In UN, Gushing About Monarchs' Chefs Poisoned by Murky Finances, UNCA Spies, Bokassa Echo

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 29 -- Three days ago, inquiring into financial practices and favoritism in the UN, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's outgoing deputy spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey about Room S-310 being locked up by the UN Correspondents Association, used for "briefings" only publicized to those who pay it money -- on that day, about Syria.

  Del Buey replied, "we’ll check on that and get back to you." But three days later, still with no answer to that simple financial question, word leaks or oozes that UNCA is at it again, this time even lower down the food chain.

  The "Club des Chefs des Chefs" -- literally, 25 of those who cook for heads of state -- will set up shop in the room the UN gives UNCA, along with an also locked-up pantry, a separate office and even a focus booth used by a non-journalist UNCA intern to whom at the request of UNCA's 2013 president Pamela Falk of CBS the UN gave a "P" Press pass. 

  Falk then made the introduction to Ban's deputy Jan Eliasson as "one of our interns."

  This breaking news, or breaking eggs, event was of course not announced even to all UN accredited resident correspondents. It was "leaked" to the Free UN Coalition for Access by one of UNCA's disgruntled members.

  Then it was confirmed on the Twitter feed of a long time UNCA officer followed by a mere dozen UN correspondents, but at least two anonymous accounts set up by UNCA Executive Committee members to troll Inner City Press. (UNCA's anonymous social media campaign picked up on Saturday July 27).

  The UN Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit also followed. Its boss also in charge of UNTV -- which they screen the chefs, as UNCA asked them to do for Syria oppositionists? -- told FUNCA that Room S-310 would be left unlocked and the "UNCA Pantry" was just a notation on a blue print. Right.

  Worse, UNCA first vice president Louis Charbonneau of Reuters truly leaked an internal anti-Press document to this UN Accreditation official, three minutes after promising not to do it. Audio here, story here; document headed "you didn't get this from me" here. This has still not be acted on.

   This is called spying for the UN. There is something rotten cooking in this kitchen, alongside the gushed-out presence of "White House top chef Chisteta Comerford and, yes, "Her Majesty the Queen's chef Mark Flanagan." The murky finances and spying poison the atmosphere. Watch this site.

Footnote: the talk of chefs for heads of state bring to mind the Europeans who sauced up human flesh for France's Central African Republic strongman Bokassa - more on this in connection with the Mads Brugger film "The Ambassador," which UN staff say includes, yes, Inner City Press, which reports on CAR and the ongoing CAR Alarm...

   

IMF Claims that Icesave Commitments Were "Not Critical," Dismisses Citigroup and Deutsche Bank Role

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/imf2iceland042110.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 21 -- The $160 million the IMF is disbursing to Iceland was delayed for months. In Iceland's Letter of Intent leading to the disbursement, the government commits" to ensure that the United Kingdom and the Netherlands will be reimbursed in respect of deposits of Landsbanki [Icesave] branches in those two countries."

When the IMF's IMF mission chief to Iceland Mark Flanagan held a conference call on April 21, Inner City Press asked him to discuss the commitment of the government to pay principal and interest, and "reimburse" the UK and Netherlands.

Flanagan argued that the above quoted Paragraph 20 of the Letter of Intent was "not from us." He said, "any language was fine with us" and that the language was "not critical."

Some may find this hard to believe, akin to other IMF claims that it does not impose conditions any more, but simply makes suggestions. Inner City Press followed up by asking Flanagan to describe the IMF's -- including the Executive Board's -- communications with the Netherlands and UK.

Flanagan replied that IMF staff are "not involved in bilateral disputes." But what about the Executive Board, which in turn communicates with the IMF staff?

Inner City Press asked Flanagan for the IMF's thoughts on Iceland Central Bank governor Mar Gudmundsson April 16 statement to state TV station RUV that "a bank could collapse without me knowing of it. There haven’t been any changes, and all the problems that arose in the run up to the collapse and in the collapse are unsolved."

Flanagan said he wouldn't respond to the Central Bank governor's quote, because he didn't know its context. It seems pretty clear -- "there haven't been any changes."

The most recent report on Iceland identifies Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley among others as having fueled the crisis. Inner City Press asked Flanagan about these three companies and what is being done to see it doesn't happen in the future. While not responding directly, Flanagan said that there is nothing in the new report he wasn't aware of, and that he is confident that the government is dealing with all of it. We'll see -- watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/imf2iceland042110.html