Cablegate: Media Reaction: Obama Foreign Policy; Alba Summit; The

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DE RUEHBU #1141/01 2921752
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 191752Z OCT 09 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4491
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
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UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001141

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

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO OPRC KMDR PREL
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: OBAMA FOREIGN POLICY; ALBA SUMMIT; THE
FIGHT ON DRUG TRAFFICKING; 10/19/09 BUENOS AIRES

1. SUMMARY STATEMENT

Weekend international opinion pieces are related to President
Obama's policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan; the outcome of the ALBA
summit, which was held in Cochabamba, Bolivia; and the evolution of
drug cartels during the last 30 years.

2. OPINION PIECES AND EDITORIALS

- "The doubt"

Left-of-center "Pagina 12's" international columnist Santiago
O'Donnell writes (10/18), "(Obama) waited the whole week and he will
continue doing so and he will let the doubt grow - what to do in
Afghanistan? Obviously enough, the commander-in-chief of the
invading power and brand-new Nobel Peace Prize winner has a plan.
This is the conflict that will define his presidency.

"According to the 'Time' magazine, he will make a decision on this
in late November...

"The problem is that regardless of what Obama will do he cannot do
much. He cannot escape some realities. Democrats who claimed the
withdrawal of troops from Iraq have supported the war from scratch.
Allied countries, which do not want to send more troops, do not
support an immediate withdrawal or anything of the kind either.

"... In addition to the emotional side, what public opinion
questions is the central premise of the mission - that it is
necessary to defeat the Afghan Taliban regime to protect the US from
terrorist attacks.

"Now, the priority is to consolidate the Pakistani regime while
taking care of its nuclear arsenal. This is why the US mass media
speak of 'the Af-Pak war.' This is why Obama cannot leave
Afghanistan just like he is doing in Iraq.

"Obama already knows what he will do. So do the people in his
entourage. First and foremost, he will wait, open the debate, and
tackle the health care reform (his main domestic initiative).

"After that, according to columnist Joe Klein, Obama will accept the
request from his military chief in Afghanistan and send him the
nearly 40,000 troop he asked for, although he will say those troops
will be used to train the Afghan army, which of course is not true.

"While the support for the war slumps and corpses pile up, Obama
goes ahead.

"(He goes ahead) with the 9/11 specter and with the votes which
supported his proposal to withdraw from Iraq and win the war in
Afghanistan. This is why the Nobel Peace Prize winner will have to
wait. This is why he doubts."

- "Chavez' petro-dollars are used to oppose Washington"

Matias Marini, international columnist of centrist "Perfil"
newspaper, comments (10/18), "Yesterday, Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez charged against the US:'the US wants to turn Colombia into
the Israel of Latin America.' Chavez again talked about the
US-Colombian agreement, which is aimed at performing joint military
exercises. Chavez launched his critical statement in front of a
friendly audience, the presidents of the Bolivarian Alliance for
America (ALBA), which met yesterday in Bolivia for the seventh time.
Chavez said: 'The empire's wish is a threat against all of us.' He
pressured to create a Defense Council among the nine ALBA
nations...

"... Chavez now intends to add a military profile to his strong
energy expansion in Latin America through Petrocaribe, the
Chavez-led oil alliance established among some Caribbean countries.

"The initiative allows Chavez's allied Caribbean nations to purchase
Venezuela's subsidized oil under preferential payment terms...

"As per the Petrocaribe agreement, Venezuela provides oil supply to
countries such as Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Antigua and Barbuda,
the Bahamas, Belize, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua,
Guyana, Honduras (before the coup d'etat), Jamaica and Surinam...

"It is not the first time the Venezuelan president leads the anti-US
feeling in the region. In 2005, during the Mar del Plata Fourth SOA,
Chavez waged a media battle to defeat the FTAA initiative.

"Then, it was Republican George W. Bush who had to backtrack on the
FTAA initiative due to the Bolivarian offensive in Argentina, which
was supported by former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner."

- "Drug trafficking shows a new face"

Daily-of-record "La Nacion" carries an opinion piece by Cesar
Gonzalez-Calero, who writes (10/17), "Chameleonic, drug cartels have
adapted to current times and they have become major crime
multinational corporations in a globalized world. New routes to skip
border controls; sophisticated means of transportation; new markets;
transnational alliances; diverse illegal businesses; secured funds
in tax havens... Drug trafficking (more violent, segmented and bold
than ever) has lost some battles but it is still winning the war.

"... In spite of the high expenditures incurred in the fight on drug
trafficking (some 100 billion dollars per year), cartels do not seem
to have been affected too much. They have simply reinvented
themselves. The producer-to-consumer vertical organization has
disappeared to become what Ivan Briscoe, researcher at a Spanish
think tank (Fundacion for International Relations and foreign
Dialogue), terms 'baby cartels,' which relentlessly fight in search
of new markets.

"... The experts consulted (except Amado Philip, from the UN) agree
that 30 years of war against drug traffickers have been
unsuccessful.. The UN believes the governments should implement the
already existent international agreements related to the struggle
against organized crime, while some independent experts think some
other kinds of measures should be taken, such as the progressive
decriminalization of soft drugs, the implementation of harm
reduction policies for both producers and consumers, and a
determined governmental action against tax havens."

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

MARTINEZ

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