MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Terrorist Attacks in Bombay - Iraq

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 004760 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 - Terrorist Attacks in Bombay - Iraq - Sectarian Violence - Guantanamo - Geneva Convention - North Korea - Missile Tests PARIS - Wednesday July 12, 2006 (A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: Terrorist Attacks in Bombay Iraq - Sectarian Violence Guantanamo - Geneva Convention North Korea - Missile Tests (B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: The centrist economic daily La Tribune features an interview with President Bush on energy policy, highlighting his statement that "nuclear energy represents a key element of the world's energy supply." The President also noted that peaceful nuclear energy programs could be especially beneficial for large, developing countries such as China and India. He also stressed that the U.S. "cooperates with Japan, Russia, France, and the UK to invest more money in the technological development of reactors" which will allow for the safe treatment of nuclear waste. The President commented on the U.S.'s working relationship with Russia as well as its possible accession to the WTO during the G8 summit, saying that this "would be in the interest of the United States," but that diverging and multiple interests would make negotiations more difficult. Right-of-center Le Figaro's economic section announces that energy policy will dominate the G8 summit this weekend in Saint Petersburg, noting that: "even during the worst moments of the Cold War, Europe has never been so worried about its Russian supply of gas." In centrist economic La Tribune U.S. correspondent Lysiane Baudu offers an analysis on U.S./Russian relations, noting that "a possible agreement on civil nuclear energy" could be worked about between Presidents Bush and Putin during the G8 summit. She notes that the notes of ambiguity in the U.S./Russian relationship reveal divisions within the Bush administration. Thomas Gomart of the French Institute for International Relations pens an op-ed in right-of-center economic daily Les Echos on Russia's outlook and strategies for this weekend's G8 Summit. He notes that President Putin, "eager for recognition and international credibility," is attempting to use the G8 and its energy-driven agenda as an occasion to advance Russia's position among the world's political forces and to establish its position as an energy "superpower." Right-of-center Le Figaro leads with the terrorist attack in Bombay which was widely reported by the electronic media as well and commented in the regional press. (See Part C) The unsigned editorial in Le Monde is entitled "Iraq and Oblivion." "For the Iraqis, whether they were in favor or not of an American military intervention at the beginning, the presence of foreign troops was justified for one main reason: to avoid civil war. Three years after the invasion of Iraq and the fall of Saddam Hussein the Americans are still not gone and civil war has set in." (See Part C) Right-of-center Le Figaro reports that China's mediation on the North Korean nuclear issue is a "smokescreen." (See Part C) The Washington correspondent for right-of-center Le Figaro, Philippe Gelie writes that: "the Pentagon is making a 180 degree turn by granting the Guantanamo detainees the 'protection' of the Geneva Convention." (See Part C) (C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: Terrorist Attacks in Bombay "Bombay Attacks" Jean Guisnel in regional La Republique des Pyrenees (07/12): "This time terror strikes India... in a scenario that resembles the attacks in London a year ago... It seems obvious today that five years after the 9/11 attacks, the ways that George W. Bush and his allies have chosen to deal with the threat of terrorism have only exacerbated it." "Mass Terror" Francis Brochet in regional Le Progres (07/12): "The attacks in Bombay... represent the kind of mass terrorism of which Iraq has become a symbol with the Shiite and the Sunni communities working to kill each other off.... We must face facts, September 11 opened up a whole new kind of generalized warfare. What happened yesterday in Bombay could take place anywhere in the world." Iraq - Sectarian Violence "Iraq and Oblivion" The unsigned editorial in left-of-center Le Monde (07/12): "For the Iraqis, whether they were in favor or not of an American military intervention at the beginning, the presence of foreign troops was justified for one main reason: to avoid civil war. Three years after the invasion of Iraq and the fall of Saddam Hussein the Americans are still not gone and civil war has set in. July 9, the Iraqi 'Bloody Sunday' marks a turning point in the conflict. For the first time, the residents of Baghdad... were systematically executed because of their ethnic background... From the Iraqi point of view this is a turning point that destroys the justification for the American military presence in Iraq. No one in Iraq holds on to the dream of the other reasons that Washington put forward to justify the continued U.S. presence in Iraq: democracy and reconstruction. The former cannot exist amid chaos, in spite of successful elections, and the latter is a joke when Iraqis only have three hours of electricity per day... The reality is that on the political front it is Zarkawi, the Iraqi leader of al Qaeda killed last June, who is victorious... The reality is that the Americans are retrenched in the green zone... isolated... The Iraqi insurgency and Sunni terrorism are capable of spreading chaos, but civil war will destroy the country." "The U.S. Weakened" Jean-Claude Kiefer writes in regional Les Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace (07/12): "Iraq is in chaos and this situation has seriously weakened the U.S., and this is far from reassuring. When the self-proclaimed world police takes a hit, the planet's trouble makers take advantage. The examples being the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il playing with his missiles and the Iranians pursuing their nuclear program." Guantanamo - Geneva Convention "Guantanamo Under International Law" Washington correspondent for right-of-center Le Figaro (07/12): "After four years of stubbornness, Washington is letting its guard down. The Deputy Secretary of Defense has ordered... that detainees held in American prisons around the world be able to come under the Geneva Convention. This stance radically alters the status of the 'enemy combatants' locked up in Guantanamo, Afghanistan and Iraq. The status of the secret CIA prisons, however remains in limbo... Yesterday's decision marks the return of the U.S. to international legality." "Bombay Attacks" Jean Guisnel in regional La Republique des Pyrenees(07/12): "The White House was forced yesterday to announce that... the Guantanamo detainees will come under the protection of the Geneva Convention. Although coerced into doing so, George W. Bush has realized that there is no other path possible than the one that leads towards legality and that this is the only way terrorism will be vanquished." North Korea Missile Tests "Beijing's Smokescreen Mediation" Right-of-center Le Figaro's Jean-Jacques Mevel writes (07/12): "China is torn and confronted by the impossible task of choosing between Pyongyang and Washington... President Hu Jintao, yesterday, expressed for the first time his country's concerns about the missile crisis without taking a firm stand or lifting the ambiguity of China's position... China is clearly on the fence and Hu's statements appear to both warn Kim Jong Il against a second round of tests and caution the U.S., and especially Japan, of reacting 'excessively' to last week's North Korean missile tests... But China remains the only country with the political, economic and military means to put pressure on North Korea." "Provocation" Didier Louis in regional daily Le Courrier Picard (07/12): "North Korea, that along with Iran embodies the axis of evil, is waging an ideological battle against American imperialism... The North Korean tyrant... is second to none in being able to divide democracies and use to his advantage the UN's inertia. The ultimate paradox in this story is that the destabilization of Kim Jong Il's heinous and detestable regime is above all else to be avoided." STAPLETON