. 

  The spoon-fed pre-spinner, ironically, has engaged in censorship of other leaks, click here for ChillingEffects.org, here for critique by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

  As Inner City Press reported here, Australia along with Luxembourg and Jordan pushed a  resolution on Syria aid access. 

  Again, the UN report does not directly address calls in Washington to support the Free Syrian Army -- which is still listed by another part of the UN as recruiting and using child soldiers.

  On ISIL, the report continues in Paragraph 8: "ISIL continues to increase its influence in the Syrian Arab Republic, predominantly along the main supply lines in rural central Homs, Hama, Rif
Dimashq, southern Hasakeh and western Aleppo. It also continues to fight for the control of border crossings and natural resources. During the reporting period, it made advances in Raqqa, Hasakeh, and Aleppo governorates following clashes with Government forces."

  How has the pre-spinning worked, or not worked? Back on July 24 at 11:15 am US state media began tweeting about the report. Inner City Press went to the Spokesperson's Office and asked if it had been put out as described below. No, was the answer.

  But 15 minutes later, the Spokesperson's Office squawked that the report had been distributed to the Council, and there is then was in the "gray lady" -- the only UN report still distributed this way -- no reports on Africa are.

 Back on June 20, just before 6 pm, the UN Spokesperson's Office announced over its "squawk" system to correspondents still in the building that the report had been circulated. This meant it had been placed in piece of furniture in the Spokesperson's Office which has sat empty for many days now.

  Apparently only these Syria reports are now pre-released, pre-announced and pre-spun. 

  In terms of the Spokesperson's duty to answer questions, there was by closure on June 20 no answer to Inner City Press' request to confirm or deny Ban Ki-moon was handed legal papers about the introduction of cholera into Haiti as he entered the Asia Society, Inner City Presscoverage here.

  Back on May 22 the UN's go-to wire service, which has also tried to get other media thrown out, gushed that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's "toughly worded report... said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government bore the greater responsibility."

   This wire's report didn't mention the Free Syrian Army displacing people (in the report) or the FSA recruiting child soldiers (in another recent UN report, which Inner City Press noted here.)

  Nor did it mention, for example, "45,000 in areas besieged by opposition forces in Nubul and Zahra." The number remains the same in the June 20 report.

   As we diplomatically sketched on April 23 hoping for some reform, the UN Spokesperson's Office makes "advance copies" of reports available. That is fine - but there is no consistency in who they tell of the availability of reports or how they make the announcement.

  Showing bias, they only "squawk" over the internal intercom system some but not all reports. 

  Now this inconsistency applies to pre-releasing some but not all reports. Who decides? How?

   Using the squawk system rather than e-mailing all resident correspondents favors media, like the UN friendly wire, which have a person sitting in their office -- for example a person who filed a "for the record" complaint against another media, than scammed Google intobanning the leaked complaint from Search, misusing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, click here for that.

  Other international organizations handle this with less bias. The IMF gives accredited media like Inner City Press embargoed copies of documents, and hold embargoed briefings to which accredited journalists anywhere in the world can pose questions, then wait and report at the embargo time. The UN must improve: and the Free UN Coalition for Access is working on this.

  Other have complained about this murky UN practices; others still a month ago asked FUNCA to wait a week before proposing reforms, which it did. But where are any reforms? We will continue to Press.

   If the Gulf & Western insiders on the board of the UN Correspondents Association, which tried to get other media thrown out of the UN, have a problem with disclosure, they too should push the UN to reform. But they won't even reform themselves, and for example commit not to seek the expulsion of other media from the UN. 

  The current spokesperson has taken sides on this and other things; it is time for reform. If Ban Ki-moon is so tough and principled, why was hepraising the president of Sri Lanka just after a report showed him seeking to "go all the way" and kill all his opponents? This all circles back. We'll have more on this.

Further back-ground: On April 30 when UN Humanitarian chief Valerie Amos took media questions, Inner City Press asked her about two paragraphs of her report on Syria, the advance copy of which was released on April 23 as analyzed below.

   Paragraph 47 disclosed 25 UN staff members detained. Inner City Press asked, by whom? Amos said by both the government and the armed groups. 

 The June 20 report, in Paragraph 44, says "29 UN staff (27 UNRWA and 2 UNDP) are currently detained of which four are missing."

   The Free UN Coalition for Access has repeatedly asked, including at UN noon briefings, why these reports don't just go online for all to see. The response, off-camera, has been to allow translation into the UN's official six languages. Really?

  The result is that stories are written, for example here by Reuters, that focus on the Syrian government while the report has whole sections about Al Qaeda, Al Nusra, ISIS, et al. Is this retyping really "reporting" by the Reuters bureau chief, who himself is engaged in censorship, here?

 Despite the lack of any stated rule in this regard,  FUNCA and Inner City Press have been criticized for even questioning or reporting on this anti-public process. A previous UN spokesperson told Inner City Press the reason for stealth is that "the member states" would like pre-release before translation. But doesn't the Secretariat WORK for member states? Or is this how they buy the fealty of the scribes?

   But if Gulf media immediately scans and puts the advance copy online, where is the mystery? Where is the double standard? Wouldn't it be better for the UN itself to put the report online when available?

 And then not, as it did on Western Sahara, change the report after getting pushed around? FUNCA is and will remain for UN transparency and fair treatment. And FUNCA maintains there should be answers -- including from UN Under Secretaries General -- and written rules. The UN has outright refused to explain why for example the Turkish Cypriot leader Eroglu was allowed to speak on UNTV but Polisario is not. The lack of rules only benefits the powerful: media, countries, corporations.

     When Qatar sponsored an event at the UN in New York on March 21 featuring the Syrian Coalition headed by Ahmad al Jarba, a group calling its the Syrian Grassroots Movement held protests seeking to oust Jarba.

   By March 22, the group stated that some 40,000 people in 58 cities inside Syria had participated in demonstrations to get Jarba out of his post, saying "it is time to put an end to political corruption."

  Back in September 2013, France sponsored an event in the UN and called Jarba the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people. French Ambassador Gerard Araud was the first questioning at Qatar's March 21 Syrian Coalition event. What is France's position now? Who chooses the leaders?

  Likewise, back in July 2013 and earlier this month, the Jarba-led Syrian Coalition held faux "UN" events in the clubhouse Ban Ki-moon's Secretariat gives to the largely Gulf and Western UN Correspondents Association. How does that now appear, in light of the anti-Jarba protests?

   Qatar's March 21 event was not listed in the UN Journal nor in the UN Media Alert. It was not on the UN's publicly available webcast.

  Select media outlets were there, when Inner City Press came in at the end to ask a question: Al Jazeera on the podium in Qatar's event, Al Arabiya like a Saudi diplomat -- not the Permanent Representative -- in the audience along with Al Hayat, even Al Hurra, on whose Broadcasting Board of Governors US Secretary of State John Kerry serves.

   The new Free UN Coalition for Access is against faux UN events, in the clubhouse the Secretariat gives to what's become its UN Censorship Alliance or elsewhere.

Watch this site.

   

On Syria Chemical Weapons, Churkin Slams Psaki and Leak of P5 Talks, Says Carla Del Ponte Was “Very Clear” - But Where Is She?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 11 – Speaking to the press about chemical weapons in Syria for the second time in three days, Russia's Permanent Representative Vitaly Churkin on Thursday slammed the planned leak of Permanent Five Security Council members' failed negotiation of a resolution.

Churkin said the UK's Mark Lyall Grant convened the five Permanent members to discuss a draft resolution which would track the G8 statement as to chemical weapons. But, Churkin argued, that statement envisioned the team led by Ake Sellstrom coming up with a report for the Council to review and then act on.

The British drive on the wrong side of the road, Churkin jokes, and they got the order here wrong as well. His criticism, however, was of the immediate leaking “to the first journalist” around, that Russia blocked it. Churkin said he had the permission of China's Li Baodong to say China's position was identical to Russia's on this.

Churkin similarly criticized US State Department spokesperson Jennifer Psaki saying that Russia was blocking Sellstrom's probe, saying this is misleading about the Security Council's role in the probe. He reminded that it was Syria which asked for the probe in the first place, of the Khan al-Asal deadly incident in March.

Inner City Press asked Churkin if too much time has gone by for Sellstrom or anyone else to make meaningful conclusions based on a visit to Khan al Asal now. Churkin replied that since the team keeps pushing, they must feel it or something is possible.

Inner City Press also asked Churkin whatever happened with Carla Del Ponte, who said there were strong suspicions of rebel chemical weapon use, then essentially disappeared. This perspective was not in the Commission of Inquiry's report, and it was Paulo Pinheiro and Karen AbuZayd who presented it, both in Geneva and New York. Churkin replied that Del Ponte was “very clear.”

But the question remains: where is Carla Del Ponte? 

Footnote: There is scuttlebutt that outgoing CTBTO chief Tibor Toth may be rewarded by Ban Ki-moon with an Assistant- or even Under-Secretary General post. Conflict? Watch this site.

   

On Syria, Pinheiro Says No “Seal of Approval” for Rebels, Dodges on Chemical Weapons

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 21 – When the UN's Syria Commission of Inquiry briefed the Security Council then the media on Friday, commissioner Carla Del Ponte was not with them.

She famously spoke of strong suspicions that the rebels used chemical weapons – a statement nearly immediately undercut by others in the UN, including Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Commission chair Paulo Pinheiro.

Pinheiro began his Friday stakeout by saying that everything he and co-panelist Karen AbuZayd said, Del Ponte agreed with.

Inner City Press asked about her previous statement on the rebels' use of chemical weapons, which was dropped from the panel's report. Pinheiro cited back to the press release, but went on to say that they have no proof of government use either.

It's doubtful that the US wants to hear this. Also, Inner City Press asked if the Commission keeps track of allegations against different parts of the armed opposition, Al Nusra versus the Free Syrian Army for example, and could give any “seal of approval.”

Pinheiro said it's all relative, and dismissed the idea that there are good guys. Again, with the US moving to provide arms to elements they will describe as good, this cannot be helpful.

Pinheiro and AbuZayd seemed surprised by the focus on chemical weapons. But since Obama has made that his red line, then had Ben Rhodes say that it was crossed, the focus was predictable. So is much else. Watch this site.

On Syria, UN's Amos Cites "Siege" by Rebels Near Aleppo and Idleb, Carla Del Ponte Disappears

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 20 -- UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos briefed the UN Security Council about Syria on Thursday then took questions from the media. Inner City Press asked how many international non-governmental organizations have gotten in, and about reported sieges by the armed opposition of such places as Nobol in Aleppo and Alfoa'a in Idleb. Video here, from Minute 13:03.

  Amos replied that yes, there are sieges. She said that four more NGOs have been allowed in, but are being slowed by bureaucracy.

  On June 21 it was said that the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria would brief first the Council then the press. But then it was said that only two of the three Commissioners were be there: Paulo Pinheiro and Karen AbuZayd.

  The third panelest Carla Del Ponte, who made news when she spoke of evidence pointing to the rebels' use of chemical weapons, has essentially disappeared. She did not take questions at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, and is not listed for the June 21 events at the UN in New York.

  Her statements was immediately undercut by Pinheiro and others in the UN. Is she lying low to get a UN job in the future? Watch this site.

On Syria in Geneva, Pinheiro Report Has No Qatar or Del Ponte, Ladsous' Clouseau-Like Probe of Qatar Role in Golan Kidnappings?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 4 -- As the Syria report of the UN Commission of Inquiry was released and debated in Geneva Tuesday morning, the report was as noteworthy for what was not in it as for what was.

  When panelist Carla Del Ponte said publicly there were "serious suspicions" of chemical weapons use by the rebels, CoI chairperson Paulo Pinheiri quickly put out a press release undercutting it. 

  And lo and behold, his report says in Paragraph 138 that while "it is possible that anti-Government armed groups may access and use chemical weapons... there is no compelling evidence that these groups possess such weapons or their requisite delivery systems."

So there are "strong suspicions" (Del Ponte) but according to Pinheiro's final report, no "compelling evidence"? How to square these two?

On June 3 Inner City Press exclusively reported that despite a statement by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Office of the Spokesperson that video said to indicate rebel use of chemical weapons at Khan Al-Asal was being processed by the UN's Angela Kane for submission to Ban's prober Ake Sellstrom, this has not taken place. Then again, Pinheiro wouldn't even consider the footage.

  Likewise, while the Pinheiro report recites the repeated kidnapping of UN peacekeepers in the Golan in Paragraph 72, it does not even mention the allegation of involvement from Doha, Qatar. During the debate, it was (mis?) stated that Ban's head of Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous is investigating Qatar's role.

  Ironically, Qatar in its speech denounced the abduction of people. Really?

  Pinheiro did speaks against the transfer of weapons in to Syria. At the UN in New York on June 3, the UK's Alistair Burt told Inner City Press his country wants the flexibility to do just that. 

While Botswana said talks could lead to an "amicable" resolution, it's hard to imagine any denouement that would be "amicable."

US Ambassador Eileen Donahoe praised the opposition's "awareness campaigns" -- apparently PSAs by the FSA, Public Service Announcements by the Free Syrian Army. But what about the Al Nusra Front? Watch this site.

Exclusive: UN's Malcorra Met Syria on New Rep to Damascus, US Banking Blockage Raised, Sarin Suspicions

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, May 31 -- Syria's Permanent Representative Bashar Ja'afari was summoned Thursday to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff Susana Malcorra, topic undisclosed.

So at the May 30 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey:

Inner City Press: Syrian Permanent Representative [Bashar] Ja’afari said he wrote to the Secretary-General to complain about Robert Serry’s briefing, that it didn’t mention sufficiently from his view the Golan Heights and the kidnapping of peacekeepers. Can you confirm the receipt of that letter? And also, he was summoned to meet with Susana Malcorra, and I’d like to know, one, if it’s true, and two, what the purpose of the meeting was.

Deputy Spokesperson: Well, Matthew, I don’t have any information on the receipt of a letter that you refer to, and secondly, we don’t have any information on any meeting that may have taken place. As Mr. [Hervé] Ladsous said yesterday, the meeting between United Nations officials and members of the diplomatic corps of the Permanent Missions, we don’t usually report on them.

But we do, and exclusively: Malcorra's topic to Ja'afari was to notify or seek approval of a new UN system official in Damascus, for the UN Development Program. And Ja'afari raised again the UN's duty to ensure that the Host Country, the United States, made it possible for all UN diplomatic missions to have bank accounts. "They are trying to use it as leverage," Ja'afari told Inner City Press.

After reports of Al-Nusra arrests in Turkey, having sarin gas, Inner City Press asked Ja'afari what he made of it. He said, the US trying to distance itself from Al-Nusra.

When US Ambassador to Geneva Eileen Donahoe announced she had met Friday with the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, Inner City Press posed the question: did CoI member Carla Del Ponte say anything about her "strong suspicions" of rebel use of chemical weapons, which the Al Nusra arrests in Turkey seem to support? So far, no response. It's called social media, not a one way street. Watch this site.

On Syria Chemical Weapons, UN's Angela Kane Has Russian Reporter Popova's Information, Prober Ake Sellstrom Next

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 23 -- Back on April 30 at the Russian Mission to the UN, a Russian state television reporter who spent eight months in Syria, Anastasia Popova, told Inner City Press that while she had information about the use of chemical weapons in Khan Al-Asal, the UN panel headed by Paulo Sergio Pinheiro had declined to look at it.

  Inner City Press wrote the story, and on May 1 asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky if Ban's prober Ake Sellstrom would be willing to look at Popova's evidence. Yes, Nesirky said, to the surprise of some.

  Now we can report that Popova has said she did share her information with Ban's High Representative on Disarmament and main negotiator with Syria on chemical weapons, Angela Kane.

  And Inner City Press has learned that Kane's High Representative's Office has received the material and are converting it into a usable format, and it is being sent to the Head of the Team, Ake Sellstrom."

  What will Sellstrom make of it? And have he and Kane similarly sought or got any of the information Carla Del Ponte referred to when she spoke of "strong suspicions" of chemical weapons used -- by the Syrian rebels, not the government? Watch this site.

UN's Eliasson Says Brahimi Will Stays On as Syria Envoy, of Kerry - Lavrov & Carla Del Ponte

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 9 -- After weeks of Lakhdar Brahimi saying he wanted to quit as Joint Special Representative on Syria, and reports that he'd said he planned to leave by the end of May, on Thursday UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson said his boss Ban Ki-moon asked Brahimi to stay on, "and he has accepted to stay on."

So was it all a ploy? Will the UN or Brahimi now claim that it was the threat of quitting that brought the US and Russia together to announce a plan?

There has been a lot of spin. After Monday's meeting between Ban and the Permanent Five members of the Security Council, reference was made to Brahimi's threat to quit. But since then, one of the attendees has denied that account, has even accused a particular Mission and pass-through media of "lying." (To give credit, Eliasson was responding to this media's question.)

  But now Brahimi is staying on! So what if its Carla Del Ponte said one thing -- "strong suspicions" of sarin gas use by the Syrian rebels -- and this was immediately attacked by the US and UK, and undercut by other parts of the UN system? (Click here for Inner City Press story & video.)

  The UN is relevant again, or feels itself relevant again! Click here for Inner City Press' latest on the pending General Assembly resolution, and watch this site.

Exclusive: #Syria Resolution for UNGA Undergoes Fifth & Final Draft, Qatar Ready to Circulate, Text Here

Syria Resolution for UNGA Undergoes Final Draft, Qatar Ready to Intro, Here

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, May 7 -- The proposed Syria resolution for the General Assembly, after four previous drafts by Qatar, has undergone its "final" revision. 

  Inner City Press has obtained a copy and exclusively puts it online here. As of this writing the plan is to introduce it to the full UN membership on Wednesday, May 8 in the afternoon.

  It's very rococo: 22 perambular paragraphs, and 33 operative paragraphs (to the degree that anything in such a non-binding GA resolution can be considered "operative.")

The draft got modified, after as Inner City Press showed countries like India, South Africa, Malaysia, Switzerland,Brazil and other Latin American countries expressed concerns. 

  "Support" of the Arab League, which gave Syria's seat to the opposition, became merely welcoming, and even that only "in this regard" - meaning, for political transition.

  While envoy Lakhdar Brahimi talks of quitting and Human Rights Council-appointed Carla Del Ponte speaks of strong suspicions that sarin gas was used not by the government but the opposition, what explains the timing?

  On Tuesday US Secretary of State John Kerry announced a plan with Russia in which Bashar al Assad would not necessarily have to leave. This is NOT what Qatar, Saudi Arabia and others have in mind. So let's go to a vote!
 
  But four Peacekeepers have been taken by the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, no matter how little the UN's Herve Ladsous wants to say about it; the Non Aligned Movement on May 7 called on the Security Council to act on Israel's bombing of Syria.

So what will it accomplished? Watch this site.

On Syria Rebels' Sarin Gas Use, Carla Del Ponte Undercut by US & UN Panel, Ban Ki-moon's Sellstrom Team Not Interested?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 6 -- As we predicted this morning, but even faster, the UN and the US distanced themselves from the statement of UN Human Rights Council appointee Carla Del Ponte of strong suspicions of the use of sarin gas by the Syrian opposition, not the government.

  At Monday's UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky if Ban's prober Ake Sellstrom would at least look at the evidence Del Ponte cited from "victims, doctors and field hospitals" in neighboring countries.

  Nesirky told Inner City Press, " I would simply refer you to what the Commission of Inquiry said in its press release," which he summarized as "clarifying that it has not reached conclusive findings about the use of chemical weapons in Syria by any parties to the conflict. And, as a result, the Commission said it is not in a position to further comment on the allegations at this time."

It's one thing for this UN "Independent International Commission of Inquiry" to not have public comment -- but shouldn't two arms of the UN, the Commission and Sellstrom's team, as least share evidence?

  In Washington, Obama administration spokesman Jay Carney said, "We are highly skeptical of any suggestions that the opposition used chemical weapons. We think it highly likely that Assad regime was responsible but we have to be sure about the facts before we make any decisions about a response."

  In terms of US public opinion, and a survey as scientific as Sellstrom's has been to date, Inner City Press was a guest on several radio shows on Monday, ranging across the US from Chicago to the Arizona, Nevada and California tri-state area up to Pacifica's Flashpoints in San Francisco.

  These stations, including the one covering Arizona, wanted to question Senator John McCain; the Chicago station was a defender of President Barack Obama. 

  But it's strange, about the Obama administration: they were fast Monday to criticize or disbelieve UN official Carla Del Ponte, but they have been slow to criticize the UN for, as simple one example exposed by Inner City Press, allowing a UN-accredited NGO to auction off an internship "in the UN" for $26,000. Watch this site.

Syria Rebels Used Sarin, UN's Del Ponte Strongly Suspects, Of UK's Trolls & Popova

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 6 -- Amid disputes of the scope of a UN chemical weapons probe in Syria, UN Human Rights Council appointee Carla Del Ponte has said this:

"Our investigators have been in neighboring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals and, according to their report of last week which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas... on the part of the opposition, the rebels, not by the government authorities."

  Now the question is, how fast can the UN Human Rights Council, or Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, or in the Security Council the Permanent Three (France, UK and US) walk back from this?

  Del Ponte previously caused a stir when she reported on the extraction and sell of organs from Serbian prisoners of war. 

  But her work on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia before that had been such that she was put on the HRC's Syria panel.

  Now this.

  Last week at the Russian mission, a Russian state media reporter Anastasia Popova showed some of her footage from eight months inside Syria. 

  Inner City Press asked her about chemical weapons. She replied she had been in Khan al Asal, and had eye witness testimony that chemical weapons use was by the opposition.

  At the next UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson if his prober, Ake Sellstrom, would take a look at the information Popova assembled inside Syria. (Popova said the HRC's Paulo Pinheiro panel, which includes Del Ponte, had been unwilling to.) 

  The answer was yes. Now this. Again, how fast can Ban, the HRC or really the P3 walk back from this?

Footnotes: When Inner City Press reported on the session at the Russian mission, anonymous social media accounts associated with Reuters and others of the UN Correspondents Association board quickly made the false allegation that Inner City Press must be funded by the Assad government, then asked the UN's Stephane Dujarric to dis-accredit Inner City Press -- just after "World Press Freedom Day."

  We've noted that the UK Mission, also on social media but at least like Permanent Representative Mark Lyall Grant under its own name, produced its own World Press Freedom Day video, with four short interviews at least two of which we'll review in another post.

The UK "quartet" included Tim Witcher of Agence France Presse, who on March 8, 2013 filed a false complaint with UN Security saying Inner City Press "abused" French head of Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous.

 It also included, from Reuters, not Louis Charbonneau but Michelle Nichols, who did the same. Higher tech than Witcher, Nichols is associated with UNCA's trolling social media accounts which falsely and anonymously accuses others of being funded by Assad or Sri Lanka's defunct Tamil Tigers, leading to death threats. 

  World Press Freedom Day, indeed. Watch this site.