[ncc-services-wg] Questions about the fax the RIPE NCC received from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI).

On 18 Sep 2012, at 22:40, Erik Bais wrote:

> So, all jokes aside, what is the reply that is provided to the  
> writer and if
> he would show up at the RIPE meeting, will he be provided any room to
> discuss the topic and will the request for a resolution be discussed  
> during
> the GM meeting?

This is why Axel, Nigel and Rob earn the big bucks. :-)

I am sure they will be arranging a suitable response to Ambassador  
Wallace and this will involve discussion with the NCC's lawyers and  
the Dutch government. We should leave them to get on with it. Once  
there's anything significant to report, I'm sure we'll hear about it  
at RIPE65 and/or on the mailing lists.

Ambassador Wallace is of course welcome to attend the RIPE meeting and  
request agenda time to discuss whatever takes his fancy, just like  
President Ahmadinejad or anybody else. If they ask Axel nicely, they  
can attend the GM as observers. I very much doubt Ambassador Wallace  
or President Ahmadinejad represents an NCC member (or would be a proxy  
for one) and be automatically entitled to attend the GM.

UANI's resolution almost certainly can't be discussed at next week's  
GM. The NCC's Articles of Association (http://www.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ripe-534 
) clearly state the requirements for a GM resolution. See Article 15.6  
and 15.7. Resolutions have to be sent to the membership at least 2  
weeks before the GM. They also need to have the support of 2% of the  
membership. It's not clear if UANI has lined up that support. Or if  
those members have submitted a resolution in time. If you're an LIR --  
I'm not -- you would have been notified about that GM resolution by now.

FWIW, there are so many things wrong with the Ambassador's letter,  
there's no point discussing it here. That discussion would be  
unhelpful and counter-productive too.

Ambassador Wallace is no longer in office, so it's not clear if he's  
acting on behalf of the US government or what influence he has there.  
He would have left USG when President Obama was elected and the  
officials appointed by his predecessor were replaced.

UANI seems to be a pressure group with powerful and influentual  
friends. Its boards have quite a few ex-heads of western intelligence  
services, Tony Blair's Downing Street Chief of Staff, etc. UANI's web  
site says it has been able to get multinational companies to stop  
doing business with Iran. So this situation is going to need very,  
very careful handling.

IMO we should trust this to RIPE (NCC) management and their legal  
advisers. It's why they're there to represent us.

We can also expect more of these layer 10 and up issues in the years  
ahead. Sign of the times I suppose. Hey it could be worse. Imagine  
ARIN's problems because of USG policy on Cuba.