John Kerry Claims Qatar and Saudi Work for Moderation in Syria, Cites Poland Support for Bombing, Ban Ki-moon at G20

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 6 -- Selling US military action on Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry told MSNBC's Chris Hayes that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are involved in training armed groups in Syria to be more moderate. Kerry said:

"there’s a very careful vetting process that’s taking place where people have to come out of Syria and they spend a period of time. They are trained appropriately after being vetted, and then they go back in. And the Turks, the Jordanians, the Qataris, the Saudis, the Emiratis, a lot of people are involved in that process."

  This description of Saudi and Qatari involvement in Syria seems partial, to say the least. Kerry went on to name, as supporters of military action on Syria, this same grouping along with France and one other country: Poland.

Observers of how the US works in the United Nations now expect the US to strong arm micro-states to come out in support.

  Meanwhile at the G20 in St. Petersburg, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with and issued read-outs about Turkey's Ergogan, Germany's Merkel and France's Francois Hollande (and foreign minister Laurent Fabius).

  Two attendees were listed for France, as Ban brought along envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to the meeting with the French (but not Germany or Turkey). With Erdogan Ban discussed not only Syria but also Cyprus. But with France, there was no mention of Mali, or the Central African Republic, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

  In terms of the training that Kerry claimed for Syrian rebels, it's worth noting as Inner City Press did months ago that the DRC's 391st Battalion, implicated in 135 rapes in Minova in November 2012 and in corpse desecration more recently, was trained by the US. 

  Click here to view the US Mission to the UN's response to Inner City Press about the DRC 391st Battalion. We publish responses -- when we get them. While not answered or allowed at the UN on September 5, will US Ambassador Samantha Power address, in DC at the Center for American Progress later today, why not wait for the UN report? Watch this site.

   

Qatar Behind Paywall, No Al Jazeera America at UN in NY, French Control Like UN Peacekeeping?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 20 -- On August 19 inside the UN in New York City, after a day-long Security Council debate about the protection of civilians, the Qatar-funded channel Al Jazeera was no longer available, at least not in English.

  It used to be on the UN's in-house EZTV. But Monday night this turned to a Microsoft blue screen -- Windows 7, by the way -- and only the Arabic version remained available. On the Internet, the live stream of Al Jazeera English had ended, with instructions to lobby cable TV systems to include the new Al Jazeera America.

The Free UN Coalition for Access, which presses for media access of all kinds, asked the UN official in charge of UN TV, Stephane Dujarric, if the UN will be getting Al Jazeera America, or AJAM.

  While not yet responding to FUNCA (or Inner City Press) on a range of other UN media access issues, Dujarric to his credit did answer this one: "We hope to have Al Jazeera English back on air soon."

But how? The UN's EZTV uses Time Warner cable -- at least, its logo floats on the screen for other channels previously available in the UN that have now gone dormant, like BBC, TV 5 and MSNBC. And Al Jazeera America lists Time Warner as among the cable systems it says must be lobbied to put it on.

Will the UN lobby Time Warner? Or is it making other arrangements? 

  Expanding into other issues raised without response by FUNCA such as the media covering the UN General Assembly now being confined to broken down photo booth, with no seats for the press or public inside the GA, and anonymous trolling by the UN's silent partner, Inner City Press asked Dujarric, "what of UNGA booth and other basic fixes raised since June?"

These "basic fixes" include issues like Dujarric's partner the UN Correspondents Association at least not attacking the Press with confidential complaints about questions being asked "too aggressively" of UN officials like Herve Ladsous and with anonymous social media trolling. Dujarric's supervisors long ago vowed the latter would end, but the problem continues even August 19, like the unfixed GA booths.

 (FUNCA began in December 2012 by asking the UN to adopt content neutral media accreditation policy and due process rules for journalists on stealth complaints like Voice of America's, after the UN didn't substantively respond to a related NYCLU request for these.)

  Dujarric counseled to "relax," and "patience," with a hashtag no less. But even just on the Al Jazeera issue, the August 20 imposition of a paywall (not that Qatar needs the money) was known of long in advance. 

  Given CNN's, even CNNi's, rotation of stories, now international news options inside the UN are centered around French government controlled France 24.

  FUNCA will not relax with that -- France already controls UN Peacekeeping through Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to hold the post. It's time to open up the UN, in this and other ways. Watch @FUNCA_info, and this site.

   

Amid UNTV Lay Offs, UN Says Its Up to Contractor, Like Garment Industry; Of TeamPeople Skeleton Crew, EZTV & Banning Dissent

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 27 -- Two days before long time UN sound engineers and camera operators stand to lose their jobs, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesperson Eduardo Del Buey about Ban's labor practices and new and mounting criticism of them.

Del Buey declined to respond to the critical letter of the ITUC federation of unions, with 176 million members, which Inner City Press put online yesterday. On the situation of the audio visual technicians, he said he'd supply an answer. And now he has:

Subject: Your question on TV services at the UN
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] org
Date: Thu, Jun 27, 2013 at 2:39 PM
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com

Regarding the contract for Audiovisual Services at the UN, we have the following to say:

Following a standard procurement solicitation process, a new contract for Broadcast and Audiovisual Services at UN Headquarters in New York has been awarded to TeamPeople, a media talent staffing company based in Virginia. TeamPeople has broad experience in providing technical staffing to broadcasters, media operations, video production companies and conference facilities in the US and the UK. TeamPeople will assume full operational responsibilities on 1 July, and the contract will run for a period of two years with options to extend.

The new contractor has sole responsibility for supplying the technicians, i.e. sound engineers, camera operators and studio technicians. The UN's contract is with the contractor only and the UN is not involved in the contractor's hiring processes.

  Not only does this sound suspiciously like a clothing company saying it is not responsible for its contractors, like the one's whose factory recently collapsed in Bangladesh -- it ignores the question of the quality of the broadcasts.

  Already on Thursday when Iraq's foreign minister Zebari spoke, there was no boom microphone operator. Inner City Press shouted out its question about the $11 billion Iraq still owes Kuwait -- but still on the webcast, trying to transcribe it, questions could barely be heard.

  And it stands to get worse. TeamPeople has told those it has interviewed that it plans to go to a “skeleton crew” through August. They will be doing trainings this weekend -- the two days before they become entirely responsible for UNTV productions.

  Meanwhile on the UN's new “EZTV” system, already not working at BBC, Al Jazeera English, TV5 Monde, MSNBC and all local stations. The UN says it wants the news out, but of late makes things difficult for reporters, and even threatens them with the suspension or withdrawal of accreditation for aligning with and hanging the sign of the Free UN Coalition for Access, pushing for more access, to hold the UN to its stated principles. Watch this site.