UN Guterres Bloviates on Law While Weak and Banning Press from UN 2 Faced at Davos

by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack

UN GATE, Jan 20 – As UNSG Antonio Guterres bloviates about compliance with law on BBC (while lawlessly banning Inner City Press from the UN), now UN staff have sent this to Inner City Press:

Dear Matthew Russell Lee,  This is what staff feel about SG interview with BBC. 

Secretary-General António Guterres recently told the BBC that the US is acting with impunity and believes its power matters more than international law. While this may sound principled, it contradicts the real condition of the United Nations under his own leadership. 

As staff members inside the system, we see a very different reality. The United Nations today is weak, and many of its managers are the ones enjoying impunity. Those who expose corruption, abuse of authority, and mismanagement are not protected—they are punished, marginalized, and in many cases forced out of their jobs. 

Oversight bodies are manipulated. Legal frameworks are bent. Investigations are selectively used as tools of retaliation rather than instruments of justice. Recruitment is no longer based on merit but on favoritism, loyalty, and internal politics. Some senior officials who are medically and professionally unfit remain in powerful positions, while competent staff are sidelined. 

This is why the Secretary-General’s statement rings hollow. You cannot speak credibly about “impunity” abroad while tolerating or enabling impunity inside your own institution. You cannot lecture states about the rule of law while your own managers evade accountability.  The founding principles of the United Nations—integrity, equality of states, justice, and accountability—are now under threat not only from powerful countries, but from internal decay and weak leadership. The problem is not only external power; it is internal failure.  Mr. Guterres has lost the moral authority to speak about impunity when his own management team allows corruption, retaliation, and incompetence to flourish.

What the United Nations needs is not speeches—it needs strong leadership that restores integrity, protects whistleblowers, enforces accountability, and rebuilds trust.  Today, because of weakness, negligence, and mismanagement at the top, the United Nations is losing its soul. We do not need more rhetoric. We need a Secretary-General who can truly defend the values he speaks about. Antonio must go.

In the UN bar back on December 12 there was an overpriced tuxedo event which was billed as featuring Guterres.

Expensive tickets were sold - previous guests have included the indicted and imprisoned UN briber Ng Lap Seng and others.  Then, no Guterres. Instead, PGA Annalena Baerbock, the subject of detailed complaints of corruption.

Also celebrated is Javier Bardem, who famously defended Woody Allen (whose photos with Jeffrey Epstein were released in DC today).

In the morning Inner City Press asked dozens of UN officials in writing to "immediately disclose the financial and other relationships and payments between the UN and UNCA for use of the Delegates Lounge and any other facility for tonight's "gala" with the PGA, and how it relates to the stated policy (including on paper towels and Cafe) of saving money." No answer. Just UNITAR patting itself on the back.

The UN Correspondents Association will be giving a "Gold" award to two of its own board members. The membership includes Iranian state media known to feature "interviews" of tortured guests. Javier Bardem is another honoree.

 The UNCA group targeted Inner City Press, ultimately working with Guterres to have it banned from the UN, after it reported that UNCA President Gianpaolo Piolo gave an UNCA event to Sri Lankan ambassador Palitha Kohona after engaging in a financial transaction with his. Pioli is still on the board, having handed over the presidency to a friendly fellow Italian. Whistleblowers be damned - and ousted.

This is today's UN - and we will have more on it.

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