At UN, Javad Zarif Asks Envoy to Syria Brahimi If He Comes to Iran Next, Ishallah Is Brahimi's Reply, Censors Jarba Games

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 2 -- "I came to say goodbye," envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi told Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Wednesday. "I am leaving."

  "Leaving to our place?" Zarif asked. "Are you coming to Iran next?"

  "Inshallah," Brahimi said. "Insha'Allah."

  UN General Debate week was over, but at 4:10 pm on Wednesday Iran's Zarif met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his team, on the UN's 38th floor.

  Inner City Press went up for the photo-op, along with other camera-people: four Iranian and one Lebanese, for the station Al Mayadeen. No one else, apparently, cared. But up on the 38th floor, even before the meeting, envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi came into view. A UN Security guard ordered, with authority unclear, not to film Brahimi.

  Also present on the UN side were Jeffrey Feltman, formerly the US State Department's Middle East chief, and Angela Kane, the head of UN Disarmament. There was Ivan Simonovic on human rights, and Valerie Amos on humanitarian affairs.

  There was Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson, seen earlier in the day at the press conference on migration, graciously making sure that the Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info got a question, about the death of workers from Nepal in Qatar.

But it was Zarif who appeared most collected and in charge at the beginning of the meeting with the UN. He said in passing this was his third time up here, "once with the President," Hassan Rouhani. As he signed Ban Ki-moon's book he said, I'll give you one more signature.

Ban's just prior meeting had been with Israeli politician Zehava Galon, Member of Knesset and Chairperson of the Meretz Party in Israel.

  After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Tuesday speech -- for which Ban's spokesperson Martin Nesirky postponed the noon briefing -- and Iran's right of reply, which Nesirky talked over, it was reported as newsworthy that Iran called Israel, Israel. But that as subsequently corrected, that had been done before. What's in a word?

  While the four Iranian and one Lebanese camera-people and Inner City Press were up covering Zarif, Brahimi and Ban, down on the third floor of the UN there was a 4 pm party for the "end of the GA," in a space which only in July hosted a faux UN briefing by Saudi-sponsored Syria rebel boss Ahmad al Jarba. 

  Those are the politics of those running that club or alliance, the UN Correspondents' Association, UNCA, or UN's Censorship Alliance, to which Ban's UN gives a lock clubhouse for faux UN briefings -- the backdoor way into the UN, it's become known.

Nesirky when Pressed to explain why he postponed for Israel but spoke over Iran's reply replied, as transcribed by the UN:

Question: I understand there was a lot of interest in the speech of the Prime Minister of Israel, Mr. [Benjamin] Netanyahu, and there have been other times where I’d wished the briefing had been postponed to hear, for example, the Foreign Minister of Rwanda. But, I just want to know what the policy is, because every day in this last seven days at noon there’s been somebody speaking. What’s the policy on when the briefing is postponed for a particular Head of State? Currently, Iran is speaking, giving its response to what Mr. Netanyahu said, and we’re, obviously, having the briefing at the same time. So, I just wanted to sort of ask you that, in an open-ended fashion, what is the policy?

Spokesperson Nesirky: I think journalists who are covering hard news do understand why I would not think it advisable to go head-to-head with Prime Minister Netanyahu. He’s the Head of Government, not the Head of State, by the way; that’s Shimon Peres. And, that’s the first thing. The second is that there is no hard and fast rule. It’s simply to try to help journalists, like yourself, to be able to cover things to the best of their ability. The fact of the matter is that the journalists in this building, for the most part, were focused today very much on what Prime Minister Netanyahu would have to say, and he was the last speaker in the general debate; and therefore, I took the decision that it would be better not to go head to head with Prime Minister Netanyahu, but to listen to what he had to say and to allow the journalists who are covering him to be able to listen, too, and not be… have their attention divided by wondering whether there was anything going to be said at the briefing, for example, about the chemical weapons team that went in today. As for the rights of reply, that’s a separate matter. That is a procedural matter. This was a speech that was the last one in the general debate.

Inner City Press:: And I really appreciate that. My only question would just be… since you’re using this term “hard news” and that this is harder news than other Heads of State or Heads of Government. Isn’t a definition of “hard news” hearing what the other side has to say, which is taking place right now?

Spokesperson: I think you understand the distinction, Matthew, and I think that most journalists in this room and watching this would understand the distinction

Inner City Press: Did you take a poll? Is that based on any polling data?

Spokesperson Nesirky: It’s based on my experience, for a quarter of a century — far longer than you, Matthew — as a journalist. Thanks very much. Good afternoon, thank you.

And that is another reason for the founding of the Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info. Watch this site.

   

Syria Aid Access Statement May Not Reach Rebel Held al-Raqqa, UK Denies P5 Rule But France Has Picked Scribes for Its Genocide Joyride

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 2 -- A Syria humanitarian access Presidential Statement was adopted by the UN Security Council on Wednesday that establishes some positive precedents while having holes in implementation.

Inner City Press asked Ambassador Sylvie Lucas of Luxembourg, which along with Australia drafted the statement, if she thought that armed groups like ISIS, threatening aid workers in Jarabulus and in al Raqqa, will listen to the statement. Video here, from Minute 7:55.

  Lucas said that Valerie Amos, the UN's top humanitarian who was standing next to the stakeout, could answer on with whom the UN is in contact. Lucas also said that, contrary to reports, no one had "broken silence" on the draft statement. (Several Western-side media reported Russia had broken silence.)

Inner City Press asked Valerie Amos about the ISIS threats in Jarabulus, which were confirmed to the Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info by Amos' EU counterpart Kristalina Georgieva, and if the UN has any access to al Raqqa. Video here, from Minute 5:28.

  Amos said that UN humanitarians reach out as much as possible, where they have a presence.

  But does the UN yet have access, Inner City Press followed up, to al Raqqa?

  Amos conceded, we do not have a physical presence there.Video here from Minute 6:42. So what is this Presidential Statement's effect there?

Inner City Press asked UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant about this statement having been drafted by two non-Permanent members. Video here from Minute 3:50.

  Lyall Grant said this was a good thing, and that "contrary to popular opinion, the Permanent members" encourage the non Permanent members to take the lead.

  But this has NOT been true on the Security Council's Africa trip to the Great Lakes, starting tomorrow. For that, Inner City Press which went on such trips in 2008 and 2010 was rejected this time; UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky admitted on camera that the decision was made by (Permanent member) France, as the "mission in the lead on the whole trip." Inner City Press channel YouTube video here, from Minute 0:41.

So colonial powerhouse France was allowed to hand-pick the scribes for what is now called its Genocide Joyride:Reuters (whose bureau chief has spied for the UN) andVoice of America. But the work of Australia and Luxembourg as drafters must be praised -- as must Azerbaijan's, as amended.

  Inner City Press asked October's Council president Agshin Mehdiyev of Azerbaijan to confirm that the addition, from the September 28 draft to the October 2 adoption, of a line about the territorial integrity not only of Syria but all of "all other States affected by the Syrian conflict" was his country's doing, referring to Armenia not re-settling Armenians from Syria in Nagorno-Karabakh.

  Mehdiyev and his deputy said yes, it was, and that they got another change. And that... is a change. France's sleazy handpicking of scribes for its Genocide Joyride is a blast from the past, and the silence or acquiescence of other Council members bodes badly. We will have more on this.

Footnote: Inner City Press asked Lyall Grant why the provision for cross-border aid had not been applied, despite two years of requests, to Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan in Sudan. He replied that there are "blockages" and perhaps this Syria statement might change that. We'll see. Watch this site.

   

As Process Starts for a New UN Building, Would It Provide More or Less Access? he Free Coalition for Access (FUNCA) Is on the Case

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 2 -- Not unlike a Friday afternoon document dump, the first public hearing about the UN's proposed new building to take over the Robert Moses Playground south of 42nd Street was held on September 24. 

  It was the first day of the just-concluded General Debate. President Barack Obama, pre-shutdown, spoke that day, just after Brazil's Dilma Rousseff slammed US spying.

  At the very time of the public hearing, UK foreign secretary William Hague and UN Sexual Violence in Conflict envoy Bangura held a stakeout. Inner City Press attended that, asking about 135 rapes in Minova by the UN's partners in the Congolese Army. Video here, from Minute 7:22. But now, this report.

  The building would be 36 stories tall, connected to the existing Secretariat Building by a tunnel. It would be developed by the UN Development Corporation, which did One UN Plaza (where Iran's Hassan Rouhani held his press conference last week) and the UNICEF building.

  The architecture of the so-called UN Consolidated Building, by FXFOWLE and Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, is described as drab. There is, not surprisingly, local opposition to the loss of the playground. A Wikileaked cable from then-US Ambassador Susan Rice about the underlying security issues is online, here.

  Security can go overboard. Witness for example the unceremonious ripping-out on 44th Street and 47th Street this week of the CitiBike racks installed just months earlier. The heads of state are gone, but the bikes and even racks aren't back. (Click here for Inner City Press tweeted photograph, night of October 1.)

  The current $2 billion renovation of the existing UN is still not complete; the General Debate was held in a temporary building with no media seats, no nearby stakeout, and little access. Would this proposed new building offer more access? That is among the questions the Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info will be asking.

  The City's ULURP process can take some time; there is also the certainty of a new Mayor, and new City Council speaker, coming in. Watch this site.

   

France Said to Pick Reuters and Voice of America for UN Security Council Trip to DR Congo and Rwanda, France's "Genocide Joyride"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 1 -- After the UN informed journalists of the opportunity to accompany and cover the UN Security Council trip to the Great Lakes region of Africa, it allowed colonial powerhouse France to hand-pick which of those who applied would be able to go.

While Inner City Press in the past went on UNSC trips to the Eastern Congo and Uganda, this time the answer was "no."UN Spokesperson Martin Nesirky acknowledged on camera that it was France's decision.

But when Inner City Press asked which correspondents had been selected by France to cover what's now known as its Genocide Joyride, the information was never provided.

On the evening of September 30, Inner City Press was informed that French Permanent Representative Gerard Araud, responsible for the ideological selection of accompanying correspondents, will not himself be going. 

  And, Inner City Press was told as if it was an excuse, "only" three correspondents would be going, "and not AFP," allegedly due to the size of the UN plane.

Now, not in response to its on the record question but through other sources, Inner City Press is informed of three correspondents selected by France to go, "and many more to be added."

First among those going is Reuters, which has openly parroted the line of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and its Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to head DPKO. As noted, Reuters' Louis Charbonneau at the UN has seen fit to spy for the UN or at least its accreditation official, turning over an anti-Press internal UN Correspondents Association document three minutes after promising not to. Story here,audio here, document here.

  Surprising in terms of the lack of seriousness of its UN correspondent Margaret Besheer's Africa coverage, Voice of America has been selected by France to go. As documented under the UN Freedom of Information Act, Voice of America's Steve Redisch asked the UN accreditation official to "review" Inner City Press' accrediation; VOA's reporter said that Reuters supported this request, click here and here for that.

  But in Washington, VOA's reporter at the State Department Scott Stearns in July asked a planted anti-Rwanda question,the day before then the day of John Kerry's speech on DRC in the Security Council. Perhaps that earned US state media one of the only three spots France gave out -- in the UN plane.

  Click here for a video of the VOA reporter, and Reuters, getting a hallway briefing from France's Ladsous after he refused to answer Press questions about rapes by the DRC Army in Minova.

  The third attendee we don't wish to quarrel with, but it will be seen that while intellectual, it is Western (now Gulf and Western funded and) aligned, and has on its advisory board the second of France's four DPKO chiefs in a row.

  So, this is balanced coverage? Inner City Press was told not to worry about being banned by the French, some "pool reporting" will be provided by the UN Spokesperson's Office staffer selected to go on the trip. And he... used to work for Agence France Presse for 12 years. So AFP isrepresented, in a way. But alternative views have been banned from the trip, France's Genocide Joyride. We will, however, report. Watch this site.

   

Ban Ki-Moon's Meeting With Saudi-Sponsored Syria Rebel Jarba Was Not in UN Media Alert, But UN Photo Was At Ban's Residence

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 1 -- After UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met Saturday at his UN-provided home on Sutton Place with Saudi-sponsored Syria rebel Ahmad al Jarba, Inner City Press at Monday's noon briefing asked about the lack of disclosure. 

   Among other questions, Inner City Press asked why the meeting had not been listed in the UN Media Alert.

  Ban's spokesperson Martin Nesirky on this replied, "the meeting that took place at the Secretary-General’s residence on Saturday evening. This was arranged at relatively short notice, and therefore, it did not figure in the Media Alert. Another reason for it not being in the Media Alert is precisely because it took place at the Secretary-General’s residence. That is his home. I think you will understand."

  But now Inner City Press does not understand. Because accompanying Ban up to his residence at the end of the (UN) workday on Saturday, September 28 were not only at least two bodyguards but also a staffer from UN Photo.

How do we know this? Because UN Photo has published a photograph of Ban going into his residence, "at the end of an intense week of the General Assembly's sixty-eighth general debate and numerous other high-level meetings." Click here to view.

And, we surmise subsequent to Ban's entrance, there is another UN Photo of Ban sitting on his couch reading papers, captioned "Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at his residence at the end of an intense week of the General Assembly's sixty-eighth general debate and numerous other high-level meetings." Click here to view.

Clearly, UN Photo needs some work on captions. But our point is, if his residence is as private as Nesirky's arch answer made it out to be, why did Ban take a UN-paid photographer there with him, to document himself in his house?

And when, in comparison to this photo-shoot, did Ahmad al Jarba arrive? Why was there no photograph of that?

The new Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info has repeatedly asked the UN, through its Department of Public Information, to ensure that newsworthy items and meeting outside of the UN compound be put in the UN Media Alert, and assurances were given (but not followed through). But this meeting with a Saudi sponsored rebel, not put in the UN Media Alert, was clearly newsworthy.

  There was, "to feed the beast" as one observer put it, a 106 word read-out of Ban's meeting with Jarba, longer this his read-outs with many Presidents including those of Bolivia, Colombia, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay, Costa Rica and Brazil (and that's only on "Light on Latin America").

  But why was no photograph taken, or at least, why was no photograph published? Why was it no update made to the UN Media Alert, as was done Monday afternoon to alert reports that Ban would be accepting Four Chairs from Oman? Click here for that UN Photo. And, watch this site.

   

At UN, Sri Lanka Gets Legal Committee Chair, Absurd, Sartre-Translator Gets Human Rights, Fifth to Finn

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 1 -- UN dysfunction was on display on the last day of General Debate speeches and beginning of Committee work on Tuesday.

 

  Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky postponed the day's briefing in deference to the speech by Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, but then talked over Iran's reply. (Click here for Inner City Press questioning andvideo.)

  After Iran's talked-over reply, there was back and forth between Libya's past and current Ambassador Dabbashi and Bolivia's Sacha Llorenti. Evo Morales had noted that the change of regime in Libya led to changes in who got the oil; Dabbashi said Bolivia was mourning the loss of Gaddafi as a funder.

  Later in the afternoon new President of the General Assembly John Ashe lavished praise on Dabbashi, a bit over the top and seeming to take sides, given the context. But perhaps Bolivia will get a committee, as Dabbashi got the chair of the First Committee. (A diplomat from Iran became the rapporteur, with Montenegro as a vice chair.)

  Palitha Kohona of Sri Lanka, a country recently lambasted by the UN's Navi Pillay for intimidating witnesses to the killing of tens of thousands of civilians in 2009 was named the chair of, what else, the UN's Sixth (Legal) Committee.

  In his speech, Kohona said these are challenging times for particular member states. You don't say. But despite Pillay, Sri Lanka seems to still "have" Ban. He is withholding the most recent report on action and inaction in Sri Lanka in 2009. What leverage will the Sixth Committee give Sri Lanka?

  The Fifth (Budget) Committee strangely stayed with the Western European and Other Group, WEOG -- from Germany's Peter Berger to Finland's affable Janne Taalas. But voting on the vice chairs was put off, as it was for the Second Committee, with Senegal as the chair.

  A Sartre-translator from Bulgaria got the Third Committee, with vice chairs from Lebanon and Iceland. The Fourth, on Decolonization, went to El Salvador. Western Sahara, Gibraltar, and even Puerto Rico, get ready. Watch this site.

   

UN Defers to Netanyahu Speech, Talks Over Iran's Reply, Attacks with "25 Year Scribe" Card When Inner City Press Asks Why

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 1 -- The UN's daily noon briefing was postponed on Tuesday during the UN General Assembly speech of Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, most of which was devoted to critiquing Iran and its new president Hassan Rouhani.

  Once Netanyahu had finished, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky came into the briefing room and began, reading a press release about the search for chemical weapons in Syria. By this time, Iran was delivering its "right to reply" to Israel's speech. But Nesirky's briefing ran right over it.

  Inner City Press, after inquiring about the UN's role in cholera in Haiti, the Congo and denial of visas by the US including to a counselor of the State of Palestine, asked Nesirky what the rule was, for which states a UN noon briefing would be postponed.

Nesirky replied that journalists reporting "hard news" wanted it this way. Video here and embedded below.

But wouldn't "hard news" also include hearing the other side's reply? [Inner City Press obtained and has put it online here.]

Nesirky replied that the journalists "in this building and watching this" agreed with him.

Inner City Press asked if that was based on any polling.

Nesirky said he was a journalist for a quarter of a century, "far longer than you, Matthew." Then he ended the briefing.

  It is this type of pre-fabicated common sense, or news sense, this echo chamber of Gulf and Western media, culminating in the UN's Censorship Alliance UNCA spying for Ban's Secretariat (story here), trying to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN, holding faux UN briefings by Gulf and Western supported Syria rebels, for example, that led Inner City Press to co-found the Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info.

  While Ban's Secretariat's response was to threaten to suspend or withdraw Inner City Press' accreditation for merely hanging a sign of the Free UN Coalition for Access on the door of its shared office (while UNCA has five signs), FUNCA will not stop. 

  The UN is supposed to hear from both sides and treat them equally. The press is supposed to be able to ask questions, and UN spokespeople are supposed to answer them. Watch this site.

   

As UN Dodges "Moral Responsibility" on Haiti Cholera, a Joint Commission?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 1 -- After bringing cholera to Haiti, the UN of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has repeatedly said that all claims for the more than 8,000 people killed are "not receivable."

But as reported in Haiti, has Ban now agreed to a "joint commission" with the Haiti government on the issue, with work to begin on October 10?

At the September 30 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson Martin Nesirky:

Inner City Press: On Haiti, the speech by the Prime Minister in the General Assembly said that the UN has “moral responsibility for the eruption of the cholera epidemic”, and said that the response is far from being sufficient, and I wondered, given that he is the Prime Minister of the country, what the response of the Secretariat is to that?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, the Secretary-General met with the Prime Minister of Haiti, and they discussed the question of cholera in Haiti, and the focus was very much on handling that outbreak and the need, specifically, for additional funding. There is something of a shortfall in funding for that, and that is precisely what the focus is on.

Inner City Press: But this phrase “moral responsibility," some have made something of it because up until now the Government has resisted saying the things that the litigants or potential litigants are saying, and so is, does this change anything that the Government uses this phrase?

Spokesperson Nesirky: The focus of the United Nations and, as we understand it, of the Haitian authorities is to help the people of Haiti to overcome the cholera epidemic. And a key component of that is funding.

The UN's read-out of Ban's meeting with Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said that "they discussed the current situation in Haiti, including political developments, joint efforts to eradicate cholera and the relocation of internally displaced persons. The Secretary-General called on the Government of Haiti to continue working closely with his Special Representative, Sandra Honoré, on the strengthening of the Haitian National Police and the continued consolidation of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)."

This phrase "joint efforts to eradicate cholera" was unpacked in Haitian media, HaitiLibre.com: "The idea of the Joint Commission was welcomed by Mr. Ban Ki Moon and Sandra Honoré [Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Haiti] which confirmed the arrival in Haiti, on 10 and 11 October, of UN experts to begin the work of this Commission."

So what IS this Commission? Inner City Press asked, video here. Watch this site.

   

At UN, Ban Ki-moon's Read-Out With Syria Rebel Jarba Trumps Presidents of Chile, Bolivia and Costa Rica; UNable to Update As for Oman Chairs?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 1 -- When UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Saudi-sponsored Syria rebel boss Ahmad al Jarba on September 28 at his (UN-provided) residence, it was not on the UN Media Alert. But afterward his spokesperson Martin Nesirky issued a 106 word read-out of the meeting.

  On September 30, Inner City Press asked Nesirky about al Jarba's meetings in and with the UN, and why Ban's meeting with this rebel (while not only rejecting but even targeting other rebels) was not in the UN Media Alert.

  After saying, "I don’t think you expect me to consider a copy of a letter that you send me to be my way of figuring out whether the Secretary-General received a letter or not," on this Nesirky replied "This was arranged at relatively short notice, and therefore, it did not figure in the Media Alert."

  But later on September 30 the UN sent out an update to that day's schedule, a Ban Ki-moon event opened at short notice: the donation by Oman of Four Chairs. So, it can be done.

  The pomp given to Jarba stands in contrast, for example, to the UN's approach to Tamils who came to the UN to deliver a letter to Ban Ki-moon about the killing of 40,000 of their people by Sri Lanka. In that case, a lower level Department of Political Affairs staffer was sent down to the lobby to take the letter. Inner City Press was told not to cover it, or the UN wouldn't even take the letter this way.

  Ban Ki-moon's read-out with Saudi-sponsored rebel Jarba was longer than those for a number of Presidents. Looking from September 24 forward with a focus on Latin America, consider:

For the President of Bolivia Evo Morales on September 24, Ban Ki-moon's Office of the Spokesperson issues a read-out of 60 words -- compared to 106 words for the Saudi sponsored Syria rebel boss Jarba.

For the President of Chile Sebastian Piñera Echeñique on September 25, Ban's Office issued a read-out of 64 words.

On September 27 for the President of Costa Rica Laura Chinchilla Miranda, Ban's Office of the Spokesperson issued a read out of 61 words.

By contrast, for Ban's September 26 meeting with Yun Byung-se, the foreign minister not president of South Korea, Ban's read out is over 200 words.

As noted, for Ban's September 20 meeting with Amama Mbabazi, Prime Minister of the Republic of Uganda, the read out was only 54 words, despite the upcoming UN Security Council trip to Uganda as well as the DRC, Rwanda and Ethiopia. 

 For that, Ban's Office solicited journalists' request to go -- but then allowed colonial powerhouse France to handpick which correspondents could go. (Nesirky diplomatically referred to France at the September 30 noon briefing as the mission on the lead for the whole trip -- now, French Permanent Representative Gerard Araud is not even going on the trip. Some leader.)

And so, some wonder, particularly after his Saturday night meeting with Jarba, for whom does Ban Ki-moon work? Watch this site.