Matthew Russell Lee is Concerned

David Edenden

Mathew Russell Lee is a journalist covering the UN, and contributor to one of my favorite sites, Bloggingheads.tv,. He is too lazy to actually research and write about "The Macedonian Name" issue. Instead he is content to regurgitate Greek propaganda. Pathetic.

Matthew Russell Lee
Inner Press covers the UN

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICES OF THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL AND THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT:

Matthew Russel Lee

Question: I’m sorry to ask about this, but I wanted to get to the bottom of it. On this issue of FYROM and the Republic of Macedonia, it’s been reported that people, I don’t know if it’s organizations or Greece itself, have asked for some action to be taken on what was said. Are you aware… I don’t know exactly how that would work.

If a Member State, I guess a Member State would be the one to do it. If they had some kind of a complaint, how would it work out in the GA to… what action could they get on a complaint? I saw an interview where the President of the Assembly in a newspaper called Dnevnik, he said that no consultations had been needed because it was his political assessment, apparently, to, that this was the name to use. I guess I’m wondering is that true?

Did he… The other side seems to say that the use of “ Republic of Macedonia” violated UN resolution 817 and 847. So it’s kind of a… I wonder what more… as the general debate ends, have any either complaints or requests for action been filed? Does he intend to continue to use the name that he used and is it true that he didn’t consult anyone or saw no need for consultations in the use of that term?

Spokesperson: We’re not aware of any kind of complaints filed, and as regards this whole issue, the statement that we had last week on this continues to stand and I did mention that the President has no further comments on this issue and he feels that he has said everything he wanted to in that statement.

Question: Does he say... is he going to use the same phrase again? I guess that’s my question. I’m asking, I don’t really, it’s not clear to me from his statement… His statement wasn’t clear to me, whether… I now see that he said that he used it in March, excuse me, in May 24, so does that imply that throughout his tenure this will be the term that he’s going to use?

Spokesperson: Matthew, all I have is the comment that we had last week on this issue. I don’t have further comments on this and neither does the President at this time.

Question: I guess, it’s like, it seems like a fair question. He probably knows that he’s going to keep using it, it seems like he is. It would seem like if he is, to say that’s what he’s going to call it.

Spokesperson: This seems to be a hypothetical question, in a way, what’s going to happen in the future. As I said, what happened last week, for that we issued a statement and in a follow-up we did say that there is no further comment from the President. He feels he said everything he wanted to as regards this issue in that statement. That statement is in line with what he has been saying from 24 May onwards. If you remember, the statement clearly relates back to his acceptance speech, where he talks about upholding the dignity of each and every Member State, so there’s a clear continuity there.