On Syria, Reuters Floats One-Source Trial Balloon for a UNSC Resolution: UK's Pass-Through, Scameron Redux

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 17 -- Friday night from the UNReuters ran a piece about Syria purporting to be news which was little more than a single sourced advocacy piece for the UN Security Council to pass a resolution that hasn't even been introduced yet.

  The piece ends with a (blind) quote that it would be "quite difficult for the Russians to hold out against it." Really?

The Reuters piece says it is based on what "U.N. diplomats said" -- that is, plural. But there is only one diplomat quote, repeatedly.

  Earlier in the week, independent journalists at the UN were summoned to a press stakeout by UN prime minister David Cameron, who after a short statement said he "understood" that Reuters UN had a question. 

  It is all too obvious; these fake-outs at the stakeout are being opposed by the new Free UN Coalition for Access, along with the selective spoon-feeding of news, even about the kidnapping of UN peacekeepers, by UN official Herve Ladsous, see Inner City Press May 17 story and video.

  But at that fake-out at the "Scameron" stakeout, Reuters' UN bureau chief Louis Charbonneau tried to dress up the propaganda, like Kim Jong-un saying he "understood" that KCNA had a question, by claiming he was called on as the UN Correspondents Association.

  If so, he sold out the decaying group's dues paying members in order to promote himself, Reuters, the UK and their identical positions on Syria, which are not shared by all members of UNCA by any means. 

 But the entity, now known as the UN's Censorship Alliance, is increasingly used by Gulf and Western big media to advance their own interests.

Because UNCA has continued, even on this weekend, its anti-Press campaign via anonymous social media accounts associated with Reuters, we note that this Reuters Friday night piece is bylined Michelle Nichols, who appears in a UK Mission to the UN video speaking ironically about World Press Freedom Day. We'll have more on this. For now, on the record media critique is quite different from big media using anonymous accounts against smaller competitors, which Reuters and others in UNCA are engaged in.

In UNGA on Syria, 107 Votes Is "Big Loss for Qatar," Kidnap Email Mystery

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 15 -- After the Syria resolution drafted by Qatar garnered only 107 "yes" votes on Wednesday, compared to over 130 the past two times, many diplomats described it to Inner City Press as a "big loss" for Qatar, "and for France and the UK, the 'brains' behind" the resolution.

  French Ambassador Gerard Araud took the floor to try to get a few more votes. Afterward a Latin American Permanent Representative told Inner City Press that the count would have been below 100 if not for some "last minute arm-twisting."

  Even days before the vote, when Inner City Press asked Saudi Arabia's affable Permanent Representative if he predicted 110 yes votes, he said plus or minus, probably plus. But it was not to be.

  The vote Wednesday was 107 yes, 12 against and fully 59 abstentions. By that count, it seems that 15 countries didn't vote at all -- "got coffee," as one African Permanent Representative put it to Inner City Press before the vote.

  Inner City Press is putting the vote list online here.

The African Group met on Tuesday, asking Qatar to defer the vote. But Qatar rejected this. As Tanzania said, while concerned about Syria, it was not convinced that the resolution would help anything.

On the drama of Syrian Permanent Representative Bashar Ja'afari waving at the end of his speech an email he said showed that the opposition's "ambassador" in Qatar was involved in the kidnapping of four UN peacekeepers by the Yarmouk Martyr's Brigade, Inner City Press ran to the UN noon briefing to ask.

  Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky said he would not disclose any more about the negotiations to free the peacekeepers.

  Back in front of the General Assembly after the vote, Ja'afari briefly showed Inner City Press a copy of the e-mail, saying he could not give it out. It had on it among other things a telephone number -- presumably the number Ja'afari read out in the GA Hall -- and the word "Milad."

  Ja'afari told Inner City Press it was from a UN person in Damascus, telling headquarters of the involvement of the Syrian opposition ambassador in Doha in the kidnapping.

  Inner City Press asked, a UN person working for Envoy Brahimi's office? Ja'afari did not say yes.

There is much more to ask. Inner City Press ran to cover what was called a stakeout by UK prime minister David Cameron, where it turned out the questioner (Reuters, or UNCA) -- and the Syria question? -- were selected in advance. There are scams everywhere. Watch this site.

At UN, Cameron "Understands" A There's a Syria Question from Reuters & UNCA, Censors on Sri Lanka

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 15 -- With UK prime minister David Cameron at the UN and promoted to "do a stakeout" -- that is, take question, presumably not pre-ordinated and pre-screened -- a flock of UN correspondents left the scheduled Syria vote in the UN General Assembly and went to Cameron's stakeout.

  But once there, there was a scam. Cameron came out, read a statement and then said, I understand there is a question from UN Reuters.

   Understand how? From whom?

   Inner City Press asked the UK Mission to the UN how this came about, and now understands it was not them but "Number 10's press people."

   So did Cameron also understand what the question was going to be?

   Once called on, Reuters' Louis Charbonneau of Reuters asked a softball question about Syria, but only after branding it, saying, "On behalf of the UN Correspondents Association" -- an organization which spent most of its meetings in 2012 trying to get smaller investigative Press thrown out of the UN.

In fact, Charbonneau himself first filed a stealth complaint with the UN against Inner City Press, then Reuters supported Voice of America's formal request to get Inner City Press'accreditation "reviewed," according to documents obtained from VOA under the Freedom of Information Act. Click here for that.

Charbonneau of Reuters and UNCA, shaking with Ban Ki-moon (c) Luiz RRampelotto

  Later when asked at an on the record meeting to explain his and UNCA's role, Charbonneau refused, and told Inner City Press "the fundamental problem is your web site." Click here for audio.

At a minimum, the new Free UN Coalition for Access would say that the organizers of a stakeout at the UN -- in this case, "Number 10's press people" -- should tell correspondents in advance that they have already chosen who can ask questions. Otherwise, the independent media is being used as extras, as in a film.

  But second, what did Number 10 consider before handing this question to Reuters' UN bureau chief? We'll have more on this.

Footnote: As Inner City Press told the UK Mission, it would have asked Cameron about going to Sri Lanka for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, given its "accountability" record and Cameron's statements on accountability in Syria. 

  UNCA, it should be noted, has used anonymous social media accounts, active even on May 15 during all this, to falsely accuse Inner City Press of being funded by terrorists, triggering death threats. These are not only Ban's UN, but now Number 10's, partners?