MEDIA REACTION: US-EU SUMMIT IN VIENNA; NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000688 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD DEPT PASS USTR USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: US-EU SUMMIT IN VIENNA; NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR PROGRAM, MISSILE TEST; SAO PAULO ¶1. "Summit Defrosts US-EU relations, But Only Between Governments" Center-right o Estado de S. Paulo Paris correspondent Giles Lapouge opined (6/21): "Irritation between the US and Europe seems to be diminishing. They are now far away from the bad feelings that in 2003, at the beginning of the war in Iraq, strained the relations on both sides of the Atlantic. Today in Vienna, the US-EU Summit is expected to seal this pacification of transatlantic relations.... We can only congratulate this return to wisdom. But if we look at the people, we have to accept the fact that George W. Bush's noisy appearance in the diplomatic scene following 2001, and especially in 2003, continues to cause damage.... What most contributed to the degradation of the US image abroad is very well known: the war in Iraq.... For the Europeans, peace today is threatened more by the US than by the 'delinquent nations' Washington condemned to ignominy.... Certainly the Vienna Summit will help the desirable transatlantic rapprochement. But now topics such as the war in Iraq, torture of prisoners and Guantanamo will have to be included in meetings between Europeans and Americans, regardless of how good-mannered and hypocritical diplomats can be." ¶2. "Korean Test" Liberal, largest national circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo editorialized (6/21): "North Korea's intentions have always been inscrutable. It is hard to know if it really wants to test its new Taepodong-2 missile, which can theoretically carry an atomic warhead to Hawaii or Alaska, or if the launching preparations detected by US spying satellites are just another one in the series of dictator Kim Jong's nuclear bluffs. In the most benign hypothesis, Pyongyang is staging a ballistic test to remind the world that it is also an 'atomic threat' and try to obtain advantages like the package of incentives the great powers offered to Iran in exchange for the suspension of its nuclear program.... It is possible however, that Kim Jong is willing to overestimate even more his condition of 'threat.' He could effectively launch the Taepodong-2, and then the game would become much more dangerous. If North Korea is capable of demonstrating that it possesses long range missile technology, then the balance of forces in the region will change. From Russia to Australia, and including US territorial areas, everyone would be the target of a paranoiac nation that alleges to possess nuclear warheads." McMullen