MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Middle East - Operation Summer Rain

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 004693 SIPDIS DEPT FOR INR/R/MR; IIP/RW; IIP/RNY; BBG/VOA; IIP/WEU; AF/PA; EUR/WE /P/SP; D/C (MCCOO); EUR/PA; INR/P; INR/EUC; PM; OSC ISA FOR ILN; NEA; WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC/WEUROPE; DOC FOR ITA/EUR/FR AND PASS USTR/PA; USINCEUR FOR PAO; NATO/PA; MOSCOW/PA; ROME/PA. E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KMDR FR SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Middle East - Operation Summer Rain - North Korea, Missile Tests - Afghanistan PARIS - Monday, July 10, 2006 (A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: Middle East - Operation Summer Rain North Korea - Missile Tests Afghanistan (B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: The World Cup final victory of Italy over France dominates all of the headlines and front pages, even of the economic dailies. In international news the lead story is the worsening situation in Gaza. Right-of-center Le Figaro reports that the head of Hamas in the Palestinian government, Ismael Haniyeh's, "popularity has been reinforced by the Israeli offensive." The unsigned editorial in the Sunday/Monday edition of left-of-center Le Monde notes critically that: "Israeli leaders seem to believe that if they are able to break the Palestinian population, the latter will turn against Hamas... this is a dangerous political delusion first and foremost for Israel itself." A separate article in Le Monde says that Israeli public opinion is "disoriented" by the operation in Gaza. Catholic La Croix labels the situation "critical," noting however that Israel may be willing to release some Palestinian prisoners if doing so would calm tensions, not to trade for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. "We are not talking about an exchange of prisoners." (See Part C) According to Monday's right-of-center daily Le Figaro: "Washington is Seeking Consensus" on the North Korean missile tests issue. "The Bush Administration is walking on eggshells with regard to North Korea... the clearest sign of this came from Ambassador Christopher Hill... following meetings this weekend in Beijing and Seoul where he asserted that his mission is not to push for sanctions... but to ensure that all parties speak with one voice. (See Part C) Saturday's right-of-center Le Figaro devotes a page to violence in Baghdad, reporting on "confidential information" it allegedly obtained that shows that Iraqi and U.S. authorities routinely undercount car bombs and other acts of violence in the city. "These attacks are most often planned and perpetrated by former members of Saddam Hussein's army. But the Americans try to lay the blame for them on the hard kernel of Iraqi guerillas. The U.S. prefers to say that the suicide attacks are committed by foreign jidhadists, their enemies in the Al-Qaida terrorist network." An editorial in regional Le Republicain Lorrain emphasizes that the deterioration of the situation in Iraq should not overshadow another "essential theater of operations: Afghanistan." (See Part C) Saturday's Le Figaro reports on five criminal investigations underway on American troops. "Considering that they are supposed to be fighting for the Forces of Good, the troops of George W. Bush certainly have a lot of black sheep. Five investigations are underway against American soldiers for crimes perpetrated in Iraq, threatening to lastingly tarnish an already damaged image of the army because of Abu Ghraib." It also reports that General Chiarelli will soon announce the results of another, separate investigation into charges that 24 unarmed Iraqis, including children, were massacred by Marines in Haditha in November. In centrist business-oriented La Tribune, the G8 Summit in Saint Petersburg heralds the "return of a Great Russia." "Eight years after taking part in the G8 Summit as a 'sleeping partner,' Russia is now taking on the presidency and reclaiming its position on the international scene as a superpower... something of which the Americans have a dim view." In economic news, plans for a General Motors - Nissan - Renault alliance prompt right-of-center economic supplement Le Figaro Economie's front page to note that: "America is Skeptical." The inside article notes that "analysts, the media and public opinion are hostile to an alliance... believing that a three-way wedding between GM, Renault and Nissan would be a 'nightmare' in that it would contribute to the car manufacturers already cumbersome decision-making process." La Tribune devotes two pages to the alliance plans. (C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: Middle East - Operation Summer Rain "Collective Punishment" The unsigned editorial in the Sunday/Monday edition of Le Monde (07/09-10): "Officially the Israeli Army's Operation Summer Rain has two objectives: to free the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit... and to end rocket launches from Gaza on neighboring Israeli towns... Among the forty Palestinian deaths in the last few days, two thirds were civilians and many were children... Various Israeli NGOs have asked the army to stop 'collectively punishing' the Palestinian people in the name of an anti-terrorist operation... Israel's indignation at the kidnapping of one of its soldiers would be justified if there were not thousands of Palestinians captured and imprisoned in Israel, some of whom have been held for years without trial... Israeli leaders seem to believe that is they are able to break the Palestinian population, the latter will turn against Hamas... this is a dangerous political delusion first and foremost for Israel itself." North Korea - Missile Tests "North Korea: The Chinese Card" Le Figaro's editorial by Pierre Rousselin on Saturday (07/08): "Chinese diplomacy has one absolute priority: to preserve regional - if not global - stability and to guarantee the conditions for a 'peaceful emergence' of the planet's most populated country. On the Korean peninsula, this means avoiding the collapse of Pyongyang's communist regime, which has the two-fold advantage of being robust and of maintaining the division between the North and the South. If masses of Korean refugees were to be unleashed in China, a scenario of regime change would destabilize border regions and threaten the very existence of the communist power in Beijing. A reunification, on the German model, would put American troops on the border of the People's Republic, which would then be ringed by two powerful American allies: Korea and Japan. One can see why, in these conditions, the Chinese reaction to the 'provocation' of Pyongyang was very measured....Beijing is not unhappy to see Washington embarrassed at a moment when a certain hardening of the American position towards China is manifest. With regard to Teheran, China overcame its traditional neutrality and now supports the offer that the great powers have made to Iran. Will it do the same when it comes to Pyongyang? For now China sits back and sees that the U.S. can say what it wants, it can do nothing... The Korean missile crisis is not about to go away. In order to push Washington to talk to him, the little Stalin of Pyongyang chose to launch his missiles on the 4th of July... The stakes are going to get higher and higher. China... has the means to act: without its oil deliveries and food, North Korea would not survive for long. Beijing is waiting, however, for the United States to be compelled to play the Chinese card." "Old Demons" Louis Bigot editorializes in regional daily Le Republicain Lorrain (07/10): "The situation in Iraq and the sad press reports that we have been getting everyday the past few years, have overshadowed a second theater of military operations that is still very volatile despite over four years of Western presence in the region. During the past months, Afghanistan once again seems to be in the grips of its old demons... Because at the onset of the war they did not give themselves the means to control the country as a whole and to neutralize the neighboring rear bases of terrorist networks, the U.S. and NATO have left the door wide open for the return of the Taliban. At a time when NATO has to practically double its troops and officially take over for the U.S. in the country, it is legitimate to be worried that Afghanistan will once again be on the front stage of the war on terrorism, a war that has failed on its two main fronts." STAPLETON