By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, June 17 -- When UN Security Council experts met Friday morning about the long pending Syria draft resolution, China and Russia attended, unlike on Saturday, June 11. But China said they are not prepared to negotiate about the text, “just listen,” Inner City Press is informed.
The Permanent Representative of another Council member told Inner City Press, “With two veto threats, the West is just going through the motions.”
Three hours later outside the Security Council's so-called “horizon briefing” at which Syria was one of five agenda items, a Western Council member's representative told Inner City Press that in the closed door meeting, comments were made that the refusal to engage of “certain members” made the Council look bad. This did not seem to much impact those with a veto.
Rather, the resolution's proponents are now openly calling out those whose foreign ministers have made comments about the resolution, to come and negotiate around specifics in the text.
South African's foreign minister this week told the press that a Syria resolution could “insinuate regime change.” The response seems to be, show us where in the text the insinuation can be found. But the concern may not be only or even mostly textual.
Ban Ki-moon has been in Brazil, but his spokesperson's office's read-outs of meetings with the president and foreign minister do not mention any discussion of Brazil's position on the resolution. Ban is seeking a vote on a second five year term as Secretary General on June 21. Watch this site.
Footnote: the non-attendance at last Saturday's meeting on the draft Syria resolution was explained as a matter of worker's rights: only work on weekends if necessary, and since no change of voting Monday or Tuesday, why meet Saturday? So further weekend sessions, at least on Syria, seem unlikely.
