We gathered to celebrate H. E. Vanessa Frazier, President of UNSC and a member of the E10 – the soul of the Council – with E10 February Chairman, H. E. Michel Xavier Biang of Gabon, making the First Toast, and to collectively discuss latest challenges to global peace & prosperity, which, ultimately is necessary to most of humanity, as it does not profit from wars or disputes.
I raised issues for discussion, including, Balloons without a USA tourist visa to the legendary Pulitzer winner Seymour Hersh upsetting the finely manicured world order with extracted-truth that’s painful to more than information warriors.
Attending and insightfully participating were: H. E. Ferit Hoxha of Albania, H. E. Ronaldo Costa Filho of Brazil, H. E. Hernán Pérez Loose of Ecuador, H. E. David Bakradze of Georgia, H. E. Harold Adlai Agyeman of Ghana, H. E. Akan Rakhmetullin of Kazakhstan, and hosts Ranju Batra, chair Diwali Foundation USA, and Ravi Batra, Chair, National Advisory Council South Asian Affairs.
Unable to join due to scheduling conflict were H. E. Ruchira Kamboj of India and H. E. Olof Skoog of European Union; H. E. Juan Ramon de la Fuente Ramirez of Mexico, who was in Mexico; and H. E. Pedro Comissario Afanso of Mozambique who had a last minute conflict.
Now, the First Toast by
H. E. Michel Xavier Biang of Gabon
E10 Chairman for February 2023:
New York, 09 February 2023
- Thanks Ravi and Ranju for bringing us together and creating this opportunity for breaking bread and sharing thoughts.
Dear friends,
- Anytime I have to respond on the difference between democracy and dictatorship. I use to say when people are afraid of their leaders, there is dictatorship; and when leaders are afraid of their people, there is democracy.
- Coming to you Vanessa, we are not afraid of you and I hope that you are not afraid of us either. So, we know where you are standing.
More seriously, Dear Vanessa,
- You take over the presidency of the Security Council in a month marked by high international tensions. The balloon crisis is a whole symbol of the extent of mistrust and the magnitude of the rivalries between great powers. February is the twelfth month since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Twelve months of war that have shaken and tested the entire international system.
- As we all know, the conflict in Ukraine has taken on importance far beyond its effects on Ukraine and Russia. Global fuel and food prices have soared, making this war the main contributor to projections of a global economic slowdown in a world still reeling from the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Despite those devastating effects, there is still no prospect of a ceasefire or peace negotiations.
- Your presidency is also unfolding at a time when a South African peacekeeper has been killed again in the DRC, adding to the long list of UN peacekeepers endangered in several African countries.
- The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), just an hour of flight from my country Gabon, is rocked by chronic attacks by armed groups and violence that have displaced thousands of people amid plundering of natural resources that infuriated Pope Francis last week.
- I surely could talk about the situation in the Middle East where the Syrian people have entered the twelfth year of a brutal civil war, in which 307,000 civilians have died with signs of military escalation and no prospect of a peace agreement.
- Yemen, which is now in the seventh year of a catastrophic conflict that has once again taken a heavy toll on its people. Hopes were raised in April, when the UN brokered a national truce, the first in six years. Since October, the truce has ended. The country is once again mired in uncertainty.
- Israel and Palestine in which deepening colonization, increased violence, including terrorism, and lack of political horizon give power to extremists and erode Palestinian and Israeli hope for a solution to the conflict.
- As you know, some members are currently pushing for a new meeting on Haiti where the security situation is almost chaotic. With the hope that the new sanctions committee that I’m chairing could be an effective security lever, we should concomitantly find a solution to the political stalemate and respond to humanitarian distress and mainly ways to support efficiently Haitian’s police capabilities.
- We could not avoid talking about Afghanistan, where attention has focused on the continued erosion of women’s and girls’ rights by the Taliban.
- Another challenging situation is North Korea, which continues to test and launch missiles over the Korean peninsula.
- With such high stakes on the Council agenda for February, it is essential that this singular month in the calendar be a unique opportunity for peace through the strong promotion of the values of the United Nations.
- We know we can count on your leadership and of course you can count on the support of the E10 family to ensure that your presidency is a solution-oriented season to meet the challenges on the Council’s agenda.
- We must work to ensure that the Council’s relentless calls for restraint, de-escalation and accountability are not empty and ineffective slogans wherever the peoples of the world are in the throes of war and distress.
- We must be able to transform this platform into an epicentre of constructive consultation in order to impulse a dynamic of action for peace and security commensurate to the global stakes. I’m convinced the E10 can be an important driver for settling the foundations of an effective multilateralism that reflects our diversity and the necessary inclusiveness we want.
- You can count on our support.
Thank You
Ravi Batra, Esq.
Ravi Batra, starting September 11, 2021, is a publisher of The America Times Company Ltd., and since January 2022, is the Editor-in-Chief. He is a member of the National Press Club, in Washington D.C., and a member of its "Freedom of the Press" and "International Correspondents" Teams/Committees.
A member of the bar since 1981, he is the head of a boutique law firm in Manhattan, The Law Firm of Ravi Batra, P.C., that handles complex constitutional, sovereignty, torture, civil and criminal cases, representing governments, corporates and individuals, with landmark legal victories, including, libel in fiction, in “Batra v. Dick Wolf.” He is Chairman & CEO, Greenstar Global Energy Corp., King Danylo of Galicia International Ltd., Mars & Pax Advisors, Ltd., Chairman of National Advisory Council on South Asian Affairs, and since September 2021, Advisor for Legal and Humanitarian Affairs to the Permanent Mission of Georgia to the United Nations. He is invited by various governments to address High Level Ministerial events, including, on Counter-Terrorism, including, Astana (Nur-Sultan), Dushanbe, Minsk and Delhi. He has testified in Congress as an invitee of the Chair, U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, and interacted with U.S. Department of State from 1984 -1990, and then again, from 2006, during the tenures of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Rex Tillerson, Mike Pompeo and Antony Blinken.
He has served as Commissioner of New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE), Trustee on New York State IOLA Board, New York State Judicial Screening Committee for the Second Judicial Department, City Bar’s Judicial Committee, Vice-Chair of Kings County Democratic County Committee’s Independent Judicial Screening Committee for the then-2nd Judicial Department of Brooklyn and Staten Island, Chair of NYSTLA’ Judicial Independence Committee, with many more bar leadership roles, including, NYSBA’s House of Delegates for four years. He has served as Advisor for Legal & Human Rights Affairs to the Permanent Mission of Ukraine post-annexation of Crimea till 2021, and Legal Advisor to numerous nations’ permanent missions to the U. N. since 2009, including, India, Pakistan, Honduras and Malta. He has served: as Global Special Counsel to The Antonov Company in Ukraine, a state-owned company, and was registered with the Justice Dept pursuant to FARA; and as Special Global Advisor to Rector/President of both - National Aviation University of Ukraine and National Technical University of Ukraine/KPI. He remains involved in geopolitics and public policy since the mid-1980's, starting with being on House Speaker Tip O’Neill’s Speaker’s Club and appointed member of NACSAA during President Ronald Reagan’s tenure. In 1988, he was part of U.S. Attorney General Ed Meese’s Delegation to Japan to resolve bilateral trade imbalance. He regularly interacts with the multilateral diplomatic community, and during the High Level UNGA Debate, with heads of State/Government. He is sought for his views as a speaker and writer.