MEDIA REACTION IRAN-RUSSIA IRAQ US-BOLIVIA US-

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000469

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 IRAN-RUSSIA IRAQ US-BOLIVIA US-
ARGENTINA US-EUROPE CUBA 02/27/06;BUENOS AIRES


1. SUMMARY STATEMENT

Weekend stories cover Iran and Russia agreeing to establish
a joint uranium enrichment venture; the danger of civil war
in Iraq; Palestinian PM-designate Haniyeh's statement that
Hamas would establish "peace in stages" if Israel were to
withdraw to the borders it held before the 1967 Middle East
war; Venezuela cutting flights by US carriers Delta Air
Lines, Continental Airlines and American Airlines in the
latest dispute between Washington and Caracas; the US policy
on Bolivia; the US-Argentine bilateral relationship; the
renewed US-EU ties; and the new attack of the Cuban
government on Argentina. Left-of-center "Pagina 12" front-
page "The main Ford business executive, accused of having
kidnapped 25 Ford delegates after the 1976 military coup in
Argentina, is a retired lieutenant colonel who used to work
as head of security for the factory and was subsequently
hired by the US Embassy where he worked until 2004."


2. OPINION PIECES AND KEY STORIES

- "Limits"

Marcelo Cantelmi, international editor of leading "Clarn,"
writes (02/27) "If the deal announced yesterday is
implemented, the US will have to find an alternative route
to get Iran under control. The Russian decision has the
Western support but the White House is not fond of it. We
all know the spat between US VP Dick Cheney--who has asked
for reports from his spies on Vladimir Putin, whom he does
not trust--and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who
wants to resume talks with Moscow. Cheney is telling Putin
that he must agree to discipline or face frozen bilateral
ties. However, the Russian president is acting as though his
country were still the other superpower in the world. Before
this, he validated Hamas, thereby ignoring the isolation
demanded by the US after the Hamas' victory in the
Palestinian territories. These are signs of a world in which
real power has changed and limits cannot be ignored."

- "Iraq - between tragedy and disaster, the civil war"

Oscar Raul Cardoso, international analyst of leading
"Clarin," writes (02/26) "No one could have predicted in its
entire extent the new 'by-product' of the US-UK occupation
of Iraq - the possibility of a new civil war between the
religious majority of the country (Shiite Muslims) and the
largest minority, the Sunnis.

"Both factions, separated by their form of Islamic
interpretation, have only one thing in common: the profound
disgust toward the occupying forces, on which they project
blame for all their evils...

"... The best thing to be said is that this is a curious
present from the 'Western democracy,' which has allowed for
the enactment of a constitution that has not ensured a
significant participation of the Sunni minority, and has
also allowed for the election of a Shiite government which
has unleashed retaliation against the Sunnis.

"Washington and London's way to see the Iraqi problem has
obviously worn out."

- "'Washington lacks a clear policy on Bolivia'"

Gerardo Lissardy, on special assignment in Washington for
leading "Clarin," writes (02/26) "Academian Eduardo Gamarra
invited Bolivian coca leader and official senator Leonilda
Zurita to lecture at the Florida International University...
but Zurita's trip was thwarted when the US cancelled her
visa on grounds of terrorist suspicions, all of which
unleashed the first diplomatic incident between La Paz and
Washington.

"After the incident, Gamarra told 'Clarin' that Bolivian
President Evo Morales himself lacks a US visa, and he warned
that Washington should change this in order to assess the
direction of the US-Bolivian relationship.

"Gamarra said 'There is no US policy on Bolivia, they are
looking for one.'... There is a trend at the US State
Department, another at the US Congress, another at the
Treasury Department, another one at the Department of
Defense, and there is no (overall) consistent reaction.

"According to the analyst, the Bush administration decided

to wait and see 'how the sea of contradictions evolves in
Bolivia,' where Morales faces a hard choice - satisfying the
social movements that brought him to power or address the
international accusations placed on Bolivia since 1988
regarding the struggle against drugs."

- "De Vido is preparing two crucial trips to the US and
Germany"

Mariano Obarrio, political columnist of daily-of-record "La
Nacion," comments (02/26) "The Federal Planning Minister,
Julio De Vido, is the new strong man of the Argentine
Government... With the President's support, De Vido is
preparing two trips that are crucial for the Argentine
Government and that will take place in the next couple of
months - one to the US and the other to Germany. He will
have an intense agenda of negotiations in which he will
attempt to continue healing the US-Argentine bilateral
relationship and the EU-Argentine ties.

"... De Vido became a foreign minister in the shadows. He
conveyed a message that the Argentine relationship with
Caracas is focused on State business, not on an ideological
and political alliance.

"In the next two months, De Vido is reported to visit US
Assistant Secretary of the Western Hemisphere Thomas
Shannon.

"The Argentine Government started to heal the US-Argentine
bilateral relationship following the tension at the Mar del
Plata SOA..., when De Vido lectured at the Council of the
Americas in New York last December."

- "The new European center"

Claudio Uriarte, international analyst of left-of-center
"Pagina 12," writes (02/26) "Europe is turning to the right.
Is Europe turning to the right? In any event, 'nations
change very slowly, but the people never change'...

"... No, Europe is not exactly turning to the right, but to
the center... Perhaps one could argue that it is turning to
the right if one bears in mind its old stance, what Donald
Rumsfeld would call 'the old left wing'... Now, there is a
new convergence between US policy and all of Europe. For
example, in the Iran case, just a few days ago, the French
foreign Ministry launched a strong warning against the
Iranian nuclear program. This was a very unusual attitude in
a country that generally does its best to win prestige
through diplomatic incidents with the 'giant'...

"In Great Britain, David Cameron attempted to override Blair
in his transatlantic solidarity by criticizing Blair for a
weak stance regarding the ayatollah regime...

"Of course, not only Europe should take pride for this new
transatlantic convergence. Since Condoleezza Rice took over
as US Secretary of State, the US foreign policy has also
slowly returned to multilateralism, which was favored by the
US State Department's traditional old guard. But we'll have
to see what happens when the escalation with Iran goes from
words to deeds, and the current UN and IAEA (International
Atomic Energy Agency)'s round of conversations ends up in a
predictable failure."


3. EDITORIALS

- "Also a religious war in Iraq"

An editorial in leading "Clarin" reads (02/27) "The attack
against one of the most important Shiite mosques in Iraq has
worsened the religious factor of the Iraqi confrontation,
which scares away the liberalizing and democratizing
purposes with which the US justified its invasion of the
country...

"A religious war between Sunnis and Shiites is another ghost
hovering over Iraq and it could trouble even further the
search for a reconstruction of Iraq on a representative and
democratic basis. On the other hand, the use of sacred
religious sites as targets for attacks is another expression
of the progressive degradation of current wars and
conflicts."

- "Cuba - new attack on freedom"

Daily-of-record "La Nacion" editorializes (02/25) "The Cuban
government has just given another sign of the thoughtless
and even illogical way in which it chooses to handle its
international relationships. This time, the target of its
misbehavior was Argentine writer, historian and journalist
Jose Ignacio Garcia Hamilton, who was denied the entry to
Cuba in spite of the fact that the Cuban embassy in Buenos
Aires granted him a Cuban visa.

"... As we have said many times on these pages, the solution
lies in the hands of the international democratic community,
of which Argentina is part, and it implies wielding
continued pressure on Castro so that he puts an end to the
atrocities of his government and democratic transition can
start on the island along with the return of individual
liberties."

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 Sectin does
not independently verify information. The report is
intended for internal U.S. Government use only.

GUTIERREZ

Graciela E. Vega
Information Assistant
Public Affairs Office
US Embassy
Tel. 54-115-777-4593
Fax 54-115-777-4228
vegage@state.gov