Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BUENOSAIRES2390
2006-10-24 09:37:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Buenos Aires
Cable title:  

VENEZUELA'S CANDICACY TO THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL; US

Tags:  KPAO OPRC KMDR PREL MEDIA REACTION 
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VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #2390/01 2970937
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 240937Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6286
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT
UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 002390 

SIPDIS

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 MEDIA REACTION
SUBJECT: VENEZUELA'S CANDICACY TO THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL; US
NATIONAL SPACE POLICY; NORTH KOREA; LATIN AMERICAN FREE TRADE;
10/19/06; BUENOS AIRES


UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 002390

SIPDIS

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 MEDIA REACTION
SUBJECT: VENEZUELA'S CANDICACY TO THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL; US
NATIONAL SPACE POLICY; NORTH KOREA; LATIN AMERICAN FREE TRADE;
10/19/06; BUENOS AIRES



1. SUMMARY STATEMENT

Today's most important international stories include the standstill
in the vote to determine who will succeed Argentina at the UN
Security Council; the implications of the new US National Space
Policy; the international community vis-`-vis North Korean nuclear
tests; and the possibility of creating a regional free trade area in
Latin America.


2. OPINION PIECES

- "UN voting remains stalled - consensus candidate sought"

Ana Baron, Washington-based correspondent for leading "Clarin,"
comments (10/19) "As the days go by, and the standstill in the
election to decide who will obtain Argentina's seat at the UN
Security Council continues, Latin America's image is increasingly
deteriorated.

"However, Guatemala and Venezuela, the two countries that are
competing to obtain the Latin American seat at the UN Security
Council, are not willing to withdraw their candidacies. And, even
though countries like Chile and Mexico are working on an agreed
solution, disagreement prevailed during yesterday's Latin American
and Caribbean Regional Consultation Group (GRULAC) meeting.

"... Argentine Ambassador to the UN Cesar Mayoral said that 'while
no consensus has been reached on an alternative candidate, it was
decided that if the standstill continues a solution will have to be
found without influence from outside (we should understand from the
US),and the two candidates have been asked to speak about this
among themselves.'"

- "The US wants to 'own' the Space"

Leonardo Mindez, on special assignment to Washington for leading
"Clarin," writes (10/19) "... The (US) National Space Policy, which
was approved by (US President) Bush last October 6, is the first
official review of the US space agenda in the last decade, and it
went unnoticed until the US Office of Science and Technology Policy
made some of its contents public and 'The Washington Post'
published the topic on its front page yesterday.

"... Space arms development programs have been frozen since the end
of the Cold War. And even though the White House asserted that the
plan is not related to arms development or deployment in the Space,
one does not have to go too far to find more signs of alarm.

"A year ago, the US was the only country at the UN who voted against
negotiations to ban the development of space armament.

"The differences between the new strategy and the one signed by Bill
Clinton in 1996 are obvious. Clinton's was intended to 'deepen the
knowledge of the Earth, the Solar System and the Universe.' This one
is aimed at 'strengthening the nation's space leadership and ensure
that space capacities are available in time to further US national
security, homeland security, and foreign policy objectives.'"

- "Playing the endgame"

James Neilson, contributor to liberal, English-language "Buenos
Aires Herald," writes (10/19) "As chess aficionados are well aware,
the endgame can be quite different from previous stages when there
are more pieces on the board and a blunder may not lead inexorably
to ruin. Now that North Korea has started testing nukes, what the
starry-eyed call the international community is facing the
international community is facing some very difficult choices...

"... Unless Kim's regime implodes, one of the world's worst
countries will soon be in a position to blackmail the rest into
giving it pretty well everything it sees fit to demand.

"Many, perhaps most, think that would be better either than war or
the chaotic collapse of a failed state held together by terror, but
letting North Korea off the hook could... give countries such as
Iran good reason to assume they have little to fear if they press on
with their nuclear programs so they too can acquire the means to
make the world dance to their tune."

- "Mini-FTAA could be launched"

Business-financial "Ambito Financiero" publishes an EFE wire
service story (10/19) "The countries of the Pacific coast of Latin
America are analyzing the possibility of creating a regional free
trade area, which could partially turn the FTAA dream into reality,
although it would deepen the division in the hemisphere on trade


issues.

"It is not the 800-million-consumer market of which former US
President Bill Clinton spoke in December 1994 at the Miami SOA...,
but, according to experts, it would be a big achievement all the
same.

"... The Pacific Latin American Trade Association is a much more
feasible dream than the FTAA, whose negotiations are stalled, given
that the countries of the region have already reached several
bilateral free trade deals among themselves."

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

MATERA