Cablegate: Media Reaction Report -

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Lucia A Keegan 07/27/2006 09:44:01 AM From DB/Inbox: Lucia A Keegan

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SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT -
Conflict in Lebanon - Pakistan: Proliferation - WTO
PARIS - Wednesday, July 26, 2006

(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT:

Conflict in Lebanon
Pakistan - Proliferation
WTO

(B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE:

Lebanon is again the top news story today as fighting enters its
second week. The international conference in Rome, which gathers
foreign ministers from some 15 countries, is widely commented. Its
chances for bringing about a cease fire are limited, according to
French print and electronic press, but progress could be significant
in terms of humanitarian assistance and the establishment of an
international peacekeeping force. Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki's
first visit to Washington is a major U.S.-related story and the
economic news continues to focus on the implications of the collapse
of the Doha Trade Round.

Communist l'Humanite's headline asks: "Will the Road to Peace go
Through Rome?" And right-of-center Le Figaro notes: "differences
remain numerous between the Americans and the Europeans as well as
some Arab countries... Secretary Rice's intervention... will weigh
heavily on the negotiations... But regardless of the outcome of the
conference in Rome, there is little chance that Israel will be
diverted from the goal that it has set for itself: to establish a
security perimeter in southern Lebanon with or without an
international peace keeping force." According to popular
right-of-center Le Parisien, the Rome conference is "A Small Hope
for Peace." The newspaper cautions readers, however, that
differences in opinion on the means for achieving peace are no small
matter. Le Parisien calls the absence of "Hezbollah's sponsors,"
Iran and Syria, from the Rome conference a problem.

Right-of-center Le Figaro notes that "the Foreign Ministers of the
EU, U.S., France, Germany and Spain met to discuss an international
peace keeping mission... Curiously these are the countries that make
up NATO's Rapid Reaction Force... a force that was intended to be
fully operational only in the fall." Another article says that "the
French are very honored to be under consideration on the other side
of the Atlantic for leading a peacekeeping mission in southern
Lebanon... but this sign of trust would be easier to get excited
about if it didn't in fact mean that none of the great military
powers wants to take charge of operations against Hezbollah... One
official in Paris expresses concern about 'looking like a back-up
for the U.S. while working for the Israeli generals...' Of the four
possibilities for an international peacekeeping mission: UN, NATO,
EU or ad hoc, the French, realistically, have a preference for the
latter."

Catholic La Croix focuses on the cost of the war and the resources
that will be needed to rebuild the "Ruined Landscape of Lebanon."
The article says the conflict further compounds the troubles of a
15-year civil war and the assassination of a Prime Minister. La
Croix adds that: "By attacking infrastructures, the Israeli army has
imposed a quasi-hermetic blockade on Lebanon." (See Part C)

Popular right-of-center Le Parisien carries an interview with
Hezbollah Member of Parliament Dr. Hussein Haj Hassan about the "war
of martyrs" in which the Lebanese people "have nothing more to
lose." Hassan condemns Israel's overreaction to the kidnapping of
two of its soldiers, whom he describes as bargaining chips for the
release of Hezbollah militants. Resistance is all that the Lebanese
people can do, Hassan believes, because "we are condemned from the
start."

Pakistani plans to build a plutonium production reactor are reported
on the front page of right-of-center Le Figaro. According to the
daily "The specter of an arms race hovers over South Asia... This
puts the U.S. in an embarrassing position. It cannot afford to put
them same pressure on a strategic ally like Pakistan as it does on
neighboring Iran. Teheran may in turn denounce the double standards
of the American administration." A separate article in Le Figaro
notes that India is concerned that its nuclear agreement with the
U.S. may be called into question. The editorial in Le Figaro
stresses that the "issue of proliferation has been swept under the
rug because of the conflict in Lebanon." (See Part C)

Right-of-center Le Figaro reports that "Washington wants to
reinforce its presence in Baghdad." The Iraqi Prime Minister is in
the U.S. for the first time "with a list of requests and
grievances." "What was implicit at the joint press conference at the
White House yesterday was that while Iraq still needs an American
military presence on the ground, it is beginning to take a certain
amount of distance in terms of political questions."

Left-of-center Liberation reports that "Chavez is stocking up on
arms at Putin's place... After going to Belarus and before visiting
Iran, the Venezuelan leader is in Russia for two days to buy some
one billion dollars' worth of weapons from Vladimir Putin... Chavez
has not ruled out the possibility of going to North Korea."

Catholic La Croix reports that analysts are predicting that trade
talks will not resume before 2009, "with a new administration in the
U.S."

The economic supplement in right-of-center, Le Figaro Economie notes
that "French farmers are having a hard time not showing their glee
at the failure of the WTO talks... but French small business are
disappointed."

In an interview in left-of-center Liberation, Celso Amorim, the
Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister blames the failure of the WTO
negotiations of the U.S. "Since September 11, multilateralism has
taken a blow, this can be seen on a diplomatic level today in
Lebanon where the UN appears to be powerless." The editorial in
left-of-center Le Monde echoes the thought that the failure of the
Doha Round marks a calling into question of multilateralism,
particularly concerning trade. (See Part C)

(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES:

Conflict in Lebanon

"Urgency"
The editorial by Francois Ernewein in Catholic La Croix (07/26):
"Following the departure of the Syrians after thirty years of
pillaging, Lebanon was slowly beginning to rise up again with a
promising growth rate, the expansion of the tourism industry, a
return to prosperity that had Lebanon thinking that it was clear of
danger... But today death, fear, exile make up the new landscape of
the country... It is in this context that the critical conference in
Rome opens today... The stakes are not just economic, they are also
political. The notion of an eye for an eye in the Middle East as
well as poverty and desolation are fodder for vengeance that can
spiral out of control."

The editorial in regional Le Telegramme by Hubert Coudurier says
that (07/26): "A prominent role for France in a peace keeping
mission in Lebanon would present a fantastic opportunity for France
to get its foot back in the door with regard to the Middle East...
France's relations with the U.S. and with Israel are long since
normalized and now is the time for it to play a stabilization role,
conditioned on France's military capabilities because of its
involvement in Afghanistan alongside the U.S..."

Pakistan - Proliferation

"The Rise of the Nuclear Peril"
Pierre Rousselin's editorial in right-of-center Le Figaro (07/26):
"While war takes hold in the Middle East the threat of nuclear
proliferation continues in Pakistan as in Iran... The roar of
artillery in Lebanon has drowned out Iran's dogged determination to
continue its nuclear program and another, just as worrisome
development: Pakistan's decision to build a reactor capable of
making 40 to 50 nuclear bombs each year... It is the way of war to
concentrate energies on the problem at hand, in this case the crisis
in Lebanon, even if it means letting the elements of a future
escalation of violence elsewhere be put into place;... If Pakistan
feels that it has free rein to multiply its nuclear capabilities by
twenty, it is because the international non-proliferation system is
collapsing.

WTO

"Agricultural Egoism"
The unsigned editorial in left-of-center Le Monde (07/26): "The
failure of the Doha Round will deprive developing countries of the
progress that had been made over the course of the WTO meetings
these past few years... Indeed, developed countries followed the
example of the U.S. and France which were determined to limit the
concessions made concerning agriculture at all costs. Worse yet,
behind the failure of the negotiations is the calling into question
of multilateral trade... What is even more regrettable is that it is
those powers that traditionally are the greatest backers of
multilateral trade: the U.S. and Europe, that are responsible for
its demise."

"Fiasco"
The editorial in regional daily La Nouvelle Republique du Centre
Ouest by Herve Cannet (07/26): "Protectionism is responsible for the
failure of the Doha Round. To say that Washington is mainly
responsible for this fiasco is not entirely untrue. The Bush
Administration, like with the environment and the Kyoto Protocol,
does not feel like it needs take into account international factors.
Its only concern is domestically... From now on trade talks will
take place on a bilateral basis, and only between friends."
STAPLETON

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