MEDIA REACTION: SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA: IRAN'S NUCLEAR

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000776 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: SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA: IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM; SCO PAULO "Sarkozy Adopts Bush's Bellicose Tone" Center-right national circulation daily O Estado de S. Paulo's Paris correspondent Giles Lapouge commented (9/18): "In regards to Iran, 'it is necessary to be prepared for the worst, for the war.' This is not VP Dick Cheney's phrase. It was said by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who has repeated threats made by his boss, President Nicolas Sarkozy.... Kouchner has adopted Sarkozy's discourse, with a tone that is more bellicose than that of Washington.... Now the bellicose offensive conducted by Sarkozy and Kouchner is aligned with Washington.... Despite the fact that Washington's posture is more diplomatic than Paris, their general lines are identical.... The US wants to intimidate Tehran.... Bombing Iran would cause a chaos worse that that in Iraq.... Russia and China, as well as some Western European nations, are convinced that Ahmadinejad's radicalism does not enjoy unanimity not even among Iranians. For those nations, diplomatic pressure would force the Iranian president to hear the moderate opposition. After all, it was through the use of diplomacy that Secstate Condoleezza Rice convinced North Korea to give up producing its nuclear bomb.... And when one considers the tragedy that a bombing in Iran would cause, everything must be tried to prevent bloodshed." White