Cablegate: Media Reaction Q Lebanon Crisis - Tokyo

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P 210237Z JUL 06
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UNCLAS TOKYO 004065

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR I/RF, PA/PR/FPC/W, IIP/G/EA, EAP/PD, R/MR,
EAP/J, EAP/P, PM;
USTR FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE;
TREASURY FOR OASIA/IMI;
SECDEF FOR OASD/PA;
CP BUTLER OKINAWA FOR AREA FIELD OFFICE;
PACOM HONOLULU FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO JA
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION Q LEBANON CRISIS - TOKYO

LEAD STORIES: Friday morning's Tokyo Shimbun front-paged
a remark Thursday by Assistant Secretary of State Hill at
a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, in which he
reportedly disclosed that Iranian officials witnessed
North Korea's launch of ballistic missiles on July 5.

1. "US Middle East Diplomacy at an Impasse" The liberal
Asahi's Washington correspondent Umehara wrote (7/21):
"With Israel's offensive in Lebanon continuing, it
appears that the Bush administration's Middle East
diplomacy is at an impasse, as the US already has to deal
with an Iraq on the verge of civil war and Iranian
nuclear development. In addition, the administration's
stated goal of expanding democracy has lost its luster in
the face of the growing conflict. President Bush said:
'Diplomacy is something that takes time,' a statement
that would have been unimaginable during the rush to war
in Iraq.... The Bush administration has been unwavering
in its support for Israel, describing its attack on
Lebanon as an act of self-defense. The administration is
unwilling to support international intervention in the
Lebanon crisis, such as calls for a ceasefire or debate
on the dispatch of an international force. European and
Arab nations have been critical of this approach.... In
the US, conservatives, who form the base of the Bush
administration, have been calling its Middle East
diplomacy weak-kneed. They have been particularly
critical about the announcement by the administration in
late May that it is ready to take part in negotiations
with Iran, so long as the talks are limited to the
nuclear issue.... In response, Secretary of State Rice
said there would be no 'comprehensive bargaining,'
dismissing the idea that there would be an administration
turnaround on Iran, such as accepting the legitimacy of
the regime or guaranteeing its survival."

SCHIEFFER

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