Marc posted an item about how Cuban government officials attended a press conference they weren’t supposed to. There are strict rules about such occurrences.
The U.N. strictly prohibits government officials from attending news conferences unless they are explicitly invited and included among those presenting. Previous run-ins have occurred with Sudanese diplomats seeking to monitor rights officials speaking about Darfur.
This may not sound like a big deal but take look at the following from the AP article that Marc quoted:
The United Nations has expressed regret that undercover Cuban officials attended a U.N. news conference on human rights, where they sought information on a French journalist asking critical questions about Fidel Castro’s regime…
The Cuban officials were present for a testy exchange between the French journalist and Ziegler, who said Havana should be praised for cooperating with the global body and agreeing to allow him to report on the country’s respect for the “right to food” — Ziegler’s area of expertise.
The Cuban officials asked journalists in the room to identify the name and agency of the journalist who debated Ziegler.
This is exactly how the regime operates. Through bullying, intimidation and blackmail. They want to know who the journalist was and what agency he/she works for so they can squeeze him/her and /or his/her bosses. Why news agencies continue to put up with this crap, I’ll never know.
And “regret”? Is that all the U.N. can muster when a member nation blatantly violates protocol? Regret?
This and the recent incident at the Iberoamerican Summit in Chile is why diplomacy today is bullshit. You have a group of people that play by the rules and the bad guys don’t. Chavez can bully and berate his colleagues and they have to sit there and take it.
Henry los comunistas siempre han sido asi . Son hienas hambrientas. No respetan ni acatan. Por eso es que hay que darles candela . En todos los frentes. No se puede tener compasion con ellos Que nos queda a nosotros : Calle , sangre o nada
Apunta
So… In a nutshell, what we have here is …
On October 11th at a U.N. news conference on human rights, two “undercover Cuban officials” posing as “two Cuban diplomats” unlawfully “entered the event with Jean Ziegler” and later claimed that they “were diplomats at a U.N. mission, but declined to say which country they represented.”
And…
The U.N. once again, “can ONLY regret this incident.”
Mr. Ziegler’s cruel and unusual punishment will be meted out by Elena Ponomavera. “She said she would share her thoughts” with him.
How very typical.