MEDIA REACTION; US-ARGENTINE DIPLOMATIC SPAT; 12/19/07

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 002362 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 SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION; US-ARGENTINE DIPLOMATIC SPAT; 12/19/07 ¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT Today's local dailies carry opinion pieces on the implications of the Antonini Wilson suitcase scandal and recent allegations that the money was earmarked for Argentine President Cristina Kirchner's election campaign. ¶2. OPINION PIECES AND EDITORIALS - "Expansion waves from Miami" Ricardo Kirschbaum, leading "Clarin's" general editor, writes (12/19) "The Mercosur summit ended much better than expected. The expansion waves of the Antonini Wilson case... added a new condiment to the regional summit that managed to hide other important issues... "... Hector Timerman, the future (Argentine) Ambassador to the White House, said that the US-Argentine bilateral relationship 'is in very bad shape,' while US Ambassador Anthony Wayne was called in by FM Taiana. Eduardo van der Kooy writes in his column that the White House could call its own ambassador on consultations in a strong gesture of irritation at the (Argentine) government's behavior. "The Argentine Government should bear in mind that its ties to the US have a broad scope and a complex network. Therefore, even when crudeness has pervaded the discourse, it is advisable to act coolly. One example: Argentina needs nine billion dollars to pay off its debt. Venezuela could contribute nearly five billion dollars, and the rest? One should seek it in other markets, which are constrained by the world collapse [of financial markets], or resort to using savings, with the effects it may have. "And something else - we all know the outcome of a foreign policy that is exclusively based on the benefits rendered from domestic politics." - "A dangerous escalation" Joaquin Morales Sola, political columnist of daily-of-record "La Nacion," opines (12/19) "The crisis in the US-Argentine bilateral relationship saw a new escalation yesterday and it is heading for a new and unknown 'peak.' Washington academics and businessmen said that the Bush administration is extremely uncomfortable with the Argentine authorities following the latest public remarks by President Cristina Kirchner and her husband, the former president. "This is another aspect of the increasing tension - the presidential couple insisted on making their accusations against the USG... "... Obviously enough, those statements and the decision of the Argentine Government to limit Wayne's contacts to the Foreign Ministry did not go down well either among Republicans or Democrats. They said: 'This used to happen in the Soviet Union.' "... Disagreement may happen among governments... The bottom line is how one handles these in order to avoid permanently burning all bridges." - "Attorneys at President Bush's service" Business-financial "BAE" carries an opinion piece by political analyst Luis Tonelli, who opines (12/19) "... Obviously enough for procedural law, the trial that is being carried out is about a police issue,' as DAS Thomas Shannon said. However, it is hard to believe that Washington did not calibrate the political repercussion of his prosecutor's remarks (only based on the statements made by the arrested Venezuelans) that 'the suitcase money was earmarked for Cristina Fernandez's campaign.' Or that the USG could have been left out of the 'garbage operation', when Antonini Wilson has not been charged with any allegation and he is treated as 'a poor American citizen who was threatened.' "The brightest defender of the current US neo-imperialist posture, Oxford Professor Neill Ferguson, pointed out in his book 'Colossus', that the US has always been an empire, regardless of presenting itself as a 'liberating power,' something that the author calls a hypocritical 'imperial anti-imperialism' and, according to the Argentine official stance, this could find new expression in the so-called suitcase case." To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our classified website at: http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires WAYNE