AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: September 20, 2007

UNCLAS VIENNA 002456 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/AGS, INR/EU, AND EUR/PPD FOR YVETTE SAINT-ANDRE OSD FOR COMMANDER CHAFFEE WHITEHOUSE FOR NSC/WEUROPE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KPAO AU SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: September 20, 2007 Bawag to Sell Real Estate Portfolio ¶1. The new board of directors of bank Bawag says it will sell the bank's real estate assets, which include the Bawag headquarters in Vienna's first district that is topped off with a large penthouse formerly inhabited by ex-Bawag CEO Helmut Elsner. Other Bawag properties to be sold include the penthouse homes of the former head of the Austrian Unions Association OeGB, Fritz Verzetnitsch, and of investment banker Wolfgang Floettl. Meanwhile, Floettl's wife Anne Eisenhower, the granddaughter of former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower, is expected to testify in a Vienna court today in connection with the Bawag trial. Reporting on the testimony yesterday in the bank Bawag trial of former Austrian Unions Association OeGB President Fritz Verzetnitsch, mass-circulation daily Kurier runs the front-page headline "Verzetnisch sees himself as savior of the OeGB." He had "wanted to prevent the OeGB's assets from being gambled away, and preserve them instead, and I succeeded in doing so," by "acting correctly," Verzetnitsch told the court. Mass-circulation provincial daily Kleine Zeitung, also reporting on Verzetnisch's testimony, argues the former OeGB boss "avoided all traps," and in the witness box "skillfully wriggled out of a tight spot." Criminal proceedings against him are highly unlikely, according to the daily. Austria Should Stick With Neutrality, Islamist Says ¶2. Shaker Assem, a well-known Austrian Islamist, has called on the Austrian government to maintain the country's neutral status: "Austria would do well to stick to its principle of neutrality, and not become a tool of the world powers' colonialist policies." As long as Austria "stays neutral and refrains from interfering with these wars" [in Iraq and Afghanistan], there is no concrete Islamic terrorist threat against Austria, Assem believes. Shaker Assem is the representative in Austria of the "Party for the Liberation of the Islamic World," which aims at creating a theocracy, or caliphate, uniting all Islamic nations. The party is being closely monitored by the Austrian authorities, says ORF radio early morning news Morgenjournal. Busy Week Ahead For Gusenbauer ¶3. Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer (SPOe) will begin a one week trip to the United States on Friday. His first stop will be New York City, where he will meet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. He will also attend next week's UN General Assembly, where he will be co-hosting summit talks on climate change with the Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. Furthermore, the Austrian Chancellor plans to discuss climate issues in New York with former US Vice President Al Gore, and will also attend a series of bilateral talks with the leaders of Brazil, the Czech Republic, Serbia, South Africa and Turkey. Semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung reports on Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer's upcoming one week trip to the United States, where he will meet in New York with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, and former Vice President Al Gore, as well as co-host talks on climate change and attend a series of bilateral meetings. In addition, Gusenbauer and Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik will be lobbying to win Austria a non-permanent rotating seat on the UN Security Council, starting in 2009. In New York, the Austrian Chancellor is further expected to hold separate meetings with former US President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, British author Salman Rushdie and philanthropist George Soros. Other events include a reception for Austrians living in the United States. Gusenbauer will also be visiting Boston to give a speech on foreign policy at Harvard University's law school. His final stop will be Philadelphia, where he will be speaking to the World Affairs Council. Bomb Kills Lebanese MP ¶4. A car bomb has killed an anti-Syrian MP and at least six other people in the Lebanese capital Beirut. Syria has joined the international condemnation of the killing of Antoine Ghanem, and denied any involvement in Wednesday's attack, which came less than a week before Lebanon's Parliament is due to elect a new President. Speaking in Washington yesterday, US President George W. Bush condemned the blast as a "cowardly attack," and accused Syria and Iran of undermining Lebanon's sovereignty. According to semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung, Antoine Ghamen, the Lebanese MP who was killed in a car bomb attacks yesterday, is the 8th anti-Syrian political victim since 2005 already. And independent provincial daily Salzburger Nachrichten, reporting on "Hezbollah in a tight spot, suggests that one year after the Israeli-Lebanese war, "previously undreamed-of alliances have formed in Lebanon. Islamic Hezbollah is searching for a new role, and its strongest ally in this is the country's largest Christian party." A Hezbollah functionary and former Minister, explains that Lebanon is "in a traditional phase. It is the struggle for the path to the future." In fact, the daily says, there is one issue all major factions, Christians, Sunnis, Shiites, all agree on: This is about building up a nation, and about preserving the fragile peace." Hezbollah, the Salzburger Nachrichten continues, is playing a key role here. Not only Lebanon is on a quest for its identity, but the former anti-Israel resistance movement as well. But while calls for peace in the country are increasing, Hezbollah is struggling to lose its image of a mere militia doing jobs for its financial backers in Iran and Syria. Thus, the question arises whether Hezbollah wants to become a regular political party, the daily says. UN Chief Calls on Israel to Revert Gaza Decision ¶5. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has urged Israel to reconsider its decision to declare the Gaza Strip a hostile entity. The Israeli government has said it will cut off energy supplies in Gaza in response to the continued rocket attacks against Israel by Palestinian militants there. The UN Secretary General warned that withholding vital supplies from civilians would violate international law. Palestinian group Hamas has meanwhile said the Israeli action amounts to "collective punishment" of Gaza residents. Centrist daily Die Presse says that the Israeli government has decided to declare the Gaza Strip a "hostile entity" and cut electricity and fuel supplies to the Hamas-controlled region in response to the continues missile attacks. Israel's move to "further restrict the transfer of goods and movement of people, as well as to reduce water, electricity and oil supplies," has also paved the way for potential sanctions, and also aims a weakening Hamas. According to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barack, the measure is a preliminary alternative to a military operation. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is currently on a tour of the Middle East, emphasized that in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict "we can no longer limit ourselves to declaring that we want a two-state solution. We have to start moving instead," quotes the daily. McCaw