MEDIA REACTION REPORT - WWII COMMEMORATIONS -

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 003115

SIPDIS


DEPT FOR INR/R/MR; IIP/RW; IIP/RNY; BBG/VOA; IIP/WEU; AF/PA;
EUR/WE /P/SP; D/C (MCCOO); EUR/PA; INR/P; INR/EUC; PM; OSC ISA
FOR ILN; NEA; WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC/WEUROPE; DOC FOR ITA/EUR/FR
AND PASS USTR/PA; USINCEUR FOR PAO; NATO/PA; MOSCOW/PA;
ROME/PA; USVIENNA FOR USDEL OSCE.

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR FR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - WWII COMMEMORATIONS -
PRESIDENT BUSH TO EUROPE - RUSSIA
PARIS - MONDAY, MAY 09, 2005

(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT:

WWII COMMEMORATIONS - PRESIDENT BUSH TO EUROPE - RUSSIA

B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE:

CELEBRATIONS COMMEMORATING THE END OF WORLD WAR II AND
PRESIDENT BUSH'S PARTICIPATION IN THE CEREMONIES ARE TODAY'S
MAJOR FRONT-PAGE STORIES, WITH SLIGHT VARIATIONS IN HEADLINES
AND EDITORIAL COMMENTARIES. THE MOST RECURRENT THEME IS THE
TENSION BETWEEN WASHINGTON AND MOSCOW, AS ILLUSTRATED IN
LIBERATION'S HEADLINE: "A TENSE ANNIVERSARY" WHILE LE FIGARO
TITLES: "BUSH ON A CRUSADE FOR DEMOCRACY ON PUTIN'S TURF." FOR
POPULAR FRANCE SOIR, "BUSH RAINED ON PUTIN'S PARADE."
EDITORIALIST THOMAS DE ROCHECHOUART SUGGESTS THAT "MAY 8 2005
OPENS THE DOOR TO A PERIOD OF GLACIAL PEACE BETWEEN WASHINGTON
AND MOSCOW, JUST LIKE YALTA MARKED THE START OF THE COLD WAR."
BUT IN HIS EDITORIAL IN LE FIGARO PIERRE ROUSSELIN REMEMBERS
RUSSIA'S FORMER GRANDEUR AND REMINDS THE U.S. AND EUROPE TO
HELP THE KREMLIN "BET ON DEMOCRACY, INSIDE AND ABROAD." IN HER
EDITORIAL IN CATHOLIC LA CROIX, DOMINIQUE QUINIO EXPLAINS
PUTIN'S "TASTE FOR MISPLACED NOSTALGIA" AND THE RUSSIAN
PEOPLE'S "PATRIOTIC PRIDE" WITH "THEIR LOSS OF PAST GRANDEUR."
QUINIO, LIKE ROUSSELIN REMIND THE READER ABOUT THE 27 MILLION
RUSSIANS WHO LOST THEIR LIVES TO FREE EUROPE FROM THE NAZIS.
IN REGIONAL LES DERNIERES NOUVELLES D'ALSACE, JEAN-CLAUDE
KIEFFER ECHOES THEIR REMINDER WITH AN EDITORIAL TITLED:
"VICTORY WITHOUT RUSSIA?" POPULAR RIGHT-OF-CENTER LE PARISIEN
NOTES THAT PRESIDENT CHIRAC'S APPROACH TO PUTIN DIFFERS FROM
PRESIDENT BUSH: "PRESIDENT CHIRAC HAS CHOSEN TO PUT THE
EMPHASIS ON FRANCO-RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP AND AVOID ANY FORM OF
REPROACH AGAINST HIS `RUSSIAN' FRIEND.'" (SEE PART C)

SATURDAY'S LE FIGARO CARRIES AN OP-ED BY VLADIRMIR PUTIN
TITLED: "LESSONS LEARNED FROM A VICTORY OVER NAZISM." PUTIN
WRITES: "I AM CONVINCED THAT A UNITED GREATER EUROPE, FROM THE
SHORES OF THE ATLANTIC TO THE URAL - IN OTHER WORDS TO THE
PACIFIC - REPRESENTS AN EXCEPTIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL PEOPLE
ON THE EUROPEAN CONTINENT. TO MAKE POSSIBLE THIS FUTURE OF
PEACE. THE EUROPEANS CAN COUNT ON RUSSIA JUST AS THEY COUNTED
ON RUSSIA TO FIGHT NAZISM."

EUROPE AND THE REFERENDUM IS TODAY'S SECOND MAJOR STORY. FOR
LEFT-OF-CENTER LIBERATION "THE EU IS THE SYMBOL, THE
INSTRUMENT AND THE POLITICAL GUARANTEE FOR PEACE...THE EU IS A
RAMPART AGAINST THE RETURN OF NATIONALISMS WHICH, AS PRESIDENT
MITTERAND SAID, `CARRY IN THEM WAR JUST AS THE DARK CLOUD
CARRIES A STORM."

FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO PARIS FELIX ROHATYN CONTRIBUTES AN
OP-ED TO LES ECHOS TITLED: "A `YES' FROM AMERICA." IN HIS
APPEAL FOR THE EUROPEAN CONSTITUTION, ROHATYN EXPLAINS THAT A
`NO' VOTE WOULD DISSUADE FOREIGN INVESTMENT. THIS IN TURN
"WOULD IMPACT NEGATIVELY ON FRANCE'S ECONOMIC GROWTH. I
SINCERELY HOPE THE PEOPLE OF FRANCE WILL VOTE `YES'. I REALIZE
THIS MAY NOT BE VERY DIPLOMATIC ON MY PART, BUT THE QUESTION
IS TOO SERIOUS FOR ME TO KEEP QUIET."

(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES:

WWII COMMEMORATIONS - PRESIDENT BUSH TO EUROPE - RUSSIA

"RUSSIA'S GRANDEUR"
PIERRE ROUSSELIN IN RIGHT-OF-CENTER LE FIGARO (05/09): "THE
VISIT OF PRESIDENT BUSH TO MOSCOW. IS TAKING PLACE IN A TENSE
ATMOSPHERE. THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT FIRST CHOSE TO VISIT THE
BALTICS, AT THE RISK OF ALIENATING PUTIN. GERMANY HAS
RECOGNIZED ITS CRIMES, JUST AS JAPAN HAS NEWLY DONE VIS-A-VIS
THE CHINESE. WHY DOES RUSSIA HAVE SUCH A PROBLEM IN
DENOUNCING THE REIGN OF STALIN? IN PRESENTING THE 25TH OF
APRIL, THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE FALL OF THE USSR, AS `THE
GREATEST GEOPOLITICAL CATASTROPHE OF THE CENTURY,' VLADIMIR
PUTIN SHOWED THE EXTENT OF HIS NOSTALGIA. PRESIDENT BUSH
HERALDED ALL OF THESE CONCERNS WHEN HE SPOKE IN RIGA. FOR THE
KREMLIN, THE CALL TO ORDER IS SERIOUS. IT IS IN LINE WITH THE
U.S. PRESIDENT'S CRUSADE FOR DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD, IN THE
MIDDLE EAST, BUT ALSO IN GEORGIA, UKRAINE AND CENTRAL ASIA.
BELARUS ILLUSTRATES WASHINGTON'S DEMOCRATIC OFFENSIVE. BECAUSE
RUSSIA IS NOT JUST ANY OTHER NATION, BECAUSE IT IS A NUCLEAR
POWER, BECAUSE IT IS A PRIVILEGED AND STRATEGIC PARTNER OF THE
U.S., IT IS IMPORTANT FOR IT NOT TO FEEL TRAPPED. IT'S UP TO
OUR LEADERS TO MAKE THE KREMLIN'S CHIEF UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS
IN HIS OWN INTEREST. TO BET ON INTERNAL DEMOCRACY, AND ON
DEMOCRACY OUTSIDE HIS BORDERS. THIS IS HOW RUSSIA WILL REGAIN
ITS LOST GRANDEUR."

"SEPARATE MEMORIES"
DOMINIQUE QUINIO IN CATHOLIC LA CROIX (05/09): "THE CEREMONIES
BEING CELEBRATED IN MOSCOW ARE THERE TO SHOW WHAT THE EUROPEAN
CONTINENT OWES THE SOLDIERS OF THE RED ARMY AND THE 27 MILLION
RUSSIAN CASUALTIES. THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT AND HIS WEEKEND
HOSTS REMINDED EVERYONE THAT SIXTY YEARS AGO HALF OF EUROPE
WAS FREED FROM TOTALITARIANISM WHILE THE OTHER HALF WAS NOT.
PERHAPS RUSSIAN PATRIOTIC PRIDE, WHICH IS MIXED UP WITH A
MISPLACED NOSTALGIA, IS DUE TO THE NATION'S FRUSTRATION IN
HAVING LOST ITS GRANDEUR AND THE UNDER-ESTIMATION, BY HISTORY
AND BY THE WEST, OF THE SACRIFICE OF THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE.
JUSTICE MUST BE RENDERED TO IT. HERE AND ELSEWHERE, A RIGOROUS
STUDY OF HISTORY IS IN ORDER SO THAT LIES AND DENIALS DO NOT
LEAD TO HUMILIATION OR TO HATE. WARS ARE PERVERSE, AND RENDER
EVEN PEACE PAINFUL OR AT LEAST INCOMPLETE."

"VICTORY WITHOUT RUSSIANS.?"
JEAN-CLAUDE KIEFER REGIONAL LES DERNIERES NOUVELLES D'ALSACE:
(05/09): "MEMORY IS SELECTIVE. IN THE UNITED STATES, TOO, THEY
KNOW HOW TO INTERPRET HISTORY. YES, THE AMERICANS LIBERATED
WESTERN EUROPE FROM NAZISM. NO, THEY DID NOT WIN THE WAR
ALONE, AS SUCCESSIVE PRESIDENTS IN WASHINGTON WOULD SUGGEST,
REINFORCED BY HUNDREDS OF HOLLYWOOD FILMS. THE CREDIT FOR
VICTORY BELONGS FIRST TO CHURCHILL'S GREAT BRITAIN WHICH
RESISTED ALONE FOR TWO YEARS. THIS CREDIT GOES, TOO, TO THE
SOVIET UNION. A TROUBLING VICTOR (WHO) REPLACED ONE YOKE WITH
ANOTHER. STILL, ITS ROLE WAS PRIMORDIAL. WHEREVER ONE GOES (IN
THE FORMER SOVIET UNION) THERE ARE ONLY VERDUNS. SEEING THOSE
INFINITE BATTLEFIELDS ONE UNDERSTANDS THAT `THE GREAT
PATRIOTIC WAR' UNITED THE USSR WITH BLOOD AND STILL UNITES
RUSSIA. THE AMBIGUITIES (OF WAR) ARE REAL. BUT IT WAS NOT UP
TO PRESIDENT BUSH TO REMIND VLADIMIR PUTIN, FROM RIGA, ABOUT
THEM IN REMARKS WORTHY OF THE `COLD WAR.' TENSIONS WITH
MOSCOW ARE USELESS. EVEN IF IT MEANS CONTROLLING, FROM
GEORGIA, CASPIAN SEA OIL."

"FOR PUTIN, OPERATION SEDUCTION"
VERONIQUE SOULE IN LEFT-OF-CENTER LIBERATION (05/09):
"RELATIONS BETWEEN WASHINGTON AND MOSCOW ARE NOW BASED ON
REALISM TINGED WITH CYNICISM, WITH EACH ACKNOWLEDGING IT NEEDS
THE OTHER. BOTH PARTNERS REMAIN `STRATEGIC PARTNERS.' BUT
PRESIDENT BUSH WILL NOT MAKE IT EASY FOR PUTIN, CONVINCED AS
HE IS ABOUT HIS WORLD MISSION FOR DEMOCRACY, AND IN PARTICULAR
IN FORMER SOVIET REPUBLICS. HIS VISIT TO MOSCOW, WHICH WAS
PRECEDED BY A VISIT TO LATVIA AND WILL BE FOLLOWED BY ONE TO
GEORGIA, IS THE PERFECT ILLUSTRATION."

"BUSH'S THREE SLIGHTS TO PUTIN"
THOMAS DE ROCHECHOUART IN POPULAR RIGHT-OF-CENTER FRANCE SOIR
(05/09): "MAY 8, 1945 MARKED THE BEGINNING OF THE COLD WAR
BETWEEN THE U.S. AND THE SOVIET UNION. MAY 8, 2005 SEEMS TO BE
OPENING AN ERA OF GLACIAL PEACE BETWEEN WASHINGTON AND MOSCOW.
AS PUTIN PUT TOGETHER A CEREMONY THAT WAS MEANT TO REAFFIRM
RUSSIA'S NEWLY-FOUND POWER, PRESIDENT BUSH BUILT HIS OWN READY-
MADE PROGRAM TO HUMILIATE THE RUSSIAN PRESIDENT. HE WAS
CAREFUL TO BRING HIS SUPPORT TO THE KREMLIN'S ADVERSARIES
DURING HIS VISIT TO LATVIA. HE ALSO CALLED FOR FREE ELECTIONS
IN BELARUS. AND WILL VISIT GEORGIA WHERE HE WILL PROMOTE
FREEDOM." WOLFF