By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, November 13 -- During the terrorist attacks in Paris at the Stade de France, the Bataclan theater and a Cambodian restaurant on November 13, at the UN in New York as chance would have it former French Energy Minister Jean-Louis Borloo was holding an hour-long 4 pm press conference about Energies to Africa.
Inner City Press asked him how his sponsors, from Bouygues and Bolloré to Total and Veolia, stood to benefit. Another asking him about Akon. When he asked for a final question, Inner City Press told him about the Paris attacks. Merde, he said, il y'a une attaque terroriste? Mais oui. Vine here.
US President Barack Obama spoke on television about the attacks, at 5:45 pm Eastern, before Francois Hollande did. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon chimed in at 6:17 pm, that he “demands the immediate release of the numerous individuals reportedly being held hostage in the Bataclan theater.”
The new President of the UN General Assembly Mogens Lykketoft issued a statement at 6:33 pm; the UN Security Council, through the UN, issues a Press Statement at 7:13 pm (before that, a draft was circulated to friendly scribes, a retired Reuters and two US state media, presumably by the French mission which let Borloo blather on long after the attack become known).
From Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza's adviser Willy Nyamitwe leapt on the Paris attacks to wonder rhetorically why let lawless individuals decimate peaceful innocents, and asked why a Security Council resolution as on Burundi, rather than Press Statement, wasn't being issued.
How might this impact the holding of or attendance at the Paris COP21 climate change talks? How will it impact refugees, with France already closing its borders? Watch this site.
