KPFA: Phyllis Bennis on US at UN: Coalition of the Willing or Coalition of the Coerced? : Indybay

On Wednesday the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) released a report entitled "Coalition of the Willing or Coalition of the Coerced?" The 13 page report is available on their website.

IPS UN and Middle East expert Phyllis Bennis spoke about the report with the KPFA Morning Show staff today. The interview is attached in broadband and narrowband versions. The tone of the interview is set at the start, with Bennis noting:

"The U.S. is claiming that every country is free to make up its own minds, and that [the U.S. is] only trying to persuade other governments on the merits of the case. ... What's actually going is a huge campaign of bribes and pressures on every country on the council that has not yet declared itself in support of the U.S. position."

Bennis notes that the U.S. has even been attempting to set the terms of the debate by showing indignation at the suggestion that bribes and coercion is central to it's policy making strategy. An example can be seen with Ari Fleischer's White House Press Briefing on February 25th. Fleischer was literally laughed off the stage when he failed to counter the press corps view that bribes and arm twisting is the norm. Fleischer can be seen sprinting off the stage on CSPAN's most watched video section (advance to the last two minutes) and an mp3 audio clip of the conference is here. News story here.

KPFA: Phyllis Bennis on US at UN: Coalition of the Willing or Coalition of the Coerced?

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