In Michigan, Sanders' Upset Win Follows Focus on Bank Bailouts, Darfur Echo

By Matthew Russell Lee

PRIMARY-LAND, March 8 -- With his back to the wall after losses in Southern primaries, Bernie Sanders scored an upset win in the Michigan primary on March 8.

  It came after Sanders grew less reticent in linking front-runner Hillary Clinton with the deregulation of banks and the bailouts that followed, increasingly demanding that Clinton release the transcripts of paid speeches she gave at Goldman Sachs and elsewhere.

  While most of Sanders' program is understandably domestic, it is noted that in 2006 he was a co-sponsor of a consensus resolution supporting a peacekeeping mission in Darfur. (Sanders' views of the UNAMID mission under Herve Ladsous covering up mass rapes in Tabit, for example, are not yet known.)

  Hillary Clinton, with her stint as US Secretary of State, has a more extensive foreign policy record, as reflected in the released email Inner City Press reviewed, in mid-February 2016, here.

  Back on January 17, the Iran deal's Implementation Day, and mutual freeing of detainees including Jason Rezaian with the United States, inevitably came up in the Democratic Party debate in South Carolina, albeit late in the proceedings.

  Hillary Clinton took credit for the sanctions on Iran and called this merely one good day in 36 years. She cited what she called Iran's “bad behavior” in Yemen -- with no mention of airstrikes including on Doctors Without Borders facitilities by the Saudi-led, US-supported Coalition.

   Bernie Sanders cited Goldman Sachs a half dozen times, asking why its executives are not in jail while people caught with marijuana are; he pledged if President not to name a Treasury Secretary from Goldman Sachs, which would be a change. (Click here for Inner City Press' work on Goldman Sachs including a FOIA response showing the Federal Reserve's solicitude for Goldman, offering merger advice and pre-approval on the weekend.)

  Martin O'Malley, who has since dropped out, late in the debate brought up the mis-treatment of Puerto Rico; earlier in the campaign he wrote an op-ed about the UN's impunity for bringing cholera to Haiti. The UN barely comes up in these debates, but they will have an effect on UN Secretariat. It is, however, Obama who will have the US' veto during the selection of the Next SG in 2016. Watch this site.

Back in December the Syria resolution adopted by the UN Security Council after the closed door sessions at the Lotte New York Palace on December 18 was widely described as weak or vague by diplomats at the UN.

  But at the December 19 Democratic Party debate in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton repeatedly cited the resolution as a new beginning. Clinton took credit for the resolution, saying it grew out of her work in Geneva.

  Martin O'Malley, who earlier tried to sputter in to contrast Leahy to Bernie Sanders, said we should “spring-board” off the UN Security Council resolution.

  This stood in contrast to the near absence of the UN from the Republican debates. There was at least one echo: Bernie Sanders' questioning of regime change in Iraq, Libya and now attempted in Syria was similar to the positions of Rand Paul and some others on the Republican side. Sanders also called out Saudi Arabia for making war on Yemen instead of ISIS, and Qatar for its spending on the World Cup.

   O'Malley used the “G-word,” genocide, with regard to Chaldean Christian in Syria. Inner City Press wondered whether Africa, other than oblique references to Libya, would come up in the Democratic Party debate, much less Burundi. We're stilll waiting. Watch this site.

In the Lotte New York Palace Hotel on December 18, ministers Lavrov and Gentiloni, Fabius and Kerry passed through with entourages; UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon left early typically without answering any questions. Hours later, the draft resolution was agreed to, then adopted 15-0 by the UN Security Council, here.

 The US day ended in a bilateral meeting between Iranian minister Zarif and John Kerry -- a photo spray was canceled -- and a low key meeting on Iraq and Turkey that we'll report on next. Now that the US has transcribed the climax of Kerry - Lavrov.

  That Kerry's spokesman John Kirby, who ran the press conference, gave the second question to the Washington Post, and the third to Russian media, was perhaps understandable. But the first question, Kirby set aside for “Al Arabiya.”  The question quickly turned into three, after being branded for “UNCA,” now the UN Corruption Association, a group which sold seats with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for $6000 only earlier this week.

 We now add: UNCA gave one of its prizes, a free trip to Turkey, to one of its Vice Presidents, from Agence France Presse. Even Kellogg's prohibits its employees from competing for its prizes. But not UNCA, which ignoring the Iraq - Turkey meeting in the Security Council was trying to buy people with Prosecco on December 18, after selling seats with Ban for $6,000.

  Several other UN-based journalists -- not (only) this one -- complained afterward that the first question and attempted follow up were a “Saudi circus” which made the UN press corps look bad -- as did attempt to throw out certain journalists, photographers, from the front row at the beginning.

   Afterward a photo spray of a meeting between Kerry and Iran's Zarif was declared “by invitation only” and then canceled. In the Security Council, with very few journalists still at the stakeout, the US presidency began the meeting on Iraq's complaint against Turkey being in its territory. We'll have more on this.

After the vote inside the Council Lavrov said, “The unanimous adoption today on the Council has created a broad front on the basis of the UN Charter, on the basis of all of those who are pushing back against terror, including the Syrian army, [some] armed militias, parts of the Syrian opposition, and the Russian air forces, in response to the legitimate request of the Syrian government."

Inside as Nasser Judeh of Jordan spoke, UN TV cut repeatedly to Syria's Bashar Ja'afari, looking more and more skeptical. France's Fabius spoke briefly and left. Outside at the stakeout, talk turned to a Kerry press conference, open to all.

 Italy's Paolo Gentiloni, by contrast, scheduled a press availability only for Italian media. A wag from the Free UN Coalition for Access asked, Isn't Gentiloni the foreign and not interior minister? Isn't he running for a Security Council seat? We'll have more on this.

In the  hotel lobby in the late morning a Permanent Five member of the Security Council's spokesperson briefed a gaggle of journalists in the lobby amid hissed that it was “off the record.”

  There was a gingerbread model of the NY Palace hotel which, the sign said, took 300 hours to make. All that was lacking, one wag - this one - snarked on Twitter, was a little gingerbread Laurent Fabuis.

 Back that UN, the 1 pm stakeout by the EU's Mogherini was postponed and then canceled. The Security Council scheduled for 3 pm got pushed back to 4.  Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric if Ban had spoken, what would he have said? Vine here.

On December 17, the day before Syria talks resumed at the New York Palace Hotel in Manhattan, finance ministers spoke in the UN Security Council about cutting off financing for ISIS. French finance minister Michel Sapin spoke darkly of the use of pre-paid cards for the November 13 Paris attacks; Russia's Ambassador Churkin named two Turkish companies as involved in ISIS oil sale.

  Inner City Press asked Syria's Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari, who came to take questions at the Council stakeout, about ISIS' oil. He named Turkey, then want on to name Qatar and Saudi Arabia, slamming its “Sunni coalition” recently announced.

  When US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, along with Sapin and the UK's George Osborne held a short press conference in the UN briefing room, Inner City Press hoped to asked Sapin about pre-paid cards, and Lew and Osborne about Bitcoin. But the question, just four, were limited to Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, the New York and Financial Times. So it goes.

   It seems there will be no Press access at the New York Palace; Ja'afari has said he will speak, at the UN, and whatever ISSG press availability there is should be at the UN, with a 3 pm meeting on December 18 scheduled. Watch this site.

Back on December 8, Inner City Press put thee questions to  Turkey's Ambassador Cevic. Video here.   Here's fast transcript byInnerCityPro.com:
Inner City Press: On Syria, do you think the Vienna process meeting should take place in New York on the 18th? Are you satisfied with the Saudi process for choosing the opposition?

Amb Cevik: The plans, I don’t know how fixed, I mean how clear it is, but we are making our preparations for the meeting.

Inner City Press: Are there any groups invited to Saudi Arabia that you think shouldn’t be part of the opposition delegation?

Amb Cevik: I think so far, in our view, they are working on the right concept. Let’s see if they succeed. Having a coalition group that would be able to take part in the process is one of the most important things.
Inner City Press: [Russia] said the group that killed their pilot should be put on the terror list. Do you have any view on that?

Amb Cevik: If they know the specifics, I don’t know. But to our knowledge, there was no terrorist organization, no extreme Daesh, Nusra, in that area. They are the Turkomens, and we know them, they are moderate people.

  This may be an issue. Watch this site.

FOIA Shows US Push on Libya & Eritrea Sanctions, Hillary Clinton Didn't Want to Call Lavrov

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 13 -- Among the Hillary Clinton emails released late on January 29 by the US State Department was one which described in some detail a UN Security Council closed door meeting, about imposing new sanctions on Eritirea in late 2011, here.

  Inner City Press reported on that meeting, and asked then-Ambassador Susan Rice about it as she emerged, here. Rice praised Gabon (pushing for sanctions against, for example, South Africa) and now the released email shows why:

"Gabon made clear that they were unwilling to accept any substantive amendments to the text 'in blue,' although they might accommodate cosmetic changes to show good faith."

 As to the request by Eritrea's president to address the Security Council before the vote on new sanctions, the email says

"Amb. Rice reiterated our view that such a meeting would be redundant and counterproductive, but added that in light of the overwhelming support of Council members for such a meeting, the United States could not block such a decision (a procedural matter to which the veto does not apply) and would fulfill its host country obligations to grant Isaias entry."

  The visit never happened. Here's Inner City Press' story at the time.

  Also in the February 13 released emails is one in which, on Libya, hereJake Sullivan tells Hillary Clinton that he and Bill [presumably Burns] “are working a plan this am to push the Africans in the right direction."

There one on Yemen involving Jeffery Feltman, then for the US; he now manages the UN's Yemen enovy, who has (at least) six no show jobs, Inner City Press exclusive story here.

There's one on Sri Lanka, nearly entirely redacted and one on Abyeifeaturing South Sudan's Paul Mayom and that the UN's Haile (Menkerios) talked privately with the US' Marti Flacks, here.

There's one in which Hillary Clinton wrote, "I do not want to call Lavrov to discuss the Berengia [sic] park since I would have to raise other matters. How about a letter?" This was released on the day of a [GOP] Presidential nomination debate and the day on which, as it happened, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead.

Back on January 29 among the Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department was a single one mentioning Burundi, which mentioned the FDLR (Hutu) militia being present in the country.

 Inner City Press, which has covered each of the State Department's FOIA releases and covers Burundi, tweeted a link to the email.  The adviser to Burundi's Pierre Nkurunziza replied that it was misleading -- not rare when confined to 140 characters -- and Inner City Press replied with a question.

  But it's worth noting that while the US couldn't even spell FDLR right, the current head of UN Peacekeeping Herve Ladsous wrote in 1994 as French Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN what he was trying to convince other Council members to embraces the escape of Hutu (genocidaires) into Eastern Congo, memo here.

  There they became the FDLR, which Ladsous then in his current job refused to fight. This is the same Ladsous who wrote his DPKO couldn't or wouldn't stop a genocide in Burundi, and refuses to answer Press questions about the rapes taking place under his watch.

  UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric actively blocks Inner City Pressfrom even putting a question to Ladsous - and now Ban - and on January 29, ostensibly at the behest of the leadership of the UN Correspondents Association, ordered Inner City Press to leave the UN Press Briefing Room, Vine here, and physically reached to turn off Inner City Press' camera. Vine here. To this low has the UN sunk. Watch this site.

Like Burundi, Sri Lanka represents one of the lowest points of the last decade at the UN, from inaction in 2008 and 2009 to cover-ups since.  And while the US is now full of praise, a just released Hillary Clinton email, showing US knowledge that those who spoke to its Ambassador Rapp in 2012 were abused, raises new questions.

 The email, which Inner City Press found among the supplemental disclosure just put out by the US State Department, forwards from Cheryl Mills to the Secretary of State Clinton on February 10, 2012, a memo entitled, "Military Intelligence arrest & threatens people who spoke to Amb. Rapp."

  The memo says:

"The people are from the Selvapuram village in Mullaitivu. Ambassador Rapp visited that village yesterday. The villagers informed Amb. Rapp that during the final phase of the war (in 2009) they handed over their loved
ones to the Military. But since then they had not heard anything about their relatives whereabouts.

Now the military is forcing them to register their loved ones as dead. When the information about the meeting became public; the Sri Lankan military intelligence rounded up that area and is conducting investigations as to who gave evidence to Ambassador Rapp.

At least 5 people were taken to the military intelligence camp for more in depth investigations. They were also issued with death threats. The priest of the St. Jude's Church where the Ambassadors meeting took place was also detained at the military camp."

 And what did the US do? What has the UN done? We'll have more on this.

On January 4, 2016, Inner City Press which covered UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's visit to Sri Lanka in May 2009, asked Ban's spokesman basic questions about Sri Lanka, which the UN has declined to answer for three days. From the transcript, video here:

Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you something on Sri Lanka, which is that, in the last couple of days, the President [Maithripala] Sirisena has said that there's no requirement of a special court for events in later stages of the conflict and also has announced some parcels of land to people in the north, but there seems to be a demand by the Tamil National Alliance that the military disoccupy land, that… private land that it continues to be in.  What's the UN's response to that?  What's the UN's, I guess, involvement, including through the peacebuilding commissioner and any other way…

Spokesman Stephane Dujarric:  I'll have to check… [cross talk] I don't have an update.  I'll check.

  Three day later, nothing. On January 7, Inner City Press asked about reports of torture in Sri Lanka in the last year, under President Sirisena.Video here, transcript here:

Inner City Press: there were two reports issued yesterday about torture in Sri Lanka, not in the past but in the last year as well while Mr. [Maithripala] Sirisena has been in the Government, a UK-based groupand a South Africa-based group, very detailed reports including, like, locations that they found.  What is… I mean… I guess…

Spokesman:  I will… I will check.

  While not answering any of those questions, on the evening of January 7 Ban Ki-moon issued a statement of pure praise of Sirisena, here. Has Ban's UN turned the corner on Sri Lanka or not?

Even as Ban and his spokespeople declined to answer basic follow up questions about Sri Lanka, about who in his Executive Office was informed of peacekeepers raping children in the Central African Republic, and about Burundi, his UN Correspondents Association now known as the UN Corruption Association, having charged $6000 for seats next to Ban, continues to promote him - without questions, literally.

  UNCA head Giampaolo Pioli, who tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN for accurately reporting that Pioli had accepted rent money from Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's ambassador, then gave a "UN screening" on a war crimes denial film in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium, has issued this, only to those who pay UNCA money, leaked by a disgusted UNCA member:

"Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would like to meet with UNCA members and all UN correspondents for the New Year's visit this Wednesday, Jan 6th, 2016 from 10:35 to 10:50 am in the UNCA room. It will be an opportunity for him to say a few words to all of our colleagues and to exchange his best wishes. There will not be a Q&A session but as in every year it is a great occasion to be together. Please attend."

 Well, no. Providing a rah-rah session with no Q&A is pathetic. And, "all correspondents" will not enter the UN Corruption Association, which charges money for access to Ban. But there are questions, including on Sri Lanka. For now, the January 6 "event" was canceled, so Ban could speak to / at the press from the UN Security Council stakeout, without taking questions.

The former President of the General Assembly John Ashe and four others have been indicted, Ashe for buying documents from Ban's UN Secretariat.

Ban's envoy to Libya Bernardino Leon was exposed by leaks as having taken instructions and then a job from the United Arab Emirates.

And Ban's head of UN Peacekeeping, Herve Ladsous, is listed in UN Dispute Tribunal documents as having tried to cover up child rapes in Central African Republic by peacekeepers from his native France.

  Inner City Press, which Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric did not call on despite calling two separate times on the same UN Correspondents Association scribe, asked audibly, “Do you have any update on the John Ashe indictment? Bernardino Leon? These were major developments this year.” Vine here.

  But Ban refused to answer the question. He walked out of the briefing room, shaking hands scribes. The press conference began with Dujarric setting aside the first question for the head of UNCA, who thanked Ban for attending an event on Wall Street for which UNCA charged $6,000 to sit with Ban. This is the UN Corruption Association.

  A question on or to cover up the sexual abuse scandal was arranged, with Agence France Presse congratulating Ban for this response to the sexual abuse scandal. (Senegalese Babacar Gaye was urged to resign, Ladsous who on camera linked the rapes to “R&R," video here, remains in place.)

Ban read out a wan answer on Burundi; his deputy spokeperson refused an Inner City Press question on Burundi at the previous day's noon briefing.  We'll have more on this.

Ban once promised monthly press conference but his last one was three months before, then nine months before that. On September 16 with the UN being less than successful in mediating in Yemen and Libya, Syria and South Sudan, accused of rapes in Central African Republic and killing 8,000 in Haiti with cholera (after 40,000 died in Sri Lanka with little response from the UN), Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was asked, What is your legacy?

  That question, nor none of the other 11 Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric selected, did not refer to the rape scandal, much less deadly cholera or the Sri Lanka report released earlier in the day in Geneva, after months of delay and supposed concern by Ban.

  Inner City Press asked, before the press conference ended and then again before Ban left the room, “Anything on Sri Lanka?” But there was nothing. Ban's spokesman Dujarric didn't even allow Inner City Press to put a question to UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, who covered up rapes in DR Congo, Darfur and now CAR.

  Most recently, Ladsous linked rapes to a lack of “R&R,” rest and relaxation, video here.

Dujarric himself cut off Inner City Press questions on what Ladsous said, and declined to answer on Reddit in an “Ask Me Anything.” (He didn't say he's ANSWER everything, one wag pointed out.)

  But even beyond the scandals, Ban did not in his opening statement mention Somalia, or CAR, or Darfur; none of the questions selected by Dujarric was about Africa. (One wire points out Africa was part of a UN-at-70 question; noted.)

    Inner City Press also tried to ask about Burundi -- nothing - and South Sudan, on which we are preparing a story.

  It was Voice of America with the “What is your legacy” question. Ban said he'd answer next year. Inner City Press might answer sooner. Watch this site.

Hillary Clinton on Iran's "Bad Behavior" in Yemen, Bernie Sanders on Goldman Sachs, O'Malley on Puerto Rico

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 18 -- The Iran deal's Implementation Day, and mutual freeing of detainees including Jason Rezaian with the United States, inevitably came up in the Democratic Party debate in South Carolina on January 17, albeit late in the proceedings.

  Hillary Clinton took credit for the sanctions on Iran and called this merely one good day in 36 years. She cited what she called Iran's “bad behavior” in Yemen -- with no mention of airstrikes including on Doctors Without Borders facitilities by the Saudi-led, US-supported Coalition.

   Bernie Sanders cited Goldman Sachs a half dozen times, asking why its executives are not in jail while people caught with marijuana are; he pledged if President not to name a Treasury Secretary from Goldman Sachs, which would be a change. (Click here for Inner City Press' work on Goldman Sachs including a FOIA response showing the Federal Reserve's solicitude for Goldman, offering merger advice and pre-approval on the weekend.)

  Martin O'Malley late in the debate brought up the mis-treatment of Puerto Rico; earlier in the campaign he wrote an op-ed about the UN's impunity for bringing cholera to Haiti. The UN barely comes up in these debates, but they will have an effect on UN Secretariat. It is, however, Obama who will have the US' veto during the selection of the Next SG in 2016. Watch this site.

Back in December the Syria resolution adopted by the UN Security Council after the closed door sessions at the Lotte New York Palace on December 18 was widely described as weak or vague by diplomats at the UN.

  But at the December 19 Democratic Party debate in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton repeatedly cited the resolution as a new beginning. Clinton took credit for the resolution, saying it grew out of her work in Geneva.

  Martin O'Malley, who earlier tried to sputter in to contrast Leahy to Bernie Sanders, said we should “spring-board” off the UN Security Council resolution.

  This stood in contrast to the near absence of the UN from the Republican debates. There was at least one echo: Bernie Sanders' questioning of regime change in Iraq, Libya and now attempted in Syria was similar to the positions of Rand Paul and some others on the Republican side. Sanders also called out Saudi Arabia for making war on Yemen instead of ISIS, and Qatar for its spending on the World Cup.

   O'Malley used the “G-word,” genocide, with regard to Chaldean Christian in Syria. Inner City Press wondered whether Africa, other than oblique references to Libya, would come up in the Democratic Party debate, much less Burundi. We're stilll waiting. Watch this site.

In the Lotte New York Palace Hotel on December 18, ministers Lavrov and Gentiloni, Fabius and Kerry passed through with entourages; UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon left early typically without answering any questions. Hours later, the draft resolution was agreed to, then adopted 15-0 by the UN Security Council, here.

 The US day ended in a bilateral meeting between Iranian minister Zarif and John Kerry -- a photo spray was canceled -- and a low key meeting on Iraq and Turkey that we'll report on next. Now that the US has transcribed the climax of Kerry - Lavrov.

  That Kerry's spokesman John Kirby, who ran the press conference, gave the second question to the Washington Post, and the third to Russian media, was perhaps understandable. But the first question, Kirby set aside for “Al Arabiya.”  The question quickly turned into three, after being branded for “UNCA,” now the UN Corruption Association, a group which sold seats with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for $6000 only earlier this week.

 We now add: UNCA gave one of its prizes, a free trip to Turkey, to one of its Vice Presidents, from Agence France Presse. Even Kellogg's prohibits its employees from competing for its prizes. But not UNCA, which ignoring the Iraq - Turkey meeting in the Security Council was trying to buy people with Prosecco on December 18, after selling seats with Ban for $6,000.

  Several other UN-based journalists -- not (only) this one -- complained afterward that the first question and attempted follow up were a “Saudi circus” which made the UN press corps look bad -- as did attempt to throw out certain journalists, photographers, from the front row at the beginning.

   Afterward a photo spray of a meeting between Kerry and Iran's Zarif was declared “by invitation only” and then canceled. In the Security Council, with very few journalists still at the stakeout, the US presidency began the meeting on Iraq's complaint against Turkey being in its territory. We'll have more on this.

After the vote inside the Council Lavrov said, “The unanimous adoption today on the Council has created a broad front on the basis of the UN Charter, on the basis of all of those who are pushing back against terror, including the Syrian army, [some] armed militias, parts of the Syrian opposition, and the Russian air forces, in response to the legitimate request of the Syrian government."

Inside as Nasser Judeh of Jordan spoke, UN TV cut repeatedly to Syria's Bashar Ja'afari, looking more and more skeptical. France's Fabius spoke briefly and left. Outside at the stakeout, talk turned to a Kerry press conference, open to all.

 Italy's Paolo Gentiloni, by contrast, scheduled a press availability only for Italian media. A wag from the Free UN Coalition for Access asked, Isn't Gentiloni the foreign and not interior minister? Isn't he running for a Security Council seat? We'll have more on this.

In the  hotel lobby in the late morning a Permanent Five member of the Security Council's spokesperson briefed a gaggle of journalists in the lobby amid hissed that it was “off the record.”

  There was a gingerbread model of the NY Palace hotel which, the sign said, took 300 hours to make. All that was lacking, one wag - this one - snarked on Twitter, was a little gingerbread Laurent Fabuis.

 Back that UN, the 1 pm stakeout by the EU's Mogherini was postponed and then canceled. The Security Council scheduled for 3 pm got pushed back to 4.  Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric if Ban had spoken, what would he have said? Vine here.

On December 17, the day before Syria talks resumed at the New York Palace Hotel in Manhattan, finance ministers spoke in the UN Security Council about cutting off financing for ISIS. French finance minister Michel Sapin spoke darkly of the use of pre-paid cards for the November 13 Paris attacks; Russia's Ambassador Churkin named two Turkish companies as involved in ISIS oil sale.

  Inner City Press asked Syria's Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari, who came to take questions at the Council stakeout, about ISIS' oil. He named Turkey, then want on to name Qatar and Saudi Arabia, slamming its “Sunni coalition” recently announced.

  When US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, along with Sapin and the UK's George Osborne held a short press conference in the UN briefing room, Inner City Press hoped to asked Sapin about pre-paid cards, and Lew and Osborne about Bitcoin. But the question, just four, were limited to Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, the New York and Financial Times. So it goes.

   It seems there will be no Press access at the New York Palace; Ja'afari has said he will speak, at the UN, and whatever ISSG press availability there is should be at the UN, with a 3 pm meeting on December 18 scheduled. Watch this site.

Back on December 8, Inner City Press put thee questions to  Turkey's Ambassador Cevic. Video here.   Here's fast transcript byInnerCityPro.com:
Inner City Press: On Syria, do you think the Vienna process meeting should take place in New York on the 18th? Are you satisfied with the Saudi process for choosing the opposition?

Amb Cevik: The plans, I don’t know how fixed, I mean how clear it is, but we are making our preparations for the meeting.

Inner City Press: Are there any groups invited to Saudi Arabia that you think shouldn’t be part of the opposition delegation?

Amb Cevik: I think so far, in our view, they are working on the right concept. Let’s see if they succeed. Having a coalition group that would be able to take part in the process is one of the most important things.
Inner City Press: [Russia] said the group that killed their pilot should be put on the terror list. Do you have any view on that?

Amb Cevik: If they know the specifics, I don’t know. But to our knowledge, there was no terrorist organization, no extreme Daesh, Nusra, in that area. They are the Turkomens, and we know them, they are moderate people.

  This may be an issue. Watch this site.



Watch this site.

On Sri Lanka, FOIA Shows Hillary Clinton Was Told of Abuse of Witnesses Who Spoke with Rapp in 2012

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 8 -- Sri Lanka represents one of the lowest points of the last decade at the UN, from inaction in 2008 and 2009 to cover-ups since.  And while the US is now full of praise, a just released Hillary Clinton email, showing US knowledge that those who spoke to its Ambassador Rapp in 2012 were abused, raises new questions.

 The email, which Inner City Press found among the supplemental disclosure just put out by the US State Department, forwards from Cheryl Mills to the Secretary of State Clinton on February 10, 2012, a memo entitled, "Military Intelligence arrest & threatens people who spoke to Amb. Rapp."

  The memo says:

"The people are from the Selvapuram village in Mullaitivu. Ambassador Rapp visited that village yesterday. The villagers informed Amb. Rapp that during the final phase of the war (in 2009) they handed over their loved
ones to the Military. But since then they had not heard anything about their relatives whereabouts.

Now the military is forcing them to register their loved ones as dead. When the information about the meeting became public; the Sri Lankan military intelligence rounded up that area and is conducting investigations as to who gave evidence to Ambassador Rapp.

At least 5 people were taken to the military intelligence camp for more in depth investigations. They were also issued with death threats. The priest of the St. Jude's Church where the Ambassadors meeting took place was also detained at the military camp."

 And what did the US do? What has the UN done? We'll have more on this.

On January 4, 2016, Inner City Press which covered UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's visit to Sri Lanka in May 2009, asked Ban's spokesman basic questions about Sri Lanka, which the UN has declined to answer for three days. From the transcript, video here:

Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you something on Sri Lanka, which is that, in the last couple of days, the President [Maithripala] Sirisena has said that there's no requirement of a special court for events in later stages of the conflict and also has announced some parcels of land to people in the north, but there seems to be a demand by the Tamil National Alliance that the military disoccupy land, that… private land that it continues to be in.  What's the UN's response to that?  What's the UN's, I guess, involvement, including through the peacebuilding commissioner and any other way…

Spokesman Stephane Dujarric:  I'll have to check… [cross talk] I don't have an update.  I'll check.

  Three day later, nothing. On January 7, Inner City Press asked about reports of torture in Sri Lanka in the last year, under President Sirisena.Video here, transcript here:

Inner City Press: there were two reports issued yesterday about torture in Sri Lanka, not in the past but in the last year as well while Mr. [Maithripala] Sirisena has been in the Government, a UK-based groupand a South Africa-based group, very detailed reports including, like, locations that they found.  What is… I mean… I guess…

Spokesman:  I will… I will check.

  While not answering any of those questions, on the evening of January 7 Ban Ki-moon issued a statement of pure praise of Sirisena, here. Has Ban's UN turned the corner on Sri Lanka or not?

Even as Ban and his spokespeople declined to answer basic follow up questions about Sri Lanka, about who in his Executive Office was informed of peacekeepers raping children in the Central African Republic, and about Burundi, his UN Correspondents Association now known as the UN Corruption Association, having charged $6000 for seats next to Ban, continues to promote him - without questions, literally.

  UNCA head Giampaolo Pioli, who tried to get the investigative Press thrown out of the UN for accurately reporting that Pioli had accepted rent money from Palitha Kohona, Sri Lanka's ambassador, then gave a "UN screening" on a war crimes denial film in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium, has issued this, only to those who pay UNCA money, leaked by a disgusted UNCA member:

"Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would like to meet with UNCA members and all UN correspondents for the New Year's visit this Wednesday, Jan 6th, 2016 from 10:35 to 10:50 am in the UNCA room. It will be an opportunity for him to say a few words to all of our colleagues and to exchange his best wishes. There will not be a Q&A session but as in every year it is a great occasion to be together. Please attend."

 Well, no. Providing a rah-rah session with no Q&A is pathetic. And, "all correspondents" will not enter the UN Corruption Association, which charges money for access to Ban. But there are questions, including on Sri Lanka. For now, the January 6 "event" was canceled, so Ban could speak to / at the press from the UN Security Council stakeout, without taking questions.

The former President of the General Assembly John Ashe and four others have been indicted, Ashe for buying documents from Ban's UN Secretariat.

Ban's envoy to Libya Bernardino Leon was exposed by leaks as having taken instructions and then a job from the United Arab Emirates.

And Ban's head of UN Peacekeeping, Herve Ladsous, is listed in UN Dispute Tribunal documents as having tried to cover up child rapes in Central African Republic by peacekeepers from his native France.

  Inner City Press, which Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric did not call on despite calling two separate times on the same UN Correspondents Association scribe, asked audibly, “Do you have any update on the John Ashe indictment? Bernardino Leon? These were major developments this year.” Vine here.

  But Ban refused to answer the question. He walked out of the briefing room, shaking hands scribes. The press conference began with Dujarric setting aside the first question for the head of UNCA, who thanked Ban for attending an event on Wall Street for which UNCA charged $6,000 to sit with Ban. This is the UN Corruption Association.

  A question on or to cover up the sexual abuse scandal was arranged, with Agence France Presse congratulating Ban for this response to the sexual abuse scandal. (Senegalese Babacar Gaye was urged to resign, Ladsous who on camera linked the rapes to “R&R," video here, remains in place.)

Ban read out a wan answer on Burundi; his deputy spokeperson refused an Inner City Press question on Burundi at the previous day's noon briefing.  We'll have more on this.

Ban once promised monthly press conference but his last one was three months before, then nine months before that. On September 16 with the UN being less than successful in mediating in Yemen and Libya, Syria and South Sudan, accused of rapes in Central African Republic and killing 8,000 in Haiti with cholera (after 40,000 died in Sri Lanka with little response from the UN), Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was asked, What is your legacy?

  That question, nor none of the other 11 Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric selected, did not refer to the rape scandal, much less deadly cholera or the Sri Lanka report released earlier in the day in Geneva, after months of delay and supposed concern by Ban.

  Inner City Press asked, before the press conference ended and then again before Ban left the room, “Anything on Sri Lanka?” But there was nothing. Ban's spokesman Dujarric didn't even allow Inner City Press to put a question to UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, who covered up rapes in DR Congo, Darfur and now CAR.

  Most recently, Ladsous linked rapes to a lack of “R&R,” rest and relaxation, video here.

Dujarric himself cut off Inner City Press questions on what Ladsous said, and declined to answer on Reddit in an “Ask Me Anything.” (He didn't say he's ANSWER everything, one wag pointed out.)

  But even beyond the scandals, Ban did not in his opening statement mention Somalia, or CAR, or Darfur; none of the questions selected by Dujarric was about Africa. (One wire points out Africa was part of a UN-at-70 question; noted.)

    Inner City Press also tried to ask about Burundi -- nothing - and South Sudan, on which we are preparing a story.

  It was Voice of America with the “What is your legacy” question. Ban said he'd answer next year. Inner City Press might answer sooner. Watch this site.

Hillary Clinton Takes Credit for Syria UNSC Resolution, Bernie Sanders on Saudi, Martin O'Malley G-Word

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 19 -- The Syria resolution adopted by the UN Security Council after the closed door sessions at the Lotte New York Palace on December 18 was widely described as weak or vague by diplomats at the UN.

  But at the December 19 Democratic Party debate in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton repeatedly cited the resolution as a new beginning. Clinton took credit for the resolution, saying it grew out of her work in Geneva.

  Martin O'Malley, who earlier tried to sputter in to contrast Leahy to Bernie Sanders, said we should “spring-board” off the UN Security Council resolution.

  This stood in contrast to the near absence of the UN from the Republican debates. There was at least one echo: Bernie Sanders' questioning of regime change in Iraq, Libya and now attempted in Syria was similar to the positions of Rand Paul and some others on the Republican side. Sanders also called out Saudi Arabia for making war on Yemen instead of ISIS, and Qatar for its spending on the World Cup.

   O'Malley used the “G-word,” genocide, with regard to Chaldean Christian in Syria. Inner City Press wondered whether Africa, other than oblique references to Libya, would come up in the Democratic Party debate, much less Burundi. We're stilll waiting. Watch this site.

In the Lotte New York Palace Hotel on December 18, ministers Lavrov and Gentiloni, Fabius and Kerry passed through with entourages; UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon left early typically without answering any questions. Hours later, the draft resolution was agreed to, then adopted 15-0 by the UN Security Council, here.

 The US day ended in a bilateral meeting between Iranian minister Zarif and John Kerry -- a photo spray was canceled -- and a low key meeting on Iraq and Turkey that we'll report on next. Now that the US has transcribed the climax of Kerry - Lavrov.

  That Kerry's spokesman John Kirby, who ran the press conference, gave the second question to the Washington Post, and the third to Russian media, was perhaps understandable. But the first question, Kirby set aside for “Al Arabiya.”  The question quickly turned into three, after being branded for “UNCA,” now the UN Corruption Association, a group which sold seats with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for $6000 only earlier this week.

 We now add: UNCA gave one of its prizes, a free trip to Turkey, to one of its Vice Presidents, from Agence France Presse. Even Kellogg's prohibits its employees from competing for its prizes. But not UNCA, which ignoring the Iraq - Turkey meeting in the Security Council was trying to buy people with Prosecco on December 18, after selling seats with Ban for $6,000.

  Several other UN-based journalists -- not (only) this one -- complained afterward that the first question and attempted follow up were a “Saudi circus” which made the UN press corps look bad -- as did attempt to throw out certain journalists, photographers, from the front row at the beginning.

   Afterward a photo spray of a meeting between Kerry and Iran's Zarif was declared “by invitation only” and then canceled. In the Security Council, with very few journalists still at the stakeout, the US presidency began the meeting on Iraq's complaint against Turkey being in its territory. We'll have more on this.

After the vote inside the Council Lavrov said, “The unanimous adoption today on the Council has created a broad front on the basis of the UN Charter, on the basis of all of those who are pushing back against terror, including the Syrian army, [some] armed militias, parts of the Syrian opposition, and the Russian air forces, in response to the legitimate request of the Syrian government."

Inside as Nasser Judeh of Jordan spoke, UN TV cut repeatedly to Syria's Bashar Ja'afari, looking more and more skeptical. France's Fabius spoke briefly and left. Outside at the stakeout, talk turned to a Kerry press conference, open to all.

 Italy's Paolo Gentiloni, by contrast, scheduled a press availability only for Italian media. A wag from the Free UN Coalition for Access asked, Isn't Gentiloni the foreign and not interior minister? Isn't he running for a Security Council seat? We'll have more on this.

In the  hotel lobby in the late morning a Permanent Five member of the Security Council's spokesperson briefed a gaggle of journalists in the lobby amid hissed that it was “off the record.”

  There was a gingerbread model of the NY Palace hotel which, the sign said, took 300 hours to make. All that was lacking, one wag - this one - snarked on Twitter, was a little gingerbread Laurent Fabuis.

 Back that UN, the 1 pm stakeout by the EU's Mogherini was postponed and then canceled. The Security Council scheduled for 3 pm got pushed back to 4.  Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric if Ban had spoken, what would he have said? Vine here.

On December 17, the day before Syria talks resumed at the New York Palace Hotel in Manhattan, finance ministers spoke in the UN Security Council about cutting off financing for ISIS. French finance minister Michel Sapin spoke darkly of the use of pre-paid cards for the November 13 Paris attacks; Russia's Ambassador Churkin named two Turkish companies as involved in ISIS oil sale.

  Inner City Press asked Syria's Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari, who came to take questions at the Council stakeout, about ISIS' oil. He named Turkey, then want on to name Qatar and Saudi Arabia, slamming its “Sunni coalition” recently announced.

  When US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, along with Sapin and the UK's George Osborne held a short press conference in the UN briefing room, Inner City Press hoped to asked Sapin about pre-paid cards, and Lew and Osborne about Bitcoin. But the question, just four, were limited to Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, the New York and Financial Times. So it goes.

   It seems there will be no Press access at the New York Palace; Ja'afari has said he will speak, at the UN, and whatever ISSG press availability there is should be at the UN, with a 3 pm meeting on December 18 scheduled. Watch this site.

Back on December 8, Inner City Press put thee questions to  Turkey's Ambassador Cevic. Video here.   Here's fast transcript byInnerCityPro.com:
Inner City Press: On Syria, do you think the Vienna process meeting should take place in New York on the 18th? Are you satisfied with the Saudi process for choosing the opposition?

Amb Cevik: The plans, I don’t know how fixed, I mean how clear it is, but we are making our preparations for the meeting.

Inner City Press: Are there any groups invited to Saudi Arabia that you think shouldn’t be part of the opposition delegation?

Amb Cevik: I think so far, in our view, they are working on the right concept. Let’s see if they succeed. Having a coalition group that would be able to take part in the process is one of the most important things.
Inner City Press: [Russia] said the group that killed their pilot should be put on the terror list. Do you have any view on that?

Amb Cevik: If they know the specifics, I don’t know. But to our knowledge, there was no terrorist organization, no extreme Daesh, Nusra, in that area. They are the Turkomens, and we know them, they are moderate people.

  This may be an issue. Watch this site.



Watch this site.

After Emails Show USg Jeffrey Feltman Forwarded to US in Oct 2012, ICP Asks UN Why

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 1 -- Among the 5,109 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department on November 30 is this one from October 2012 from Jeffrey Feltman, then already ostensibly with and for the UN, to Jake Sullivan about Lebanon.

 Feltman forwarded the US State Department a copy of his own email to “his guy” in Lebanon, British UN official Derek Plumbly and asks for US advice on whom he should call.

  Inner City Press on March 28, 2012 first reported that Feltman would take over UN Department of Political Affairs from fellow American B. Lynn Pascoe, and asked if it was wise, to whom would Feltman be loyal. Now the question arises: why was Feltman still in October 2012, after starting with the UN on July 2, 2012, forwarding his emails to the US State Department?

 On December 1, 2014, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, transcript here:

Inner City Press: about Mr. Feltman, yesterday, as happens monthly, there was a release of… of e-mails by the US State Department.  And without getting into all the… all 5,000 of the e-mails, I wanted to ask about the ones that involve Mr. Feltman, specifically in the time frame after he left the State Department and came to the UN.  So, there’s an e-mail in 19 October 2012.  This is months after he was at the UN, in which he forwards to Jake Sullivan and others in the State Department his communications with Derek Plumbly about Lebanon.  And he says, “Here’s my communications with my guy in Lebanon”, redacted, redacted, redacted, “please tell me what you think and advise.”  And I guess I wanted to ask you, is it… what is the… what’s the protocol for a former… of any government, not just the US, for a UN official to share what are presumably confidential UN communications with his previous employer, and how would you… how do you respond to this?

Spokesman:  I think the way to look at it is that, I think, through our mediation efforts, UN officials are often in touch with Foreign Ministries or permanent missions and share our analysis.  And that’s often how we get our work done.  I’m not going to comment on the exact… you know, what exactly was said.  I haven’t seen the e-mail.  But I think it’s… you know, we have contact, and we share our analysis with members of the Security Council, with permanent missions and Foreign Ministries.

Inner City Press:  My question is one of the e-mails… in one of the e-mails, Mr. Feltman says, I’ve tried to send this through Hotmail, but it didn’t work, which to me implies it wasn’t necessarily as a UN official.  Like, would you say… in what you’ve described as the protocol, should this be done very clearly as a UN official seeking advice from the…?

Spokesman:  As I said, I think there is nothing untoward with senior UN officials who we often… in dealing with mediation, we need to consult with different sides and share analysis and share information.

Inner City Press:  [Did he] share with others, other than the US?

Spokesman:  I’ll leave it at that. 

 On October 20, 2012, the State Department's Elizabeth Dibble says she spoke with Feltman; in September, Feltman told Huma Abedin he's walk on hot coals for Hillary. He offered to cancel a meeting with Esther Brimmer in order to meet with Hillary in the Waldorf --saying he had problems responding with hotmail, that the 90s may have ended. He was not using his UN email address.
We'l have more on this.

  Also in the November 30 release is an email that in Eastern Congo, the M23 rebels did NOT loot the Central Bank in Goma -- Inner City Press in 2012 questioned the New York Times reporting that that this did, in fact, happen - and an evergreen line, that “Ban's gambit didn't work out too well.” What wa about Syria, but has been repeated for example with the faux ceasefire on Yemen. We'll have more on this.

Back on August 31 among the 4,368 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department were only 17 that mention Libya. In one, forwarded by Feltman, a Qaddafi staffer was angry at P.J. Crowley's failure to apologize, here.

 (In another just released email, Feltman bragged how his interview with An-Nahar pushed Nasrallah out of the news, "HBJ" loved it, here.)

  Feltman is cc-ed on a "sensitive but not classified" emailabout February 2010 Egypt being "amazed" that Hillary Clinton flew over on the way to Qatar and Saudi Arabia without stopping.
 
 Another of the 17 email mentioning Libya was mostly about promoting the US' concern about Haiti, here.

  By contrast, 38 emails cite "Sudan," including this one in which Jimmy Carter offers help on that country, Korea, Cuba and "the Middle East."

  Among those few that mention UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on August 26, 2010, Huma Abedin wrote to Hillary Clinton that "Ban ki-Moon will formally welcome NATO logistical support in Pakistani flood relief."

 Back on July 31 among the 1,356 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department on July 31 are only 14 which mention Libya.

  There is the threat of Gaddafi staying at his UN Permanent Representative's house in Engelwood, New Jersey, then that getting canceled. 

 (There is an email to Cheryl Mills from Martin Edelman, citing "support in Israel for dialogue with Syria... chess game with Iran.)

  There is then-US, now-UN official Jeffrey Feltman noting that US funding might go to an NGO headed by a Gaddafi, here.

  The newly released emails mention Feltman's "boss" Ban Ki-moon 12 times.

  One was from Strobe Talbott, about dining with Ban (who will be in DC against next week, here) and trying to find the right "channel" to reach Hillary on, here.

  One is a "Call Sheet" for Hillary Clinton to call Ban on August 24, 2009, starting "You are calling UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to ask him to co-host with you an event at UNGA to advance the Global Partnership for Agriculture and Food Security."

  Another email, which Inner City Press reported a month ago, is about NOT having UN Food and Agriculture Organization chief Jacques Diouf host the meeting.  

 There is one email that mentions the UN Development Program, UNDP - but it is hard to read, literally: apparently a hard-copy.

  There are 16 emails mentioning Sri Lanka. One of them also mentions Ban, whose record on Sri Lanka continues to be questioned today, but most of which are aboutresponding to the Government of Sri Lanka complaining about Hillary Clinton linking their army to rape in a September 30, 2009 speech. It is "put to bed" by a letter to Sri Lanka's then Foreign Minister.

  Morocco is mentioned only three times: the Forum for the Future twice, and once concerning urging Guinea's Dadis Camera to seek exile in Morocco or another French-speaking country.

FOIA Finds: New Hillary Clinton Emails Show USg Feltman Forwarding to State Department in Oct 2012, M23, Wan Ban Ki-moon

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 30 -- Among the 5,109 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department on November 30 is this one from October 2012 from Jeffrey Feltman, then already ostensibly with and for the UN, to Jake Sullivan about Lebanon.

 Feltman forwards the US State Department a copy of his own email to “his guy” in Lebanon, British UN official Derek Plumbly and asks for US advice on whom he should call.

  Inner City Press on March 28, 2012 first reported that Feltman would take over UN Department of Political Affairs from fellow American B. Lynn Pascoe, and asked if it was wise, to whom would Feltman be loyal. Now with all due respect the question arises: why was Feltman still in October 2012, after starting with the UN on July 2, 2012, forwarding his emails to the US State Department?

 On October 20, 2012, the State Department's Elizabeth Dibble says she spoke with Feltman; in September, Feltman told Huma Abedin he's walk on hot coals for Hillary. He offered to cancel a meeting with Esther Brimmer in order to meet with Hillary in the Waldorf --saying he had problems responding with hotmail, that the 90s may have ended. He was not using his UN email address.
We'l have more on this.

  Also in the November 30 release is an email that in Eastern Congo, the M23 rebels did NOT loot the Central Bank in Goma -- Inner City Press in 2012 questioned the New York Times reporting that that this did, in fact, happen - and an evergreen line, that “Ban's gambit didn't work out too well.” What wa about Syria, but has been repeated for example with the faux ceasefire on Yemen. We'll have more on this.

Back on August 31 among the 4,368 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department were only 17 that mention Libya. In one, forwarded by Feltman, a Qaddafi staffer was angry at P.J. Crowley's failure to apologize, here.

 (In another just released email, Feltman bragged how his interview with An-Nahar pushed Nasrallah out of the news, "HBJ" loved it, here.)

  Feltman is cc-ed on a "sensitive but not classified" emailabout February 2010 Egypt being "amazed" that Hillary Clinton flew over on the way to Qatar and Saudi Arabia without stopping.
 
 Another of the 17 email mentioning Libya was mostly about promoting the US' concern about Haiti, here.

  By contrast, 38 emails cite "Sudan," including this one in which Jimmy Carter offers help on that country, Korea, Cuba and "the Middle East."

  Among those few that mention UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on August 26, 2010, Huma Abedin wrote to Hillary Clinton that "Ban ki-Moon will formally welcome NATO logistical support in Pakistani flood relief."

 Back on July 31 among the 1,356 Hillary Clinton emails released by the US State Department on July 31 are only 14 which mention Libya.

  There is the threat of Gaddafi staying at his UN Permanent Representative's house in Engelwood, New Jersey, then that getting canceled. 

 (There is an email to Cheryl Mills from Martin Edelman, citing "support in Israel for dialogue with Syria... chess game with Iran.)

  There is then-US, now-UN official Jeffrey Feltman noting that US funding might go to an NGO headed by a Gaddafi, here.

  The newly released emails mention Feltman's "boss" Ban Ki-moon 12 times.

  One was from Strobe Talbott, about dining with Ban (who will be in DC against next week, here) and trying to find the right "channel" to reach Hillary on, here.

  One is a "Call Sheet" for Hillary Clinton to call Ban on August 24, 2009, starting "You are calling UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to ask him to co-host with you an event at UNGA to advance the Global Partnership for Agriculture and Food Security."

  Another email, which Inner City Press reported a month ago, is about NOT having UN Food and Agriculture Organization chief Jacques Diouf host the meeting.  

 There is one email that mentions the UN Development Program, UNDP - but it is hard to read, literally: apparently a hard-copy.

  There are 16 emails mentioning Sri Lanka. One of them also mentions Ban, whose record on Sri Lanka continues to be questioned today, but most of which are aboutresponding to the Government of Sri Lanka complaining about Hillary Clinton linking their army to rape in a September 30, 2009 speech. It is "put to bed" by a letter to Sri Lanka's then Foreign Minister.

  Morocco is mentioned only three times: the Forum for the Future twice, and once concerning urging Guinea's Dadis Camera to seek exile in Morocco or another French-speaking country.

At NYU, HUD's Julian Castro Speaks Lofty, "Whether Through Specific Goals or Not," Inner City Press Asked About Affordable Housing Goals

By Matthew R. Lee

NEW YORK, November 16 -- When the US Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro held “an intimate speaking engagement” at NYU on November 14, it was according to HUD to “allow economists, housing industry and policy experts, and distinguished NYU faculty and staff to hear directly from Secretary Castro about our nation’s rebounding housing market.” There was an area marked “Reserved for Press,” and that where Inner City Press went.

  When it came time for Q&A, Inner City Press asked Castro for his view of the US Affordable Housing Goals, whether they can continue to perform their function if the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue. Video here.

   In his response, Castro referred to folks of modest means, and to lending to people of color -- but he said, “whether through the use of specific goals or not.” Many working on this issue, such as NCRC, wonder what this says about his and his prospective partner's commitment to the Affordable Housing Goals. We'll have more on this.

   On November 14 the Democratic Party debate in Des Moines was supposed to be primarily about the economy. But then the night before, 129 people were killed in terrorist attacks in Paris. So CBS' John Dickerson began with the issue, if the Obama Administration (and Hillary Clinton who was a part of it) underestimated ISIS.

  Bernie Sanders tracked ISIS back to the US invasion of Iraq; Hillary Clinton emphasized that extremism existed before that invasion, citing the bombing of US Marines in Beirut under Reagan, the attack on US embassies in African under “my husband.”

  Sanders said he is not a fan of regime change, rattling off Iran, Chile / Allende and Guatemala. Martin O'Malley said the US should not be roving the world looking for dictators to topple. Previously, he wrote that the UN should pay victims for bringing cholera to Haiti; there was nothing even near that in the foreign policy opening of the Des Moines debate.

  Somehow, the airstrikes on and chaos in Yemen was not even mentioned in the segment. Then it cut to the economy, and one wondered how Goldman Sachs, for example, would come up.

Update: Bernie Sanders brought up Goldman Sachs, as dominating; Hillary Clinton again deflected calls to reinstate the Glass Steagall Act by referring to her plan for non-banks. Does that no longer includeGoldman Sachs?

   Back on October 13 when the then-five Democratic Party candidates for President debated on CNN from Nevada, they crossed swords on bank regulation and Edward Snowden, less so on foreign policy. Near the end, Hillary Clinton said she was proud “the Iranians” don't like her; Bernie Sanders, that Wall Street doesn't like him.

   Martin O'Malley called for restoring the Glass Steagall Act which separated banking from investment banking. Bernie Sanders recounted asking why Goldman Sachs -- now seeking Federal Reserve approval to acquire GE Capital Bank's deposits -- didn't itself do a bailout.

   Lincoln Chafee, amid some flubs, said to bring Snowden home without penalty; he cited the US bombing of the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. Absent was reference to theUnited Nations, much less the corruption scandal there. Hillary used the UN to speak out about her emails, about which Bernie Sanders said, “Enough with your damn email.” Jim Webb repeatedly cited his military service. But why wasn't Laurence Lessig in it? 

  Back in August amid debate about Jorge Ramos of Univision and Fusion being ejected from Donald Trump's press conference in Iowa, then allowed back in to ask questions, from the United Nations the comparison is inevitable to UN Peacekeeping boss Herve Ladsous.

  Ladsous who after openly refusing to answer any questions from Inner City Press about rapes in DR Congo, Darfur and the Central African Republic used Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's guards to eject the Press from a supposedly open meeting, here.

  Ladsous has STILL not answered questions about his role in covering up peacekeepers' rapes in the Central African Republic. And the old-school UN Correspondents Association, UNCA, said nothing about that, or the ejection. That most corporate media just sucks up to power? Sadly, not news. That's why the Free UN Coalition for Access, FUNCA, was created, here.

  On August 26, as Ramos was interviewed by Megyn Kelly on FOX, over on CNN that network congratulated itself on not celebrating shooters, as it devoted hours to such coverage, of Vester Lee Flanagan a/k/a Bryce Williams killing TV journalists Alison Parker and Adam Ward. But that's... another story.

Bernie Sanders No Fan of Regime Change, Hillary Clinton Cites (old) Beirut, Yemen Not Mentioned, Goldman Sach Spat

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 14 -- The Democratic Party debate in Des Moines was supposed to be primarily about the economy. But then the night before, 129 people were killed in terrorist attacks in Paris. So CBS' John Dickerson began with the issue, if the Obama Administration (and Hillary Clinton who was a part of it) underestimated ISIS.

  Bernie Sanders tracked ISIS back to the US invasion of Iraq; Hillary Clinton emphasized that extremism existed before that invasion, citing the bombing of US Marines in Beirut under Reagan, the attack on US embassies in African under “my husband.”

  Sanders said he is not a fan of regime change, rattling off Iran, Chile / Allende and Guatemala. Martin O'Malley said the US should not be roving the world looking for dictators to topple. Previously, he wrote that the UN should pay victims for bringing cholera to Haiti; there was nothing even near that in the foreign policy opening of the Des Moines debate.

  Somehow, the airstrikes on and chaos in Yemen was not even mentioned in the segment. Then it cut to the economy, and one wondered how Goldman Sachs, for example, would come up.

Update: Bernie Sanders brought up Goldman Sachs, as dominating; Hillary Clinton again deflected calls to reinstate the Glass Steagall Act by referring to her plan for non-banks. Does that no longer includedGoldman Sachs?

   Back on October 13 when the then-five Democratic Party candidates for President debated on CNN from Nevada, they crossed swords on bank regulation and Edward Snowden, less so on foreign policy. Near the end, Hillary Clinton said she was proud “the Iranians” don't like her; Bernie Sanders, that Wall Street doesn't like him.

   Martin O'Malley called for restoring the Glass Steagall Act which separated banking from investment banking. Bernie Sanders recounted asking why Goldman Sachs -- now seeking Federal Reserve approval to acquire GE Capital Bank's deposits -- didn't itself do a bailout.

   Lincoln Chafee, amid some flubs, said to bring Snowden home without penalty; he cited the US bombing of the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. Absent was reference to theUnited Nations, much less the corruption scandal there. Hillary used the UN to speak out about her emails, about which Bernie Sanders said, “Enough with your damn email.” Jim Webb repeatedly cited his military service. But why wasn't Laurence Lessig in it? 

  Back in August amid debate about Jorge Ramos of Univision and Fusion being ejected from Donald Trump's press conference in Iowa, then allowed back in to ask questions, from the United Nations the comparison is inevitable to UN Peacekeeping boss Herve Ladsous.

  Ladsous who after openly refusing to answer any questions from Inner City Press about rapes in DR Congo, Darfur and the Central African Republic used Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's guards to eject the Press from a supposedly open meeting, here.

  Ladsous has STILL not answered questions about his role in covering up peacekeepers' rapes in the Central African Republic. And the old-school UN Correspondents Association, UNCA, said nothing about that, or the ejection. That most corporate media just sucks up to power? Sadly, not news. That's why the Free UN Coalition for Access, FUNCA, was created, here.

  On August 26, as Ramos was interviewed by Megyn Kelly on FOX, over on CNN that network congratulated itself on not celebrating shooters, as it devoted hours to such coverage, of Vester Lee Flanagan a/k/a Bryce Williams killing TV journalists Alison Parker and Adam Ward. But that's... another story.

  With scandals surrounding UN Peacekeeping, from covering up child rape by French “peacekeepers” in the Central African Republic tobuying sex in Haiti and selling UN Police jobs in the DR Congo, on June 18 the UN including Secretary General Ban Ki-moon gave Force Commanders a lesson -- one in censorship. Ban's guards ejected the investigative Press, which closely covers Peacekeeping including the scandals, out of an open meeting, at the demand of Herve Ladsous.

  This came a day after Jose Ramos-Horta and 14 others on Ban's Panel issued a report complaining for example that "Sometimes peace operations are slow and reactive in getting their messages out; at other times the messages are convoluted or obscure. At other times, peace operations appear mute and introverted, which conveys its own very particular message." "HIPPO" Report at Paragraph 282.

  So what is the message of using UN Security to throw the Press out of an open meeting about Peacekeeping, right in front of the Secretary General who did... nothing? On June 19, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric to explain, but it remained "convoluted and obscure." From the UN transcript:

Inner City Press: I have a number of questions, but I feel I have to ask this one first and it has to do with…

Spokesman Dujarric:  Are you getting me on two cameras?

Inner City Press:  I actually am, yes, and here is the reason for it. [Periscope.] Yesterday, there was an open meeting in the basement, in Conference Room 9, which the Secretary-General was to deliver a speech to a number of generals, and Mr. [Hervé] Ladsous was there.  I went to attend it and it was listed in the media alert.  I was told not to take pictures at the photo op, but I continued to, because it was in the hallway.  But, in Conference Room 9, the security detail of the Secretary-General told me I had to leave the open meeting at the direction of the organizer, Mr. Ladsous.  And I wanted to know, one, what do you say about an open meeting, the press being excluded from it?  Two, what is the role of the security detail of the Secretary-General in excluding journalists that were far away from it?

Spokesman:  I think it was an unfortunate situation and a misunderstanding and the decision to open up the meeting in the AE for the [Secretary-General’s] part was taken late and I think everybody that should have known didn't know, so it was a misunderstanding.

Inner City Press:  But, I guess what was the problem, given the meeting it was on UN TV and you distributed his remarks?

Spokesman:  What I'm saying is that it was a misunderstanding and that all the people who should have known that it was an open meeting were not aware.

Inner City Press:  Isn't the default… I mean MALU [Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit] was there and MALU said to the security detail to the Secretary-General, “this is an open meeting”, and they said:  “It doesn't matter, if the organizer says you are out you are out”.

Spokesman:  It was a misunderstanding.

Inner City Press:  Can you say from this podium that meetings that are open, that journalists should be able to remain inside them?

Spokesman:  Of course.  Everybody should know how the meeting is classified.  It was a misunderstanding.  Everybody who should have known should have known.

Inner City Press:  I also I guess related as to security, it came up yesterday and Farhan said what he said, but I want maybe to take a second shot at it.  There is a photograph of Ban Ki-moon shaking hands with an individual who is on the US Al-Qaida terrorist sanctions list.  So, what I wanted to know is, I mean, in diplomacy you may have to meet with anyone, but my question actually has to do with entering the UN premises and role of the security detail of the Secretary-General, did they know that this individual was listed as having financed if not being a member of Al-Qaida?

Spokesman:  I think you're right.  In diplomacy, we have to speak to the people we have to speak to.  As for the Secretary-General’s security, I'm not going to get into the details of it, but obviously, it's there to protect the security of the Secretary-General and they do what they need to do.

Inner City Press:  But, what do you think of the Hadi or Riyadh delegation having as one of its members a US-listed Al-Qaida terrorist?

Spokesman:  I think I have used as many words as I can on this.

  As Ramos-Horta said, convoluted and obscure. We'll have more on this.

 Ban was scheduled to give a speech to UN Force Commanders in Conference Room 9 of UN Headquarters in an open meeting, following a public photo-op with the commanders.

   But when Inner City Press showed up for the photo op, UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous directed one of his officials to tell Inner City Press to leave. Then he got Ban's guards to eject Inner City Press from the open meeting.

 On June 19, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who previously enabled Ladsous' strikingly anti-press stance by refusing to allow Inner City Press to put a single question to Ladsous, to explain the use of Ban's security detail to oust a journalist from an open speech by Ban. Video here.

  Dujarric said those who needed to know weren't told early enough that it was an open meeting. It was a strange response, because there are open meetings every day in the UN without prior notice to all participants; this one was listed as open in the Media Alert the night before.

  It seems that what Dujarric meant is that had Ladsous been specifically directed to the open meeting notation, he would have had time to veto it, like this patron. But since he didn't, how could Ladsous who ostensibly works FOR Ban Ki-moon get Ban's guards to oust the Press from covering an open speech by their boss? Who works for whom? We'll have more on this.

  On June 18 Inner City Press first refused to stop taking pictures at the photo op, noting that Ban's appearance was listed in the online Media Alert of the UN Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit (MALU). Nevertheless, Ladsous' official insisted, and Ladsous himself began to film Inner City Press with his phone.

   When Ban Ki-moon and his security detail of at least four arrived, they proceeded into Conference Room 9, as did Inner City Press accompanied by a MALU staff member and a staffer from UN Photo. But just as Ban Ki-moon began speaking, two of his security officers came over and told Inner City Press to leave. In the hall they said that “the organizer” -- Ladsous -- had ordered it.

  Inner City Press asked, if some UN official tells you to throw out the media, you just do it? "If he told you to throw me on the ground, would you throw me on the ground?"

“Somebody doesn't have to tell me to throw you on the ground, if I've got to put you on the ground, I put you on the ground,” came the response. Audio here. Periscope video here. Now YouTube video permalink here.

   Another security officer said, at this point the media is not coming in. That's it.

  This is called censorship. And it happened right in front of Ban Ki-moon.  When Ban came out of Conference Room 9, he had a discussion with Ladsous - what about? - then walked on by. Periscope Video II here. This is Ban's UN, UNtransparent, descended to censorship.

 Inner City Press has reported not only on Ladsous' cover up of rapes in CAR (and before that in Minova in the DRC and Tabit in Darfur), but also on a growing lack of transparency in Ban Ki-moon's UN, including the reported use of Ban's name by his nephew "Dennis" Bahn while purporting to sell real estate in Vietnam to the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar. (Bahn works for Colliers International, which rents office space to and for Ban's UN system.) Now, outright censorship.

  The old UN Correspondents Association has said nothing, just as they said nothing and more when Ladsous said he would not answer Inner City Press and Ban's spokesman decided not to call on Inner City Press to put a question to Ladsous, on the CAR rapes and cover up. The newFree UN Coalition for Access has demanded an explanation and response from MALU and the Department of Public Information above it. A senior UN official told Inner City Press, “There is no court.”

 This use of UN Security is ironic, given that as Inner City Pressreported on June 17 and asked Ban's deputy spokesman about on June 18, Ban shook hands in the UN in Geneva with a person on the US Al-Qaeda terrorist list, photo here. But today's UN has become the source of lawless censorship, amid its scandals. Watch this site.