MEDIA REACTION GLOBAL OUTRAGE OVER MUHAMMAD

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000344 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: MEDIA REACTION GLOBAL OUTRAGE OVER MUHAMMAD CARTOONS; BUENOS AIRES 02/09/06 NOT CLEARED BY AN AMERICAN OFFICER ¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT Main story today is the global escalation of violence over Muhammad's cartoons, and its unpredictable consequences. ¶2. OPINION PIECES AND KEY STORIES - "Freedom and Common Sense" Pablo Ceron, centrist, leading "Clarin" international columnist, opines (02/09) "Freedom of expression or blasphemy: two opposed concepts seeking to explain the uncontrollable situation that broke out these past two weeks - although nobody can predict whether it already reached its climax --. What began as a religious conflict ended in a clearly political protest march. Yesterday, the U.S. accused Islamic Fundamentalism of taking advantage of the Muslims' wrath. And they're possibly right. But what strikes the attention is the insistence in publishing Muhammad's cartoons - a decision that fuels a fire that is dangerously spreading and does nothing but incite hatred. Freedom of expression must go hand-in-hand with common sense in order to avoid widening the deep rift between two worlds that are drifting apart." - "The Wrath of the Believers" James Nielson, Liberal, English-language "Buenos Aires Herald" international analyst, opines (02/09) ".... The message the rioters and those who are egging them on are trying to get across, is that it is O.K. to insult Jews, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists, as many newspapers in Muslim countries do with sinister relish, but nobody anywhere should be allowed to get away with saying nasty things about the prophet Muhammad. This rule of thumb has long been understood wherever there are large Muslim populations. In Europe and the U.S., even hardened satirists who have no qualms about driving pious Catholics and Protestants up the wall steer clear of Islam for fear of being murdered. ".... Ironically, those who are allegedly most offended by the depiction of the prophet as a human bomb are also the most determined to prove that by and large the cartoonist responsible had got it right. Instead of staging an ostentatiously pacifist march carrying doves or flowers, they warned the Europeans that another 9/11 was coming their way and that Jews had better prepare themselves for a 'real Holocaust' that would be far more effective than Hitler's. ".... Unfortunately, there is no formula that can accommodate both what to many is the licentious tolerance that is the hallmark of all democratic societies and the extreme intolerance that is the characteristic of most Islamic ones. As the Danes and others have just found out, when the two collide even the tiniest spark can cause a worldwide conflagration and, like it or not, there is no reason to think the one now raging will be the last." ¶3. EDITORIALS - "Distance between Faith and Fanaticism" An editorial in center-right, daily-of-record "La Nacion" reads (02/09) ".... The escalation of violence (following the publication of Muhammad's cartoons) might spark more problems, now that Iran's leading daily Hamshari launched a contest of cartoons on the Holocaust, seeking to prove the limits to freedom of expression.... "It would be necessary, in the meantime, to find out if what caused the recent protest riots resulted from spontaneous reactions of the people or were carefully staged by some authoritarian administrations of the Arab world with the purpose of worsening the present antinomies, benefiting their dark strategic interests. ".... From another point of view, it would be convenient for Western mass media to be particularly cautious in their irony and reports on issues related to religious symbols of peoples that are extremely zealous about their tradition or history. ".... Those who are trying to lead humanity to an obscure and irrational confrontation -- a clash of civilizations with no turning point -- are undermining religious principles, trying to take advantage of a false and anachronistic relationship between politics and religion. ".... Historic monotheism - in its different branches - mustn't side with ideologies or trends that want to sow hatred and horror. Faith and fanaticism are two paths which, in practice, never cross each other." ¶4. To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our classified website at: http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires The Media Reaction Report reflects articles and opinions by the cited news media and do not necessarily reflect U.S. Embassy policy or views. The Public Affairs Section does not independently verify information. The report is intended for internal U.S. Government use only. GUTIERREZ