On Syria, Obama Says US Doesn't Need UNSC, Then Cites Its Resolution 1540 to Congress

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 1 -- On Syria on August 31, US President Barack Obama said, "I'm comfortable going forward without the approval of a United Nations Security Council."

  But the Authorization he sent to Congress later in the day cites UN Security Council resolution 1540 of 2004 that proliferation of chemical weapons is a threat to international peace and security.

  So which is it? It seems to some as an attempt to Obama to have it both ways. It's like Human Rights Watch, eager for access both at the UN and ultimately in today's White House, saying on August 28 that "the United States, Britain, France, and other countries are assessing options for military intervention in Syria. Human Rights Watch does not take a position advocating or opposing such intervention."

  Unlike even UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, HRW's Ken Roth did not even say the Western P3 should bring their military plan to the Security Council. So much for HRW and international law.

The hypocrisy, however, is that when it suits it HRW cites to Security Council resolutions and arms embargoes, for example on Rwanda. From that, some made assumptions about Roth's HRW and international law. But these assumptions are wrong.

Is this lack of principles just pragmatic? But HRW has more money than it can spend. What it craves is access -- that is why, according to its UN lobbyist Philippe Bolopion, HRW refused to provide Inner City Press with even a summary of the topics Roth raised to Ban Ki-moon.

On Wednesday in the Security Council chamber, countries filed in to hear a briefing and debate about Haiti. On the other side of the Council chamber, in front of the Permanent Five members' clubhouse, the media was massed. The drums of war are beating, and HRW is right on key. 

now the UK says it will present in New York, only to the Permanent Five members of the Security Council, a draft resolution "authorizing all necessary measures under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter to protect civilians from chemical weapons."

"All measures" is a broad term -- just see how it was used in Libya, to turn a no-fly zone over Benghazi into a bombing campaign all over the country. So it seems clear that Russia and China will have, at a minimum, questions.

But one senses hear the game is simply to present this to the P5, say Russia and China wouldn't agree, then fire missiles. Earlier on Wednesday envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said if you want to punish Bashar al Assad, go through the Security Council. Did this just mean, flash a draft then say it failed?

   On August 26 Inner City Press directly asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's associate spokesperson Farhan Haq for Ban's position on the if missiles sent without Security Council approval (or as some now wanly propose, General Assembly approval, even after the fact) would violate international law.

  We won't engage in speculative comment, Ban's Haq said. Nor would he say if Ban at least was asking the US to give him notice before a missile, since there are UN personnel in Damascus and Syria.

  Speculative or not, Brahimi said issue should go to the Security Council. As the final question, tellingly, Voice of America on whose Broadcast Board of Governors US Secretary of State John Kerry sits asked who then to punish Assad.

  Go through the Security Council, Brahimi again said. But the follow up question can apparently be via missiles.

  Reuters, too, showed its hand, asserting as a fact that bombing was good for Bosnia, why not here?

  Inner City Press asked UN spokesperson Farhan Haq at Tuesday's noon briefing when it was that the UN formally requested access to al Ghouta -- on Saturday, August 24 or before? Video here, from Minute 12. Video with captions, on Inner City Press YouTube channel, here and embedded below.

Haq read out a press statement from August 22, in which Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said a request is being sent. Then, Haq said, Ban's High Representative on Disarmament Angela Kane "stepped forward with the request" -- on August 24, Saturday.

It was granted the next day.

Inner City Press asked again, was there any formal request by the UN other than Ban's press statement, before August 24? Haq called this "semantics." But when Inner City Press asked Ban's spokespeople to respond to widely circulated press releases about a request being made to Ban, the UN says the actual formal request had not been received yet, and so: no comment. Why should the UN say it must be different for Syria?

How could the UN be so sloppy? Or was it sloppy?

  While the delay to Sunday (or Monday, when the team got out and said, if this YouTube video on which Haq declined comment when Inner City Press asked is not false, that they are not even looking at what type of munition was used in part because they didn't want to put it in their white UN 4 by 4) is now an element in the case for missile strikes, the UN didn't formally ASK until Saturday, in the person of Angela Kane

   Inner City Press covered Kane when she was head of Ban's Department of Management, including an investigation by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services for favoritism in the UN's so-called UMOJA computer management system.

  When Japan's Yukio Takasu returned after a pause from being his country's Ambassador to the UN to take over Kane's job, Kane's native Germany lobbied for her to get another top UN job. She was offered one in Lebanon, as Inner City Press reported, but did not want it. So she "got" Disarmament.

  This connection must be noted: it was Germany which got Kane this job, in the same way that France installed Herve Ladsous as the fourth French head of UN Peacekeeping in a row, and the US picked Jeffrey Feltman, formerly the State Department's chief on the Middle East to replace B. Lynn Pascoe as Ban's political chief.

  So the fact that Germany has expressed a willingness to join a coalition to strike Syria, without UN Security Council approval, and the Germany's Angela Kane's role in the "UN's" chemical weapons inspection team should be noted.

  But by most media covering the UN, it is not. When Inner City Press even mentions Ladsous' and UN Peacekeeping's French connection, Ladsous refuses to answer questions, and some media, including the French wire service Agence France Presse on one of whose management boards Ladsous served, have even filed complaints with the UNagainst Inner City Press. 

  This is dysfunction, and is now being countered by the Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info.

  Another major wire service, Reuters, joined in the second of AFP's complaints. On August 26 Reuters based a piece essentially selling or planning for the legality of military strikes on Syria without Security Council or even General Assembly approval around, as lead, a comment by the Council on Foreign Relations' Richard Haass.

 (Haas now says that Obama's August 31 decision makes the US an unreliable partner.)

  But on that CFR call, as noted by Inner City Press, wasJudith Miller. Given her role during the lead up to the US intervention in Iraq, one might think this would have been included in an overly-long rehash story. But no. 

 Notably, Reuters' UN bureau has been shown to have spied for the UN, handing over an internal anti-Press document of the UN Correspondents Association (which under 2013 president Pamela Falk of CBS hosted Syrian rebel Jarba for what it called a "UN briefing") to UN official Stephane Dujarric. Story here, audio here, document here.

This beat just goes on. Watch this site.

   

On Syria, Brahimi Says Go To UNSC, UN's Ban Ki-moon Wouldn't Say, Voice of America, Reuters on Bosnia

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 28 -- When Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi spoke Wednesday from Geneva, it was like hearing from the UN of old. He said if you want to "punish" Bashar al Assad, you should go through the Security Council.

  Hours earlier in The Hague, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon gave a speech mentioning Syria, but he did not say this.

  In fact, on August 26 Inner City Press directly asked Ban's associate spokesperson Farhan Haq for Ban's position on the if missiles sent without Security Council approval (or as some now wanly propose, General Assembly approval, even after the fact) would violate international law.

  We won't engage in speculative comment, Ban's Haq said. Nor would he say if Ban at least was asking the US to give him notice before a missile, since there are UN personnel in Damascus and Syria.

  Speculative or not, Brahimi said the issue should go to the Security Council. As the final question, tellingly, Voice of America on whose Broadcast Board of Governors US Secretary of State John Kerry sits asked how then to punish Assad.

  Go through the Security Council, Brahimi again said. But the follow up question can apparently be via missiles.

  Reuters, too, showed its hand, asserting as a fact that bombing was good for Bosnia, why not here?

  Inner City Press asked UN spokesperson Farhan Haq at Tuesday's noon briefing when it was that the UN formally requested access to al Ghouta -- on Saturday, August 24 or before? Video here, from Minute 12. Video with captions, on Inner City Press YouTube channel, here and embedded below.

Haq read out a press statement from August 22, in which Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said a request is being sent. Then, Haq said, Ban's High Representative on Disarmament Angela Kane "stepped forward with the request" -- on August 24, Saturday.

It was granted the next day.

Inner City Press asked again, was there any formal request by the UN other than Ban's press statement, before August 24? Haq called this "semantics." But when Inner City Press asked Ban's spokespeople to respond to widely circulated press releases about a request being made to Ban, the UN says the actual formal request had not been received yet, and so: no comment. Why should the UN say it must be different for Syria?

How could the UN be so sloppy? Or was it sloppy?

  While the delay to Sunday (or Monday, when the team got out and said, if this YouTube video on which Haq declined comment when Inner City Press asked is not false, that they are not even looking at what type of munition was used in part because they didn't want to put it in their white UN 4 by 4) is now an element in the case for missile strikes, the UN didn't formally ASK until Saturday, in the person of Angela Kane

   Inner City Press covered Kane when she was head of Ban's Department of Management, including an investigation by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services for favoritism in the UN's so-called UMOJA computer management system.

  When Japan's Yukio Takasu returned after a pause from being his country's Ambassador to the UN to take over Kane's job, Kane's native Germany lobbied for her to get another top UN job. She was offered one in Lebanon, as Inner City Press reported, but did not want it. So she "got" Disarmament.

  This connection must be noted: it was Germany which got Kane this job, in the same way that France installed Herve Ladsous as the fourth French head of UN Peacekeeping in a row, and the US picked Jeffrey Feltman, formerly the State Department's chief on the Middle East to replace B. Lynn Pascoe as Ban's political chief.

  So the fact that Germany has expressed a willingness to join a coalition to strike Syria, without UN Security Council approval, and the Germany's Angela Kane's role in the "UN's" chemical weapons inspection team should be noted.

  But by most media covering the UN, it is not. When Inner City Press even mentions Ladsous' and UN Peacekeeping's French connection, Ladsous refuses to answer questions, and some media, including the French wire service Agence France Presse on one of whose management boards Ladsous served, have even filed complaints with the UN against Inner City Press. 

  This is dysfunction, and is now being countered by the Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info.

  Another major wire service, Reuters, joined in the second of AFP's complaints. On August 26 Reuters based a piece essentially selling or planning for the legality of military strikes on Syria without Security Council or even General Assembly approval around, as lead, a comment by the Council on Foreign Relations' Richard Haass.

  But on that CFR call, as noted by Inner City Press, was Judith Miller. Given her role during the lead up to the US intervention in Iraq, one might think this would have been included in an overly-long rehash story. But no. 

 Notably, Reuters' UN bureau has been shown to have spied for the UN, handing over an internal anti-Press document of the UN Correspondents Association (which under 2013 president Pamela Falk of CBS hosted Syrian rebel Jarba for what it called a "UN briefing") to UN official Stephane Dujarric. Story here, audio here, document here.

This beat just goes on. Watch this site.

On Syria, UN Admits to Inner City Press Its Formal Request on Ghouta Made August 24, Angela Kane Games, Delay?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 27 -- Much is being made of the Syrian government's delay in granting the UN's request for its chemical weapons inspection team to visit al Ghouta.

Inner City Press asked UN spokesperson Farhan Haq at Tuesday's noon briefing when it was that the UN formally requested access to al Ghouta -- on Saturday, August 24 or before?

Haq read out a press statement from August 22, in which Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said a request is being sent. Then, Haq said, Ban's High Representative on Disarmament Angela Kane "stepped forward with the request" -- on August 24, Saturday.

It was granted the next day.

Inner City Press asked again, was there any formal request by the UN other than Ban's press statement, before August 24? Haq called this "semantics." But when Inner City Press asked Ban to respond to widely circulated press releases about a request being made to him, the UN says the actual request has not been received yet.

How could the UN be so sloppy? Or was it sloppy?

  While the delay to Sunday (or Monday, when the team got out and said, if this YouTube video on which Haq declined comment when Inner City Press asked is not false, that they are not even looking at what type of munition was used in part because they didn't want to put it in their white UN 4 by 4) is now an element in the case for missile strikes, the UN didn't formally ASK until Saturday, in the person of Angela Kane

   Inner City Press covered Kane when she was head of Ban's Department of Management, including an investigation by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services for favoritism in the UN's so-called UMOJA computer management system.

  When Japan's Yukio Takasu returned after a pause from being his country's Ambassador to the UN to take over Kane's job, Kane's native Germany lobbied for her to get another top UN job. She was offered one in Lebanon, as Inner City Press reported, but did not want it. So she "got" Disarmament.

  This connection must be noted: it was Germany which got Kane this job, in the same way that France installed Herve Ladsous as the fourth French head of UN Peacekeeping in a row, and the US picked Jeffrey Feltman, formerly the State Department's chief on the Middle East to replace B. Lynn Pascoe as Ban's political chief.

  So the fact that Germany has expressed a willingness to join a coalition to strike Syria, without UN Security Council approval, and the Germany's Angela Kane's role in the "UN's" chemical weapons inspection team should be noted.

  But by most media covering the UN, it is not. When Inner City Press even mentions Ladsous' and UN Peacekeeping's French connection, Ladsous refuses to answer questions, and some media, including the French wire service Agence France Presse on one of whose management boards Ladsous served, have even filed complaints with the UNagainst Inner City Press. 

  This is dysfunction, and is now being countered by the Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info.

  Another major wire service, Reuters, joined in the second of AFP's complaints. On August 26 Reuters based a piece essentially selling or planning for the legality of military strikes on Syria without Security Council or even General Assembly approval around, as lead, a comment by the Council on Foreign Relations' Richard Haass.

  But on that CFR call, as noted by Inner City Press, was Judith Miller. Given her role during the lead up to the US intervention in Iraq, one might think this would have been included in an overly-long rehash story. But no. 

 Notably, Reuters' UN bureau has been shown to have spied for the UN, handing over an internal anti-Press document of the UN Correspondents Association (which under 2013 president Pamela Falk of CBS hosted Syrian rebel Jarba for what it called a "UN briefing") to UN official Stephane Dujarric. Story here, audio here, document here.

This beat just goes on. Watch this site.

   

Syria Run-Up for UN Has Germany's Angela Kane, at CFR Judith Miller, Questions UNasked

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 27 -- Amid the drums of war and the UN Secretariat's wan accompanying music, a few connections are worth noting, a few more questions asked. (Here's video of some from August 26.)

  For August 27: when did the UN ask to visit the site at Ghouta? 

  While the delay from Wednesday to Sunday (or Monday, when the team got out and said, if this YouTube video is not false, that they are not even looking at what type of munition was used in part because they didn't want to put it in their white UN 4 by 4) is now an element in the case for missile strikes, Syria says the UN didn't even ASK until Saturday.

   Is that true? Even if the UK, for example, asked earlier, it is a UN team. So when did the UN make the request?

  Saturday August 24 is when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's High Representative on Disarmament Angela Kane re-arrived in Damascus.

   Inner City Press covered Kane when she was head of Ban's Department of Management, including an investigation by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services for favoritism in the UN's so-called UMOJA computer management system.

  When Japan's Yukio Takasu returned after a pause from being his country's Ambassador to the UN to take over Kane's job, Kane's native Germany lobbied for her to get another top UN job. She was offered one in Lebanon, as Inner City Press reported, but did not want it. So she "got" Disarmament.

  This connection must be noted: it was Germany which got Kane this job, in the same way that France installed Herve Ladsous as the fourth French head of UN Peacekeeping in a row, and the US picked Jeffrey Feltman, formerly the State Department's chief on the Middle East to replace B. Lynn Pascoe as Ban's political chief.

  So the fact that Germany has expressed a willingness to join a coalition to strike Syria, without UN Security Council approval, and the Germany's Angela Kane's role in the "UN's" chemical weapons inspection team should be noted.

  But by most media covering the UN, it is not. When Inner City Press even mentions Ladsous' and UN Peacekeeping's French connection, Ladsous refuses to answer questions, and some media, including the French wire service Agence France Presse on one of whose management boards Ladsous served, have even filed complaints with the UN against Inner City Press. 

  This is dysfunction, and is now being countered by the Free UN Coalition for Access, @FUNCA_info.

  Another major wire service, Reuters, joined in the second of AFP's complaints. On August 26 Reuters based a piece essentially selling or planning for the legality of military strikes on Syria without Security Council or even General Assembly approval around, as lead, a comment by the Council on Foreign Relations' Richard Haass.

  But on that CFR call, as noted by Inner City Press, wasJudith Miller. Given her role during the lead up to the US intervention in Iraq, one might think this would have been included in an overly-long rehash story. But no. 

 Notably, Reuters' UN bureau has been shown to have spied for the UN, handing over an internal anti-Press document of the UN Correspondents Association (which under 2013 president Pamela Falk of CBS hosted Syrian rebel Jarba for what it called a "UN briefing") to UN official Stephane Dujarric. Story here, audio here, document here.

This beat just goes on. Watch this site.

   

Kissinger at the UN: Story of a Photo Not Taken, Wheelchair Sans Mr. K

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 7 -- It was inside the UN, but there was no sign on the door. In Conference Room E of the Temporary North Lawn Building, Inner City Press was told, Henry Kissinger was speaking.

  Having covered, in the time of Occupy Wall Street, a mock award ceremony for Henry Kissinger held in front of a midtown Manhattan hotel (video here), Inner City Press had a sense there could be news: Kissinger in the UN! Again!

And so Inner City Press set up shop at a Cafe Austria table in front of Conference Room E. The electronic blue sign which usually announced what's taking place in a UN meeting room -- the Law of the Sea, even sometimes, "Questions about Information" -- was blank.

There was a paper sign on the door itself, DPI-NGO, but that event (which Inner City Press also covered, in the context of an internship with an NGO inside the UN being auctioned off for $26,000) was over.

A UN Security medical officer arrived, to unfold and man a wheelchair, along with two bodyguards. Two of the three looked skeptically at Inner City Press. But it is an open area.

After several false alarms, the moment came. Henry Kissinger came out of Conference Room E. But he said, even before he was out, "no pictures of me in a wheelchair."

Well.

  There have been other sightings by Inner City Press in the UN this year: Judith Miller of Iraq and New York Times fame, here in the time of Syria and chemical weapons, on April Fool's Day no less. 

  Beyonce, for whom photographers were ordered to turn over their memory cards and have them erased. (Meanwhile, the UN took photos while raiding Inner City Press' office on March 18, then shared them and had them leaked on March 21 once the UN was asked about the raid.)

There are many orders in the UN, usually by the UN or its allies, on what to publish. This one, we will respect. What remains is a picture of the wheelchair sans Kissinger, here. Watch this site.

As Reuters Brags of Bagging Syria Letters, For & From Whom, Threats to Leave

By Matthew Russell Lee, Media Critique

UNITED NATIONS, April 11 -- In the stand-off between Syria and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's UN on whether to start a chemical weapons probe with one site or agree on more before beginning, the use of who leaks to whom, and why, has come to the fore.

  Reuters brags that Syrian foreign minister Walid al “Moualem also complained about the leak of previous letters exchanged between Syria and the United Nations to Reuters, saying it 'left the impression of a lack of seriousness on the part of the (UN) secretariat on cooperation in good faith.'”

  Beyond the bragging, a question being asked is who leaks to whom, and why? How does a negotiation letter from Syria to Ban Ki-moon and his German negotiator Angela Kane get leaked to Reuters, in Reuters own description?

  Either Ban's UN Secretariat gives it to Reuters, or there is a middle man. Some surmise that Ban's UN gives the letter to the Missions of the UK or France, which in turn give it to Reuters.

  (This is not unlike, at a lower level, the UN's photos of its raid on Inner City Press' office on March 18 being leaked to BuzzFeed on March 21, through an anonymous “Concerned UN Reporter” -- not unrelated to Reuters, not unrelated at all.)

  Journalists general like leaks, and Inner City Press is no exception. But there are different kinds of “leaks.” When the Bush Administration gave material about Iraq to Judith Miller, and she gave them anonymous, was that a good leak? An honorable leak? A “scoop”?

  While an angry individual whistleblower in the UN Secretariat might be one thing, for the Ban Ki-moon administration to intentional leak the negotiating document submitted to it be a member state would be a problem. Since the UN is owned by all 193 member states, who would authorize such a leak?

  But perhaps Ban's UN would think it fine to share Syria's letter with France and the UK (one wonders if this would go the other way). One would expect a “no leaking” commitment be sought and obtained, but who knows?

  While one is for some reason not supposed to say so, Reuters is often used by the UK, French and other other missions for intentional leaks. This makes Reuters' UN bureau and its bureau chief valuable to these important Permanent Five members of the UN Security Council.

  (Again turning to the smaller press freedom picture, this is what makes it so outrageous that Reuters UN bureau chief threatened that if the UN did not throw Inner City Press out, he would have no choice but to ask about transferring out of the UN to another beat at Reuters.

  Given the functions he and Reuters serve at the UN, at least for some important Missions, was that an appropriate threat? Did he inform the big wigs at Reuters about it, and do they stand behind it? 

  They have been urged to inquire into their UN bureau's anti-Press moves, in their own names and as anonymous trolls. (Which has continued.)

  Those asked include, so far, Stephen J. Adler, Editor in Chief, Paul Ingrassia, Deputy Editor in Chief, Walden Siew, Top News Editor, Greg McCune, “Ethics,” and one other. But despite the issues raised, twice now, this mega corporation will not respond or more importantly reform. Kingdom of trolls? Watch this site.

As UN Starts Its Syria WMD Probe, Judith Miller Speaks at UN with Qatar's Ex-Ambassador, Iraq Echo, No Press Allowed

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 1 -- Just as the UN starts up a probe of chemical weapons in Syria, a blast from the past search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq Judith Miller spoke at the UN on Monday, in an event only partial disclosed in the day's UN Journal. Photo of sign on door, here.

The Journal entry said only

Women’s International Forum: Meeting on “Arab Spring or Islamist Winter? A journalist’s perspective of the Arab Spring now” (sponsored by the Executive Office of the Secretary-General) Monday, 1 April 2013 From 13:15 to 14:30, in Conference Room 6 (NLB).

[Delegates and Secretariat staff are invited to attend. Please click here for further information.]

The printed Journal didn't say who the guest was. But online, click took one to the home pagehttp://womensinternationalforum.org/, on which was Judith Miller's portrait, and a bio beginning, “Judith Miller is an author and a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter formerly with The New York Times.”

  You don't say. Wasn't it Judith Miller who used or was used by anonymous sources to report that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?

  The website goes on, “Founded in 1975, the Women's International Forum began with a group of UN spouses who wanted to know more about UN and global issues. Today, the WIF is a highly-respected organisation with members from the diplomatic community, from the ranks of international civil servants and UN-affiliated non-governmental organizations, and women from the New York area.”

Judith Miller's talk was not open to the press (though, strangely, all delegates and Secretariat staff were invited.) The website says, "Lectures are only open to members and their guests."

  Inside was former Qatari Ambassador then President of the General Assembly, now UN official Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, who in the former two roles railed against Syria. (Qatar is supporting the armed rebels, who also stand accused of using chemical weapons.)

   Here is a photo near the end of the session, which Inner City Press exclusively staked-out.

  For the record, Inner City Press has in the past attended and reported on sessions of the Womens International Forum, invited by then Ugandan Ambassador Rugunda. 

 That was then; this is now, at today's UN. Watch this site.