Carthage October 29th:

"The Council, as the bottom-up policy development, requests clarification as to whether the Board is changing its commitment to go forward with the process for an interim round of Sponsored TLDs, and if so, why. The Council expresses strong concern that the Board may have taken a decision without consulting Council."

Read the lower section of this GNSO transcript [icann.org]

There is clear dismay at the lack of consultation by the Board, which had already set in motion the due processes to press ahead with new sTLDs.

The GNSO Council passed the motion above unanimously. They asked how the Board could abandon its processes, without constituencies being involved in more dialogue. They expressed concern for people who might have already expended time and energy preparing applications and business plans, in the belief that ICANN would stick to its stated undertakings.

In Amsterdam in 2002 the Board specifically instructed Stuart Lynn to set the further sTLDs in motion.

My personal objection is that a world resource and its development should not be delayed, just because ICANN has insufficient staffing and financial resources. If ICANN is not up to the job, then they are "in the way" and part of the problem, not the solution.

Richard Henderson