On Syria, Ban Ki-moon's Chemical Weapons Mystery Tour in Madrid, Murky

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 -- From whom on Syria did UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hear, between April 4, when Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari said he had a deal with the UN's Angela Kane for access for a chemical weapons investigation in Khan al Assad near Aleppo, and April 5 when Ja'afari said Ban "went back on the deal"?

  While Ban Ki-moon did not take questions during his "press encounter" on April 29, on April 30 Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky just this. Did Ban receive new information during that time frame, when he was in Madrid for the UN Chief Executives Board meeting?

  With whom did Ban Ki-moon speak in that time - for the P3 (France, UK and United States)?

  Nesirky refused to answer this question. Video here from Minute 10:42 and 23:20. He said, twice, that the UN consistently conveyed to Syria that there were additional allegations, in letters dated March 21 and 28, and April 3 and April 5.

  But as Inner City Press asked, the April 3 letter from Angela Kane stated that "I wish to confirm that the investigation mission will look at the specific incident brought to his attention by your Government and investigate the facts related to the reported incident on 19 March 2013 at Khan al Asal."

  Kane on April 3 also wrote that "the Secretary-General continues to assess the reports submitted by the Governments of France and the United Kingdom."

  But by April 5, that "continuing to assess" appears to have reached the conclusion, canceling according to Ja'afari a final technical meeting to begin the probe at Khan al Asal.

  So to whom DID Ban Ki-moon speak between April 3 and the April 5 letter? He was in Madrid. We aim to have more on this.

Syria Says UN's Ban Got Pressured April 4-5, Calls GA Draft War Declaration

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 -- When Syria Permanent Representative Bashar Ja'afari held a press conference Tuesday morning, it went over an hour. 

  He took questions, unlike Ban Ki-moon the day before, including from stations like Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera, and Voice of America which is run by the US State Department.

  After those, Inner City Press asked Ja'afari what he thought Secretary General Ban Ki-moon did between April 4, when Ja'afari said he had a deal with the UN's Angela Kane to inspect in Khan al Asal near Aleppo, and April 5 when Ban "went back on the deal."

  Ja'afari mused that either Ban got calls or MADE calls, and then went back on the deal. He called on the UN Secretariat to not be "part of this campaign against Syria."

  While Ban didn't take any question on April 29 -- and when the Free UN Coalition for Access complained, the UN's Stephane Dujarric said press "presence is not mandatory" -- one still wants to know what Ban did between April 4 and April 5. 

  Isn't that the purpose of a "public schedule" of the type Ban puts, or purports to put, online? (He did not list his April 26 "private" meeting with Sarkozy.)

First clue: as Inner City Press asked Ja'afari who'd said Ban was in The Hague, Ban was in fact in Madrid for this "Chief Executives Board" meeting.

  Inner City Press also asked Ja'afari about the pending UN General Assembly draft resolution, the fouth revision of which Inner City Press obtained and exclusively published earlier on Tuesday.

You are right there is a Rev 4, Ja'afari said, adding his prediction that they will have to go to a "Rev 10," because it is a declaration of war. He called Qatar, the first sponsor or drafter, a puppet, and said the goal is a follow up resolution to take Syria's UN seat and give it to the external, extremist opposition.

After more than an hour, Ja'afari stopped. Some said he'd started stronger or more logically than he finished with quotes from Winston Churchill about using chemical weapons on "uncivilized tribes" in Iraq, French nuclear tests in Algeria, Italian chemical weapons use in Libya. What about Guantanamo? Watch this site.

UN Refuses Press Qs on Haiti, Congo Rapes & Raid, Mad about De Mistura Scoop?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 5 -- That UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesman Eduardo Del Buey almost never has answers to questions is one thing.

  But on April 5 Del Buey decided he wouldn't even let questions be asked. 

 Del Buey simply refused to take Inner City Press questions on Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo, countries in which the UN has peacekeeping missions (mis) run by Herve Ladsous costing $800 million and over $1 billion, respectively. To this low has Ban Ki-moon's UN sunk.

The first speaker at Friday's noon briefing was Ban's main spokesman Martin Nesirky, who been gone all week in San Marino, Andorra, Monaco and now Madrid. 

  The purpose of the call-in was to describe and promote a call Ban made -- by Skype! -- to Malala, the courageous schoolgirl shot be extremists in Pakistan.

   Nesirky said clips from the call would soon be uploaded to YouTube.

(Flashback: after the UN raided Inner City Press' office on March 18, on March 19 a UN supervisor wrote to demand that the after raid video be removed from YouTube as a “first step.” This request, about which Inner City Press answered questions from the Department of Public Information which led the raid, has never been withdrawn.)

  As a question to Nesirky, Inner City Press asked him to confirm the Vatican's report that Ban will visit Pope Benedict in Rome on April 9, and to confirm a visit to and appointment of Staffan De Mistura, currently deputy foreign minister of Italy as UN envoy to Mali, “as we have reported.”

“Who's we?” Nesirky asked.

“Inner City Press,” was the answer. Nesirky would not even confirm the Vatican visit. Mighty dangerous, the Vatican.

After Nesirky spoke about Ban's time at the UN World Tourism Organization, Del Buey read out announcements then said he would take questions. 

 After leaving Inner City Press for last, as has become the norm, Inner City Press said for planning purposes that it would ask questions about Sudan, Haiti and the DRC -- all countries in which the UN has peacekeeping missions (mis) run by Herve Ladsous.

  After saying he didn't know about a Small Arms Survey report on South Sudan, Del Buey turned away and told another correspondents, “last question.”

  Why? Inner City Press asked.

  Del Buey seemed to say because he'd been in the room too long. But he took very few questions -- in fact on April 3 he managed to hold his briefing right during Susan Rice's stakeout, taking only two questions in a record low six minute briefing. Is he tired?

  The UN's Censorship Alliance, known as UNCA, never challenges the decline of access to information at the UN. The most recent posting on its glassed-in bulletin board is from February 1.

Meanwhile DPI, from the non-UNCA bulletin board won through advocacy by the Free UN Coalition for Access, recently tore down every flier, saying they were too old, including a critical flier from late March.

  The president of UNCA Pamela Falk of CBS took photos of the March 18 raid, then issued a legal threat to Inner City Press not to write about it.

To this as the UN descended. As to the questions Del Buey refused to taken, much less answer, watch this site.

As Israel Blames Hezbollah for Bomb, Bulgaria Not Yet Sure, Authorship a Secret

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 19 -- After UN Security Council president Nestor Osorio read out a press statement about the killing of seven Israeli tourists in Bulgaria, Israel's Deputy Permanent Representative Haim Waxman took to the UN microphone and said Hezbollah and Al Quds were responsible.

  Inner City Press asked for a bit more information. He said he couldn't say more, but the attacks bore all the fingerprints of Hezbollah, citing the killing of 85 in Argentina 18 years ago.

  But when Bulgaria's Permanent Representative Stefan Tafrov spoke, he was asked if he yet knew who did it. No, he said. 

  He praised the Security Council for issuing its press statement so quickly, noting that when Bulgaria was on the Security Council in 2002-03, during a month he was president it took two weeks to negotiate a statement about Saddam Hussein.

Noting that the increase in speed is due to the Security Council never trying to say who is responsible -- since a notably error of blaming the Madrid bombings on ETA not Al Qaeda -- Inner City Press asked the Bulgarian Ambassador if such lack of attribution is useful. He again said, it is too early to say who is responsible.

Nor would he or Osorio say which Council member was responsible for drafting the statement. Late Wednesday, Inner City Press was reliably informed that Germany had been asked to draft it; the source said that Germany is now "always eager on matters concerning Israel." But Thursday, no one would confirm authorship or initial drafting. And so it goes at the UN.