By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Video Photo
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - CJR - PFT
UN GATE, Sept 21 – In the United Nations, on September 1 a list of speakers for the UN General Assembly week Sept 22-29 was released, photo here.
From 2006 into 2018, Inner City Press closely covered each UNGA week from inside the UN, asking questions in the UN Press Briefing Room (which which France once threatened to use Secretary General Antonio Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric to have it removed and its accreditation pulled).
Inner City Press on September 5, 2020 submitted a formal application to cover this 2020 UNGA, including for access to the UN' online briefings, to ask questions about such crises as Cameroon, Yemen and China's expansionism. Receipt has been confirmed: photo here.
Past 11 pm on September 20, hours before the UN's "The World We Want" event, the UN emailed Inner City Press that its application was "declined for the following reason" - BLANK. Photo here.
This is how arrogant today's UN is with the public's money, and the contempt the UN has for due process, freedom of the press and other principles mouthed by Guterres and his gang. This is the World They Want - a world without criticism of them, without critics, where they can take bribes and cover up rapes with impunity.
There was further evidence on September 19-20: Inner City Press' IP address was suddenly blocked from accessing the UN's websites, article here, video demonstration here. We'll have more on this.
Guterres' chief propagandist Melissa Fleming, spending public money on a vanity podcast while refusing questions about what the UN actually, wants to limit physical entry into the UN building to so-called "resident correpondents." But even if that were legitimate (it is not), there is no reason to similarly limit access to online briefings. The IMF doesn't - Inner City Press is given the codes and asks questions and get answers.
Thin skinned Guterres is abusing his position to block the Press from covering actual leaders. So what will member states and the UN's ultimate funders do? We will continue reporting. Watch this site.
Most resident correspondents write nothing, or only propaganda. And who will decide on these "very limited non-resident" [sic] who will be allowed in? This is the beginning of a series. Thread here.
The censored UNGA Week will be even more lame than usual, with most speeches - other than Trump's? - by video. Still in the first morning there are China and Russia, Qatar, Morocco and Iran. Cameroon's dictator Paul Biya, supported in his killing like many others by Guterres, is on Friday September 24.
Yet only the same old retirees and state media will be allowed in, they say. Inner City Press will have more on this.
Earlier on September 1 Inner City Press wrote to the Niger Mission, as incoming UN Security Council president, with questions about Cameroon, Somalia and UNsexploitation.
The email address on the Niger Mission's UN web page did not work; it bounced back. A Direct Message on Twitter to @Niger_ONU was not answered.
This as Sani I. Mahamadou, Deputy Chief of Staff to Niger's president, bragged online of a "Very big day for Niger, who begins his month of presidency of the United Nations Security Council." They're off to a terrible start.
Apparently Niger PR Abdou Abarry could only handle questions from pre-screened in-house correspondents, one of whose media has no story by her since 2017, another with no stories at all, at least one - actually, more -- a repeated #MeToo violator. Periscope here.
Niger has not said a word about the slaughter in Cameroon, nor about the UN Peacekeeping sexploitation exposed by Inner City Press.
The Program belatedly went up - with countries on which Niger ignored and censored questions: Myanmar, Somalia, where UNMAS sent local staff to be killed, and Colombia and South Sudan. There will be Francophonie on September 8. We have now written directly to the Mission's 404 spokesman - and will have more on this.
When Guterres' spokes- / hatchetman Stephane Dujarric holds his noon briefings this week while refusing all questions from Inner City Press despite an on camera promise. Again, what will member states and the UN's ultimate funders do? We'll report.
Watch this site.
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