MEDIA REACTION US NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000718 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 US NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION TO THE US IRAQ US-BOLIVIAN TIES BELARUS US-RUSSIA MIDDLE EAST NEW ANTISEMITISM MONSANTO AND THE ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT US-URUGUAYAN FTA US TRADE POLICY INFLUENCE ON ARGENTINA ARGENTINE INVESTMENT 03/27/06 ¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT Weekend papers lead with the US National Security Strategy; immigration demonstration drawing 500,000 in Los Angeles; US Secretary of State Rice's alleged statement that the US could withdraw a significant number of its troops in Iraq; the US Embassy in La Paz's response to President Morales' charges related to the bombings in La Paz; Russia denying USG charges that the Russian ambassador to Baghdad provided Iraq with intelligence information about US military plans in 2003; a new "anti-Semitic movement" in relation to Palestinian claims in the Middle East, which are backed by Iran; a US-Uruguayan FTA; the Argentine government hindering foreign investment; tens of thousands of Argentines marching throughout the nation to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1976 military coup; and Finnish firm Botnia announcing it would stop the construction of a paper pulp mill in Fray Bentos. ¶2. OPINION PIECES AND KEY STORIES - "The US and a world at war" Centrist "Perfil" newspaper carries an opinion piece by Jorge Castro, political analyst and former Argentine Secretary for Strategic Planning during the Menem administration, who writes (03/26) "According to the US National Security Strategy, 'The US is at war. This is a National Security Strategy in times of war.' "... This NSE confirms and broadens the scope of the one from September 2002. It states that the biggest threat posed to the US comes from a combination of transnational terrorism and WMD. Time is not in favor of the superpower but against it. This is why the bigger the threat, the bigger the risk of inaction. "The decisive thing in this lengthy global war, as in all, is the political, and not the military factor. The main point of the NSE is that a long-term solution for transnational terrorism is progress in human liberty and dignity all over the world and particularly in the Middle East. It is an American idea that shows that the US is not a country limited by geographical borders but rather a civilization founded on democratic institutions and creed... "The world restructuring according to US values and interests largely depends on the incorporation of all significant countries into globalization. For this purpose, the fundamental issue is the deployment of institutional mechanisms of the new accumulation model - FTAs... "This long war has two adversaries, but three participants - the adversaries are the US and Islamic terrorist fundamentalism (Al Qaeda). The third participant is public opinion. And the luck of this Security Strategy, and of the conflict itself, will be decided by public opinion." - "Illegal Latin immigrants, an increasing force in the US" Hugo Alconada Mon, Washington-based correspondent for daily-of-record "La Nacion," comments (03/27) "12 million illegal Latin American immigrants are in the US. Their number increases by the day and they are starting to show their power... "More than 500,000 immigrants (most of them Mexicans and from Central America),staged a demonstration in Los Angeles and six other cities in an increasing mobilization that started a few weeks ago and will continue until April 10. Meanwhile, Washington is analyzing what to do - deporting or legitimizing them. "The US Senate will start to debate this issue today based on a questioned immigration reform draft bill, which has already been approved by the House and includes imprisonment sentences for those who help illegal immigrants. President George W. Bush will meet this Thursday with his Mexican counterpart, Vicente Fox, to discuss this issue, which has become the thorniest issue in the bilateral agenda." - "The conspiracy of the stubborn" Claudio Uriarte, left-of-center "Pagina 12's" international analyst, opines (03/27) "From what can be seen, Republican hard-liners have shot the G.O.P. in the foot... 500,000 to more than a million people marched last Saturday in Los Angeles, a weird demonstration of absolutely peaceful multi-race convergence whose only purpose was to protest against a draft bill that could criminalize illegal immigration. "The draft bill is a long-term political mistake for the Bush administration. Hispanics are mostly Catholics, family-lovers and conservative, they are mostly interested in working and making progress, being part of the 'American dream'... "... Nonetheless, the US is a country of the American hemisphere, which implies that said immigration will not possibly be stopped. For the same reason, what happened last Saturday in Los Angeles could well be the beginning of an important national movement, along the lines of that of the black people in the '50s. Does the US really want to exclude as illegal all the people who love the US, feel identified with its values, are neither terrorists nor much less, and at the same time do the jobs US citizens no longer want to take?" - "Rice is optimistic about US withdrawal from Iraq" Daily-of-record "La Nacion" reports (03/27) "In alignment with statements made by military commanders, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the US could well withdraw a significant number of its troops stationed in Iraq this year as long as Iraqi forces are able to take charge of the security of their country. "... In this way, (Rice's statements) contrasted with US President Bush's statements that US troops could stay in Iraq while he is in power until 2009." - "US-Bolivian dispute over attacks in La Paz" Business-financial "Ambito Financiero" reports (03/24) "Preliminary police findings on the attacks launched against La Paz hotels are totally contradictory with the stance of President Evo Morales, who blamed the USG. Confronted with the evidence, the Bolivian president had to face the complaint of the US Embassy. "... For its part, the US Embassy said yesterday that 'Prevention against terrorism is a national interest issue for the two countries. Statements like the one of Morales hinder those efforts and are obstacles to our ability to cooperate in a broader relationship between the two countries.'" - "Russia denies US charges" Daily-of-record "La Nacion" (03/26) "Russia denied a US Pentagon report whereby the Russian ambassador to Baghdad provided the Iraqi government with intelligence information about US military plans during the first days of the US-led invasion in 2003. "The Russian denial is another demonstration of the increasing disagreement between Washington and Moscow on the Middle East. "Russia has already opposed the war in Iraq..., sought to prevent the submission of the Iranian nuclear program to the UN Security Council, which was promoted by the White House, and received envoys of Hamas, which is considered terrorist by the US after its victory in the Palestinian elections." - "The new anti-Semitism" Claudio Uriarte, left-of-center "Pagina 12's" international analyst, opines (03/26) "... Ironically enough, criticism of Israel as an 'expansionist State' continues now that the Jewish State... is close to dismantling its furthest settlements in the West Bank. "... Obviously enough, this does not mean peace, at most it is a walled truce. The Palestinians, who in 2000 rejected the opportunity to have a State in the Gaza Strip, 95% of the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, continue insisting on their claim for a State from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea,' without Israel in the middle of it. Latest political developments in Iran and the Palestinian territories do nothing but reinforce this trend. Israel will withdraw from its positions because it cannot claim them as its own. However, the truth is that the backdrop of its enemies' claims is anti-Semitism." - "After the Israeli election" Gwynne Dyer, contributor to liberal, English-language "Buenos Aires Herald," opines (03/27) "... Israelis justify their unilateral and highly one sided 'solution' with the argument that there is nobody on the Palestinian side to negotiate with, and since the victory of Hamas in Palestinian elections two months ago that argument sounds more plausible. But we arrived at this sorry situation because Israel was unwilling to negotiate fairly with any of the previous, more reasonable incarnations of the Palestinian leadership either. The settlements always got in the way. "... At them moment, Israel holds all the cards in the Middle East. Its army and its economy are incomparably stronger than those of its Arab neighbors. It has hundreds of nuclear weapons, and they have none. And it has 110 percent support from the US, the world's only superpower. But a prudent Israeli leader would conclude that now is therefore the right time to make a permanent peace with the Arabs, including the Palestinians, because nobody can be certain that it will still hold all those cards in twenty-five or fifty years' time. "Israel cannot have a permanent peace and the settlements too. It is making a bad trade." - "The (Argentine) Foreign Ministry faces Monsanto's offensive in Europe over soy" Matias Longoni, columnist of leading "Clarin," writes (03/26) "The (Argentine) government started to move its pieces in its confrontation with Monsanto... The Argentine Foreign Ministry ordered nine embassies in Europe to face Monsanto's offensive... "The nine embassies are those in Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, UK, Holland, Spain, Italy and Greece. All of them were instructed to send directions to local custom houses so that they know how to proceed every time Monsanto wants to stop a ship coming from Argentina." - "Uruguay - free trade authorized with the US" Business-financial "Ambito Financiero" reports (03/27) "The leftist Uruguayan coalition Frente Amplio, which took Tabare Vazquez to the presidency, enabled the government to negotiate free trade deals with the US and other world powers. The coalition green-lighted the government to negotiate an FTA, as some members of the Executive Branch wanted. "According to Argentine Assistant Secretary for Economic Integration Eduardo Sigal, the Vazquez administration had renounced the idea of negotiating an FTA with the US because the Bush administration's initial proposal did not include a substantial reduction of farm subsidies." - "The US could trouble Argentina" Business-financial, center-right "InfoBae" carries an opinion piece by Juan Wasilevsky, who writes (03/27) "The USG's strategy, which consisted of negotiating FTAs with a broad range of countries, both from Africa and Latin America, could well start negatively impacting on the volume of Argentine exports. "As a matter of fact, estimates are being made of the possible implications of the recent FTA reached between the US and Colombia on Argentine foreign trade... "According to the (Argentine) Institute for International Agricultural Negotiations, the FTA between the two countries was termed as a negative move or even as a retreat in Argentine negotiations to obtain greater trade advantages in the region." ¶3. EDITORIALS - "How to boost investment" An editorial in daily-of-record "La Nacion," reads (03/26) "Argentina's sustainable economic growth calls for investment and businessmen that are determined to take long-term risks for the development of new undertakings and technological overhaul. But this investment will not come magically, but based on clear signs of respect for judicial security, tax incentives and the abandonment of offensive official messages toward some economic sectors of the country. "... The government's recent decision to suspend meat exports for 180 days with the purpose of lowering prices is an extraordinarily strong blow to investment. "... Argentina should urgently develop a plan to encourage productive investment before it is too late. This plan will not be feasible without a broad negotiation with productive sectors and without a strategy to seduce foreign capitals." 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