MEDIA REACTION - ATOMIC FALL OUT

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 001674 SIPDIS FOR IIP/G/WHA, INR/R/MR, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA, EUR/RUS, EAP/CM E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KNNP KMDR KPAO OPRC PARM CI SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION - ATOMIC FALL OUT ¶1. On August 6, conservative, influential newspaper-of- record "El Mercurio" (circ. 116,807) ran an editorial entitled, "Will Europe Find a Solution?" Quote: "60 years after the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, the world still fears nuclear holocaust. This is why...we must find effective ways to live in harmony and to negotiate with `untrustworthy' countries that will inevitably seek prestige and power through nuclear weapons." ¶2. On August 7, conservative, independent "La Tercera" (circ. 102,000) carried a column by staff writer with the acronym MOJ entitled, "60 Years to Remember": "In WWII, humankind showed deplorable traits that must not be forgotten: autocrats willing to lead their nations to the abyss, totalitarian systems in which men became simple spare parts for a machine...racial prejudice taken to extremes...the capability and will to build more deadly war machines, and a moral corruption inherent to all wars that made the bombing of civilians--labeled a barbarous act at the war's beginning--acceptable by the war's end. In light of recent events, it is not clear that we have learned from the mistakes and horrors of the past. If in another 60 years we still remember Hiroshima, we will have progressed." ¶3. On August 6, conservative, independent "La Tercera" (circ. 102,000) carried an editorial entitled, "Hiroshima: The Effects of `Total War.'" Quote: "What we can do today is analyze the world following the bombings (of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). The availability of nuclear weapons and the proof of their destructive power took the world...into the longest period of peace in centuries. A stability based on the fear of mutual destruction...has prevented the use of these weapons until today.... In the 21st century, however, the challenge is different: countries that are unhappy with their position in the international system could use atomic weapons as currency or to threaten other nations. That is the path North Korea has chosen and the fear-- which we now know was mistaken--regarding Saddam Hussein. These are countries that are unafraid of taking risks and in which decisions are not adequately processed through institutional filters. Therefore, together with the possibility--thus far unconfirmed--that terrorist groups may have obtained nuclear weapons the greatest threat today is proliferation." KELLY