Empty UN General Assembly Hall for SDGs Global Goals Debate, Of Lies Agreed To, Lax Correspondents

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 26 -- For what many called a historic debate about the UN's Sustainable Development Goals or “Post 2015 Development Agenda” Inner City Press remained in the UN on September 26, eager to report the news. The news, however, turned out to be that the “debate” proceeded with the General Assembly Hall nearly entirely empty.

  After the head of UNHABITAT Joan Clos called an expanse of empty chairs, “Your Excellencies,” Inner City Press ran to cover the meeting. The first metal detector, the source of much delay earlier in the day when trying to ask about the Trans Pacific Partnership, was unmanned, as was the second.

  From a Photo Booth about the GA Hall, Cameroon's Ambassador Tommo Monthe called on one speaker after the next, then a Right of Reply from Armenia. This was followed by one from Azerbaijan, then a second round, all on Nagorno-Karabakh. Inner City Press broadcast it on Periscope, here, and tweeted some photos, here and here. There are more.

  But who will say it, when the Emperor has no clothes? Earlier in the week, the old UN Correspondents Association ousted Inner City Press from covering Pope Francis, claiming that “multimedia” does not mean “photographer.” Then it refused to send its supposed “pool” coverage to all UN resident correspondents, instead sending it only to those who paid it money, then hours later putting hard copies on its glassed-in bulletin board, as if people would stand there and take notes. This is today's UN.

 The head of UNCA, after renting one of his apartments to Palitha Kohona, granted his request as Sir Lanka's ambassador for a UN / UNCA screening of a genocide detail film, "Lies Agreed To." The debate on SDGs, on Saturday at least, fit that bill: Lies Agreed To.

Among the SDGs speeches in the GA Hall earlier on September 26, China's Xi Jinping grabbed headlines with a $2 billion pledge for a South - South development fund.

 This was praised, less than an hour later, by Bolivia's Evo Morales in a press conference elsewhere in the UN; Inner City Press asked Morales about sovereign debt restructuring, which new GA President Mogens Lykketoft on September 25 told Inner City Press will NOT be dealt with in the UN's walls, a position contrary to the views and votes of the Group of 77.

  Raul Castro said the US embargo is holding back Cuba's development; Iran's Hassan Rouhani said the nuclear deal will be good for the environment. Lebanon raised the problem of being classified as a middle income country, which Inner City Press has asked UN officials from Sigrid Kaag to outgoing UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres about (who will take the post from Guterres, and their view and action on this, is the subject of an ongoing Inner City Press series, also involving Lykketoft and his fellow Dane, former Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt.

   Sudan's Foreign Minister conveyed the greeting of Omar al-Bashir, of whom wire(s) reported, probably knowing even at the time it was false, that he would visit New York despite his indictment for genocide by the International Criminal Court. There is a lot of made-up news around the UN, especially now. And we're on the look out for it.

 These Sustainable Development Goals, to which a session of the UN General Assembly is devoted, are being promoted in videos, flags, projections on the UN buildings.

  Inner City Press on September 4 asked film-maker Richard Curtis and Amina Mohammed, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning about this campaign, and if it will raise the issue of who will PAY for implementation of the goals -- including if the corporate partners of the campaign are in fact paying or avoiding their taxes.

  To Amina Mohammed and DPI's Cristina Gallach, Inner City Press on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access asked when the UN will have a Freedom of Information Act. Video here.

Earlier on September 3 when the International Monetary Fund resumed its biweekly embargoed media briefings, Inner City Press submitted four questions. Inner City Press asked:

"Who from the IMF is coming to the UN General Assembly (and SDGs, etc) week in late September, and what is their program? What meeting will they participate in? What do they hope to accomplish?"

IMF Deputy Spokesperson William Murray answered, as fast transcribed by InnerCityPro:

“Matthew, and others, the Managing Director is scheduled to attend the UNGA particularly the SDGs segment in late September. There was a previous meeting in Addis Ababa we participated in at a high level that dealt with the SDGs... The IMF's Executive Board recently endorsed a 50% increase in access to all the funds concessional lending facilities and to maintain a 0% rate for low income countries that struggle with disasters and conflict. The Executive Board of the Fund has endorsed IMF's engagement in sustainable inclusive growth, on which we'll be elaborating in the weeks and months to come.”

  One focus should be financial inclusion, on which we'll have more during UNGA week.

 In the meanwhile, Murray also said Managing Director Christine Lagarde is about to arrive in Ukraine for "opportunistic" meetings with the authorities, and an IMF mission team will go there on September 22.

  On September 3, Inner City Press also submitted questions about Nepal and Grenada, as well as this:

"In Indonesia the Vice Speaker of the House of Representatives Taufik Kurniawan recently said, 'We do not ask for IMF support in crisis;' at the UN in NY on Sept 2, the Vice Chairman of the House of Representatives of Indonesia H. Fadli Zon told Inner City Press much the same thing. What is the IMF's response to these criticisms or resistance to the IMF, from elected representatives of the country where the IMF now plans its 2018 Annual Meetings?"

  We hope to receive answers.

  Back on July 8 when the International Monetary Fund released reviews and papers about the United States, complete with support of the Dodd Frank Act and mentions of anti money laundering protection Inner City Press asked about the proposal to raise the definition of Systemically Important Financial Institution from $50 billion up to $500 billion and if tight AML strictures are to blame for cutting off remittances to Somalia.

  Aditya Narain, IMF mission chief for the Financial Sector Assessment Program and deputy director, Monetary and Capital Markets department, told Inner City Press that the IMF believes such definition should give predictability, but should be based on risk and not necessarily only asset size.

  Narain told Inner City Press, "On the first one, our general belief is that supervisory approaches should be risk based, and therefore the materiality and proportionality of institutions should be taken into account for to develop supervisory frameworks. At the same time, we also recognize that it’s important to have some clear rules, regarding a unit, in this case size of institutions, because not only does it set a baseline of expectations, but it also provides a useful framework for people to anchor their expectations on. So that’s why, in a sense we would agree that it’s important to make these approaches risk based and therefore not dependent on size alone. I should add also, that our only political ideology is financial stability, for the purpose of this exercise.

  But will this be used FOR the Senator Richard Shelby draft bill?

  On remittances, Aditya Narain said it is an important question but one that the IMF is dealing with in other venues; it apparently wasn't raised to the US during this process. Why not?

 Narain told Inner City Press, "On the regulatory question, this is an issue which is being discussed in several forums where the IMF has been participating, and this is an issue not just for the US, although it has been most discussed in the context of the US, but the effects of the AML on remittances and the result, the stringent adherence to standards has led to a concern more globally that might be affecting the flow of remittances to those jurisdictions... where such remittances and the channels through which they flow are more important. We have not discussed this... there is work ongoing in the Fund, including in collaboration with other institutions like the World Bank... and we expect to be able to have more information on this in a few months time."

   In the embargoed media conference call, two questions in a row went to the Financial Times, which opined that the IMF report takes the side of the Democratic Party. The IMF disagreed. The IMF said, in writing, “As the epicenter of the global financial crisis that began in 2008, the United States passed a major law in 2010, the Dodd-Frank Act, to reform its financial system. Officials need to complete the rulemaking under the law, while parts of reform agenda face legislative proposals to water them down.”

   Central Banking asked two questions and Reuters one, on federal insurance regulation.  Watch this site.
   

On SDGs, Cuba's Raul Castro on Embargo, Chinese President Xi's $2 Billion Pledge Praised by Evo, Sudan's Bashir Absent

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 26 -- Among the Sustainable Development Goals speeches in the UN General Assembly Hall on September 26, China's Xi Jinping grabbed headlines with a $2 billion pledge for a South - South development fund.

 This was praised, less than an hour later, by Bolivia's Evo Morales in a press conference elsewhere in the UN; Inner City Press asked Morales about sovereign debt restructuring, which new GA President Mogens Lykketoft on September 25 told Inner City Press will NOT be dealt with in the UN's walls, a position contrary to the views and votes of the Group of 77.

  Raul Castro said the US embargo is holding back Cuba's development; Iran's Hassan Rouhani said the nuclear deal will be good for the environment. Lebanon raised the problem of being classified as a middle income country, which Inner City Press has asked UN officials from Sigrid Kaag to outgoing UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres about (who will take the post from Guterres, and their view and action on this, is the subject of an ongoing Inner City Press series, also involving Lykketoft and his fellow Dane, former Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt.

   Sudan's Foreign Minister conveyed the greeting of Omar al-Bashir, of whom wire(s) reported, probably knowing even at the time it was false, that he would visit New York despite his indictment for genocide by the International Criminal Court. There is a lot of made-up news around the UN, especially now. And we're on the look out for it.

 These Sustainable Development Goals, to which a session of the UN General Assembly is devoted, are being promoted in videos, flags, projections on the UN buildings.

  Inner City Press on September 4 asked film-maker Richard Curtis and Amina Mohammed, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning about this campaign, and if it will raise the issue of who will PAY for implementation of the goals -- including if the corporate partners of the campaign are in fact paying or avoiding their taxes.

  To Amina Mohammed and DPI's Cristina Gallach, Inner City Press on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access asked when the UN will have a Freedom of Information Act. Video here.

Earlier on September 3 when the International Monetary Fund resumed its biweekly embargoed media briefings, Inner City Press submitted four questions. Inner City Press asked:

"Who from the IMF is coming to the UN General Assembly (and SDGs, etc) week in late September, and what is their program? What meeting will they participate in? What do they hope to accomplish?"

IMF Deputy Spokesperson William Murray answered, as fast transcribed by InnerCityPro:

“Matthew, and others, the Managing Director is scheduled to attend the UNGA particularly the SDGs segment in late September. There was a previous meeting in Addis Ababa we participated in at a high level that dealt with the SDGs... The IMF's Executive Board recently endorsed a 50% increase in access to all the funds concessional lending facilities and to maintain a 0% rate for low income countries that struggle with disasters and conflict. The Executive Board of the Fund has endorsed IMF's engagement in sustainable inclusive growth, on which we'll be elaborating in the weeks and months to come.”

  One focus should be financial inclusion, on which we'll have more during UNGA week.

 In the meanwhile, Murray also said Managing Director Christine Lagarde is about to arrive in Ukraine for "opportunistic" meetings with the authorities, and an IMF mission team will go there on September 22.

  On September 3, Inner City Press also submitted questions about Nepal and Grenada, as well as this:

"In Indonesia the Vice Speaker of the House of Representatives Taufik Kurniawan recently said, 'We do not ask for IMF support in crisis;' at the UN in NY on Sept 2, the Vice Chairman of the House of Representatives of Indonesia H. Fadli Zon told Inner City Press much the same thing. What is the IMF's response to these criticisms or resistance to the IMF, from elected representatives of the country where the IMF now plans its 2018 Annual Meetings?"

  We hope to receive answers.

  Back on July 8 when the International Monetary Fund released reviews and papers about the United States, complete with support of the Dodd Frank Act and mentions of anti money laundering protection Inner City Press asked about the proposal to raise the definition of Systemically Important Financial Institution from $50 billion up to $500 billion and if tight AML strictures are to blame for cutting off remittances to Somalia.

  Aditya Narain, IMF mission chief for the Financial Sector Assessment Program and deputy director, Monetary and Capital Markets department, told Inner City Press that the IMF believes such definition should give predictability, but should be based on risk and not necessarily only asset size.

  Narain told Inner City Press, "On the first one, our general belief is that supervisory approaches should be risk based, and therefore the materiality and proportionality of institutions should be taken into account for to develop supervisory frameworks. At the same time, we also recognize that it’s important to have some clear rules, regarding a unit, in this case size of institutions, because not only does it set a baseline of expectations, but it also provides a useful framework for people to anchor their expectations on. So that’s why, in a sense we would agree that it’s important to make these approaches risk based and therefore not dependent on size alone. I should add also, that our only political ideology is financial stability, for the purpose of this exercise.

  But will this be used FOR the Senator Richard Shelby draft bill?

  On remittances, Aditya Narain said it is an important question but one that the IMF is dealing with in other venues; it apparently wasn't raised to the US during this process. Why not?

 Narain told Inner City Press, "On the regulatory question, this is an issue which is being discussed in several forums where the IMF has been participating, and this is an issue not just for the US, although it has been most discussed in the context of the US, but the effects of the AML on remittances and the result, the stringent adherence to standards has led to a concern more globally that might be affecting the flow of remittances to those jurisdictions... where such remittances and the channels through which they flow are more important. We have not discussed this... there is work ongoing in the Fund, including in collaboration with other institutions like the World Bank... and we expect to be able to have more information on this in a few months time."

   In the embargoed media conference call, two questions in a row went to the Financial Times, which opined that the IMF report takes the side of the Democratic Party. The IMF disagreed. The IMF said, in writing, “As the epicenter of the global financial crisis that began in 2008, the United States passed a major law in 2010, the Dodd-Frank Act, to reform its financial system. Officials need to complete the rulemaking under the law, while parts of reform agenda face legislative proposals to water them down.”

   Central Banking asked two questions and Reuters one, on federal insurance regulation.  Watch this site.
   

For Global Goals or Sustainable Development Goals Campaign, Do Partners Pay Taxes, FOIA Needed, FUNCA Says

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 4 -- The Sustainable Development Goals, to which a session just before the UN General Assembly debate later this month will be devoted, will be promoted in videos, flags, projections on the UN buildings.

  Inner City Press on September 4 asked film-maker Richard Curtis and Amina Mohammed, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning about this campaign, and if it will raise the issue of who will PAY for implementation of the goals -- including if the corporate partners of the campaign are in fact paying or avoiding their taxes.

  To Amina Mohammed and DPI's Cristina Gallach, Inner City Press on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access asked when the UN will have a Freedom of Information Act. Video here.

Earlier on September 3 when the International Monetary Fund resumed its biweekly embargoed media briefings, Inner City Press submitted four questions. Inner City Press asked:

"Who from the IMF is coming to the UN General Assembly (and SDGs, etc) week in late September, and what is their program? What meeting will they participate in? What do they hope to accomplish?"

IMF Deputy Spokesperson William Murray answered, as fast transcribed by InnerCityPro:

“Matthew, and others, the Managing Director is scheduled to attend the UNGA particularly the SDGs segment in late September. There was a previous meeting in Addis Ababa we participated in at a high level that dealt with the SDGs... The IMF's Executive Board recently endorsed a 50% increase in access to all the funds concessional lending facilities and to maintain a 0% rate for low income countries that struggle with disasters and conflict. The Executive Board of the Fund has endorsed IMF's engagement in sustainable inclusive growth, on which we'll be elaborating in the weeks and months to come.”

  One focus should be financial inclusion, on which we'll have more during UNGA week.

 In the meanwhile, Murray also said Managing Director Christine Lagarde is about to arrive in Ukraine for "opportunistic" meetings with the authorities, and an IMF mission team will go there on September 22.

  On September 3, Inner City Press also submitted questions about Nepal and Grenada, as well as this:

"In Indonesia the Vice Speaker of the House of Representatives Taufik Kurniawan recently said, 'We do not ask for IMF support in crisis;' at the UN in NY on Sept 2, the Vice Chairman of the House of Representatives of Indonesia H. Fadli Zon told Inner City Press much the same thing. What is the IMF's response to these criticisms or resistance to the IMF, from elected representatives of the country where the IMF now plans its 2018 Annual Meetings?"

  We hope to receive answers.

  Back on July 8 when the International Monetary Fund released reviews and papers about the United States, complete with support of the Dodd Frank Act and mentions of anti money laundering protection Inner City Press asked about the proposal to raise the definition of Systemically Important Financial Institution from $50 billion up to $500 billion and if tight AML strictures are to blame for cutting off remittances to Somalia.

  Aditya Narain, IMF mission chief for the Financial Sector Assessment Program and deputy director, Monetary and Capital Markets department, told Inner City Press that the IMF believes such definition should give predictability, but should be based on risk and not necessarily only asset size.

  Narain told Inner City Press, "On the first one, our general belief is that supervisory approaches should be risk based, and therefore the materiality and proportionality of institutions should be taken into account for to develop supervisory frameworks. At the same time, we also recognize that it’s important to have some clear rules, regarding a unit, in this case size of institutions, because not only does it set a baseline of expectations, but it also provides a useful framework for people to anchor their expectations on. So that’s why, in a sense we would agree that it’s important to make these approaches risk based and therefore not dependent on size alone. I should add also, that our only political ideology is financial stability, for the purpose of this exercise.

  But will this be used FOR the Senator Richard Shelby draft bill?

  On remittances, Aditya Narain said it is an important question but one that the IMF is dealing with in other venues; it apparently wasn't raised to the US during this process. Why not?

 Narain told Inner City Press, "On the regulatory question, this is an issue which is being discussed in several forums where the IMF has been participating, and this is an issue not just for the US, although it has been most discussed in the context of the US, but the effects of the AML on remittances and the result, the stringent adherence to standards has led to a concern more globally that might be affecting the flow of remittances to those jurisdictions... where such remittances and the channels through which they flow are more important. We have not discussed this... there is work ongoing in the Fund, including in collaboration with other institutions like the World Bank... and we expect to be able to have more information on this in a few months time."

   In the embargoed media conference call, two questions in a row went to the Financial Times, which opined that the IMF report takes the side of the Democratic Party. The IMF disagreed. The IMF said, in writing, “As the epicenter of the global financial crisis that began in 2008, the United States passed a major law in 2010, the Dodd-Frank Act, to reform its financial system. Officials need to complete the rulemaking under the law, while parts of reform agenda face legislative proposals to water them down.”

   Central Banking asked two questions and Reuters one, on federal insurance regulation.  Watch this site.
   

IMF Tells ICP of Lagarde on SDGs, Q of Financial Inclusion, Indonesia, Nepal, Grenada

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 3 -- When the International Monetary Fund resumed its biweekly embargoed media briefings on September 3, Inner City Press submitted four questions. Inner City Press asked:

"Who from the IMF is coming to the UN General Assembly (and SDGs, etc) week in late September, and what is their program? What meeting will they participate in? What do they hope to accomplish?"

IMF Deputy Spokesperson William Murray answered, as fast transcribed by InnerCityPro:

“Matthew, and others, the Managing Director is scheduled to attend the UNGA particularly the SDGs segment in late September. There was a previous meeting in Addis Ababa we participated in at a high level that dealt with the SDGs... The IMF's Executive Board recently endorsed a 50% increase in access to all the funds concessional lending facilities and to maintain a 0% rate for low income countries that struggle with disasters and conflict. The Executive Board of the Fund has endorsed IMF's engagement in sustainable inclusive growth, on which we'll be elaborating in the weeks and months to come.”

  One focus should be financial inclusion, on which we'll have more during UNGA week.

 In the meanwhile, Murray also said Managing Director Christine Lagarde is about to arrive in Ukraine for "opportunistic" meetings with the authorities, and an IMF mission team will go there on September 22.

  On September 3, Inner City Press also submitted questions about Nepal and Grenada, as well as this:

"In Indonesia the Vice Speaker of the House of Representatives Taufik Kurniawan recently said, 'We do not ask for IMF support in crisis;' at the UN in NY on Sept 2, the Vice Chairman of the House of Representatives of Indonesia H. Fadli Zon told Inner City Press much the same thing. What is the IMF's response to these criticisms or resistance to the IMF, from elected representatives of the country where the IMF now plans its 2018 Annual Meetings?"

  We hope to receive answers.

  Back on July 8 when the International Monetary Fund released reviews and papers about the United States, complete with support of the Dodd Frank Act and mentions of anti money laundering protection Inner City Press asked about the proposal to raise the definition of Systemically Important Financial Institution from $50 billion up to $500 billion and if tight AML strictures are to blame for cutting off remittances to Somalia.

  Aditya Narain, IMF mission chief for the Financial Sector Assessment Program and deputy director, Monetary and Capital Markets department, told Inner City Press that the IMF believes such definition should give predictability, but should be based on risk and not necessarily only asset size.

  Narain told Inner City Press, "On the first one, our general belief is that supervisory approaches should be risk based, and therefore the materiality and proportionality of institutions should be taken into account for to develop supervisory frameworks. At the same time, we also recognize that it’s important to have some clear rules, regarding a unit, in this case size of institutions, because not only does it set a baseline of expectations, but it also provides a useful framework for people to anchor their expectations on. So that’s why, in a sense we would agree that it’s important to make these approaches risk based and therefore not dependent on size alone. I should add also, that our only political ideology is financial stability, for the purpose of this exercise.

  But will this be used FOR the Senator Richard Shelby draft bill?

  On remittances, Aditya Narain said it is an important question but one that the IMF is dealing with in other venues; it apparently wasn't raised to the US during this process. Why not?

 Narain told Inner City Press, "On the regulatory question, this is an issue which is being discussed in several forums where the IMF has been participating, and this is an issue not just for the US, although it has been most discussed in the context of the US, but the effects of the AML on remittances and the result, the stringent adherence to standards has led to a concern more globally that might be affecting the flow of remittances to those jurisdictions... where such remittances and the channels through which they flow are more important. We have not discussed this... there is work ongoing in the Fund, including in collaboration with other institutions like the World Bank... and we expect to be able to have more information on this in a few months time."

   In the embargoed media conference call, two questions in a row went to the Financial Times, which opined that the IMF report takes the side of the Democratic Party. The IMF disagreed. The IMF said, in writing, “As the epicenter of the global financial crisis that began in 2008, the United States passed a major law in 2010, the Dodd-Frank Act, to reform its financial system. Officials need to complete the rulemaking under the law, while parts of reform agenda face legislative proposals to water them down.”

   Central Banking asked two questions and Reuters one, on federal insurance regulation.  Watch this site.

Inner City Press Asks UN's Wu Hongbo of Tax Avoidance and Debt Burden, Development Funding

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 7 -- In the run up to the Financing for Development conference in Addis Ababa, and the transition from the MDGs to the Sustainable Development Goals, Inner City Press on July 7 asked UN DESA's Wu Hongbo if corporate tax avoidance will be addressed in Addis, and how debt burdens impact funding for the MDGs, SDGs and development generally. Video here.

  Wu Hongbo, to whom Inner City Press was not called on to ask a question during his July 6 press conference about the MDGs, said the tax piece is under negotiation, and debt remains a problem.

On debt relief, since the Nepal earthquake, Inner City Press has been asking the International Monetary Fund if it would move to relieve the country's debt burden. Inner City Press resubmitted the question for the IMF's embargoed June 25 briefing, and during it, IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice read out the question and answered it. Transcript here; video here from 47:50.

  Inner City Press' question: "On Nepal, in the run up to the June 25 International Conference of Nepal’s Reconstruction, and with the World Bank announcing $500 million, is the IMF intending to do anything beyond the $50 million (one year) and $124 million (overall) in its response in the last briefing? Through the IMF's Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust?"

  Rice said the IMF is represented at the conference in Katmandu -- contrary to some reports, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is NOT there -- and could be the request for the $50 M / $124 M to the Board in July. He emphasized this would be zero interest under the RCF but said Nepal is NOT eligible for the CCRT, GDP damage is not enough. 

  Inner City Press would ask, should that threshold be lowered?

  On Jordan, Inner City Press asked: "On Jordan, having seen the IMF's announcement about the end of July, has there been any movement on the criticism by the head of UNHCR and others that the IMF and World Bank in treating Jordan (and Lebanon, etc) as “middle income” can't or don't do enough to provide support given the volume of refugees they have received?"

  Rice said, in essence, that the IMF has been flexible and has given fiscal space to deal with the refugee issues (we'll add the transcript later).  

  Back on June 11 Rice said that Nepal had made a request to the IMF under the Rapid Credit Facility, and that the IMF will send a mission to the country coinciding with the donors' conference on June 25. He said Nepal could be eligible for $50 million annually, for a total of $124 million. We'll see.

   Rice also answer questions Inner City Press submitted on Ghana's Eurobond and about Jamaica. (He said these questions, “from the UN in New York,” remind of other things in the IMF briefing room other than Greece and Ukraine).

  On Ghana, Rice said that the Eurobond was “envisioned” in the recently agreed program. But what is the status of any talks about it? Inner City Press asked, “Ghana's Minister of Finance, Seth Terkper, says the government intends to issue a $1 billion 10-year Eurobond in 2015. What are the status of talks with the IMF in this regard?”

  On Jamaica, Inner City Press asked, “On Jamaica, please comment on criticism that the percentage of people in under the poverty line has grown alongside the IMF's program and that 'last year, Jamaica paid the IMF over $136 million more than it received.'”

   Rice acknowledged that in 2014-15 there was a negative flow out of the country to the IMF, of $163 million. But he said with the new program that has reversed, to in-flow into Jamaica of $127 million in 2015-16, projected to rise to $176 million in 2017-18. Rice acknowledge the rise in the poverty rate from 9.9% in 2007 to 20% in 2012, but said this had to do with the global financial crisis and is the reason for the IMF's program. We'll see.

   Inner City Press had also asked for updates if any on Yemen and Burundi -- apparently there are no updates -- and one on a quote from Romania's National Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu saying the IMF's “communication has sometimes been problematic.” Still, three answers are appreciated.

  On Greece, for the record, Rice said there are major difference between us, with little to no progress made in narrowin them. On Ukraine, he said the IMF can lend to a country that has arrears to private creditors provided other conditions are met. Ukraine certainly has Western political support.

   

Palau Would Defend Marine Sanctuary With Italian Drones, Crashed in DR Congo

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 4 -- Palau's president Tommy Remengesau returned to the UN on February 4, promoting a stand-alone Sustainable Development Goal about the oceans and speaking of a marine sanctuary which would ban all commercial fishing in an area as large as France.

  Inner City Press asked President Remengesau how the ban on fishing would be enforced, given for example the illegal fishing that takes place off Somalia and, doubly illegal, off Western Sahara.

  Remengesau responded that drones could be part of the solution. Palau's Ambassador Stuart Beck added that drones could take photographs which could be evidence.

  Italy's Mission to the UN is promoting an event with its Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi and Palau featuring Italian firm Finmeccanica, which made the Selex Falco ES drone procured by UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous which recently crashed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A crash in the ocean would be less dangerous. Still.

  Remengesau explained that sharks are worth substantially more to Palau alive than dead, given its eco-tourism economy. Inner City Press asked about other countries joining the shark sanctuary movement that Palau started. Beck mentioned Mexico, and hoped that the broader marine sanctuary idea would also spread. The oceans being a Sustainable Development Goal would be a good step in that direction.

Background: With fifteen months to go until the “Sustainable Development Goals” are determined by the UN General Assembly, Palau's Ambassador Stuart Beck back on June 25 made the case for an oceans SDG. He recounted that only last night, Palau had its highest tide ever.

  The seas have become so acid, he continued, that mussels and clams are having a hard time forming their shells.

   Inner City Press asked Beck about Palau's shark sanctuary, which became with 600,000 square kilometers and is now up to 12.5 million square kilometers, with subsequent joiners like Mexico, Honduras and Costa Rica, Bahamas, Barbados, Micronesia and the Maldives. If sharks could say thanks, he concluded, they'd give thanks for the sanctuary. Video herefrom Minute 7:05.

  Accompanying Beck was Ghislaine Maxwell of the TerraMar Project, who said the oceans account for 16% of humanity's food and spoke of using social media in the campaign. It must target all 193 states, Beck pointed out. (Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, it is understood, doesn't know much about the idea.)

It seems Ban's UN doesn't know much about social media or new style network organizations either. The new Free UN Coalition for Access, formed after the old UN Correspondents Association showed itself willing to spy for the UN and seek to get new media thrown out, has been using the Internet and now Twitter to press for media access.

  There is no going back. Watch this site.

UN in DC Tweets Out Below the Belt, Doesn't Reply to FUNCA Question, Just Deletes: UNsocial Media

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 1, updated -- The UN Information Center in Washington DC sent out a tweet on Monday morning, “Interested in learning more about #UN events taking place in #WashingtonDC? The #UNIC calendar is your one-stop shop: http://bit.ly/1aV3IR.”

There was only one problem: the link was not to any UN calendar, but rather to a web site called penis-health-blog.com. We have saved the @UNICDC twitter page, here in case as is likely they change it. For now it's at https://twitter.com/unicdc/status/351672513547337728

Update: immediately after publication of this article UNICDC deleted its tweet, without sending any explanation to FUNCA. UNsocial media.

Update 2: after the above, UNIC DC tweeted this. 

"We've deleted a suspicious tweet form this morning. Don't click on any links from past 4 hours"

                    

  The Free UN Coalition for Access, which since its founding in late 2012 has engaged with and tested UN social media -- increasingly so after the Department of Public Information which runs the UNICs tried to order the censorship of even a single FUNCA sign on the office door of Inner City Press -- immediately replied to @UNICDC: “Please explain this link, even if you take it down: MT “@unicdc calendar is your one-stop shop:http://bit.ly/1aV3IR”

  But even an hour later, there had been no reply. This is how the UNIC's, and other UN social media accounts, work: they pump out information one-way, but don't respond to questions. This is UNsocial media.

   The "staff" page of UNIC-DC lists as director the ironically named Rodney Bent, and also one Liam Murphy (pictured here with Ban Ki-moon.)

  The UN's “Greening the Blue” twitter account did not respond on the carbon impact of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's travel, when asked by the Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info.

  UNDP's Olav Kjorven didn't answer on his carbon footprint, nor on whether the UN system favors an Oceans SDG.

  UNDP is pitching the #Post2015 tumult in “194 countries,” because a video they paid for said it involved Rwanda and 193 countries. But when asked by FUNCA what the 194th country is -- Somaliland? -- they did not respond, but justdropped the 194 country claim for 750,000 people. (Then it returned, again unexplained.)

 It's a one way mirror, throughout the UN system. Watch this site.

  

UN Brags of MDGs But Dodges Online Questions of Oceans & the Future, FUNCA: Innovate Whose Future?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 1 -- The UN is bragging about the Millennium Development Goals, even as what's to come after is being fought about. 

  Last week Inner City Press wrote about Palau's and others' push for a post-2015 “Sustainable Development Goal” about the oceans. 

  On June 28, Inner City Press attended the UN's press conference in New York about the MDGs and asked about it. But the UN insisted that the briefing was embargoed until now, July 1, and that the participants could not be named. Why?

  Hardly any other journalists at the UN cared about the MDGs press conference. While the UN Correspondents Association almost cravenly goes to any and all briefing in order to say their name, this one, they missed. (The Free UN Coalition for Access thanked the briefers - who must remain nameless, by choice.)

  On the question of the oceans, they agreed that when the MDGs were agreed there was less awareness: not even carbon and climate change were the focus yet. They agreed with Inner City Press' critique of the urban slums data, not taking into account the shift of population toward the cities. (MDGs Report at page 50.)

But here is something wrong with the UN system and its supposed interface with the public on these issues. The UN's “Greening the Blue” twitter account did not respond on the carbon impact of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's travel, when asked back on June 21 by the Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info.

  UNDP's Olav Kjorven didn't answer on his carbon footprint, nor on whether the UN system favors an Oceans SDG. (Inner City Press is told that Ban Ki-moon doesn't understand the concept and asked for a briefing.)

  UNDP is pitching the #Post2015 tumult in “194 countries,” because a video they paid for said it involved Rwanda and 193 countries. But when asked by FUNCA what the 194thcountry is -- Somaliland? -- they did not respond, but justdropped the 194 claim in favor of 750,000 people. It's a one way mirror, throughout the UN system.

 Palau by contrast and its partner the TerraMar project are reaching out and responding, ready to press for September 2014. Watch this site.