Cablegate: Media Reaction: Un Call for Nuclear Disarmament; Honduras;

VZCZCXYZ0006
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #1078/01 2682003
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 252003Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4402
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001078

STATE FOR INR/R/MR, I/GWHA, WHA, WHA/PDA, WHA/BSC,
WHA/EPSC
CDR USSOCOM FOR J-2 IAD/LAMA

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO OPRC KMDR PREL
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: UN CALL FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT; HONDURAS;
US-ARGENTINE TIES; 09/25/09; BUENOS AIRES

1. SUMMARY STATEMENT

Today's most important international opinion pieces are focused on
the UN call for nuclear disarmament; the implications of Zelaya's
return to Honduras; and the status of the US-Argentine bilateral
relationship.

2. OPINION PIECES AND EDITORIALS

- "UN makes an historic call for disarmament"

Silvia Pisani, daily-of-record "La Nacion's" Washington-based
correspondent, writes (09/25), "The U.N. Security Council, at an
historic summit meeting chaired by U.S. President Barack Obama (it
is the first time a US President has chaired the meeting),
unanimously approved a resolution yesterday calling on nuclear
weapons states to scrap their nuclear arsenals.

"US President Barack Obama pointed out, 'The historic resolution we
have just adopted highlights our common commitment to making
progress towards the goal of a world without nuclear weapons'...

"... The only non permanent member that was not represented by its
top leader was Libya, which was not surprising at all after Colonel
Muammar Khadafy's diatribe against the Council...

"... President Obama avoided mentioning the prevailing tension with
the governments of Pyongyang and Tehran.

"The ones who did refer specifically to the threat posed by North
Korea and Iran were French President Nicolas Sarkozy and UK PM
Gordon Brown, who suggested that the UN Security Council should
impose on them tougher sanctions than in previous years.

"After several back and forth moves, on October 1, Iran, the US,
Russia, China and the European countries will sit at the same table
to hold negotiations on this issue, although Western diplomats have
little expectations that Iranians will change their position."

- "Zelaya's irresponsible return"

Daily-of-record "La Nacion" editorializes (09/25), "Regardless of
any ousted president's right to return to his country, Manuel Zelaya
did not measure the consequences of his decision or perhaps he
thought that his mere presence in Honduras was going to defeat de
facto President Roberto Micheletti... Zelaya's unexpected arrival at
the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa is not only a domestic problem
but also a challenge to the international community now that the UN
General Assembly is meeting.

"At the UNGA, most Latin American presidents pleaded in favor of
Zelaya's restoration to power...

"However, Zelaya's sudden return to the capital city of Honduras has
turned it into an explosive trouble spot...

"... What calls the attention in this process... was the lack of
preparation after Zelaya's two previous failed attempts to return to
the country... The OAS delegation should have been sent before
Zelaya's return, not after it in order to avoid chaos and casualties
in Tegucigalpa.

"... During these months, both the Honduran authorities and the
businessmen and military have reached a sort of agreement aimed at
confronting the economic sanctions the US and the EU have threatened
to impose on them, in order to keep Zelaya at bay. This attitude,
which could perhaps become a passport to the country's diplomatic
isolation at the OAS and other fora, should not only be construed as
the typical attitude of a group of coup mongers. They fear that the
country could resemble Venezuela, where freedoms are increasingly
restricted...

"Zelaya's arrival at a foreign embassy implies lack of
responsibility. One cannot expect caution from some presidents,
although we should expect something better from other presidents
than having supported the compulsory return of a president who was
ousted by the military of his country. They should have avoided an
unnecessary incitation to violence, which could bring irreparable
consequences to the region."

- "Cristina at the UN - closer than ever to the US"

Marcelo Falak, columnist of business-financial "Ambito Financiero"
writes (09/25), "Let's review some of President Cristina Kirchner's
remarks (at the UNGA). "On the one hand, she cautiously criticized
Iran due to the country's refusal to extradite some terrorist
suspects involved in the AMIA attack but also due to the Iranian

president's disgusting denial of the Holocaust...

"On the other hand, she ordered the Argentine delegation to leave
the place when the Iranian President addressed the UNGA...

"On some other issues, President CFK made another wink to Obama when
she recalled that Argentina and the US are the only two countries of
the hemisphere (sic) that have been targets of international
terrorism. Counter-terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering,
as well as illegal immigration, are the main points of the US
Department of State's policy on the hemisphere...

"In another wink, CFK supported Obama's policy on the Middle East...
She praised Obama's idea that Israel should live safely within its
own borders as well as his goal of creating an independent
Palestinian State...

"... Between such a praise and Chavez's 'Who are you, Obama' there
is an ocean of difference...

"... One can perceive (that the Argentine Government) is making a
clear attempt of rapprochement to the US. Whether it will meet its
goal or not will largely depend on what the Argentine Government
does with Argentina's domestic issues."

To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our
classified website at:
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires

MARTINEZ

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