Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/dcban3media031009.html
WASHINGTON, March 10 -- As school children pointed at the White House and threw bread to pigeons and sparrows, a black limousine and 20-passenger bus swept by at 5:25 on Tuesday afternoon, carrying UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his press-less entourage to a meeting with President Barack Obama. An Inner City Press source emerging from the White House described it as scripted and untransparent. He was surprised that Ban's team had not tried and gotten any UN correspondents in.
It's a pool, he said, predicting two questions to Obama, two question to Ban. Some taking photos through the fence asked this reporter about the black bus waiting in the driveway. The name Ban Ki-moon did not ring a bell with them. One mentioned Kofi Annan. The birds grabbed the bread and flew.
The White House source mentioned a sample point of convergence. Ban paid tribute to Burma's General Than Shwe, he said. And now U.S. gas and oil companies have lobbied the Administration to change course on Myanmar, to move away from sanctions and toward economic integration. They want to make money, despite the dictatorship. They pitch it to Obama as an alternative for now to oil for the Middle East and Venezuela. The ground cover is to call it a helping hand despite Than Shwe's still iron gripping fist, a change we can make you believe in.
At 6:25 p.m., as shown above, the entourage pulled out, heading to Constitution Avenue, to a dinner with the UN Foundation. In the van, apparently after no question, was Ban's Spokesperson and media "liaison" team. An hour and a half later, Ban's press officer, which had not asked to get a single UN correspondent into the White House or pool, issued a bland summary that could have been written before the meeting. Climate change, why not, and Sudan, Iraq and Haiti, from which Ban had just returned.
UN reform, transparency and procurement, were not listed on agenda. Pakistan and Afghanistan were mentioned, along with North Korea. No mention of Myanmar or the Democratic Republic of Congo, much less of Sri Lanka, where the U.S. has discussed military moves with Colombo.
And see, www.innercitypress.com/dcban3media031009.html
