Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07VIENNA96
2007-01-17 16:22:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Vienna
Cable title:  

AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: January 17, 2007

Tags:  KPAO AU OPRC 
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PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVI #0096/01 0171622
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 171622Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5976
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/WHITEHOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
UNCLAS VIENNA 000096 

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: KPAO AU OPRC

SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: January 17, 2007


Gusenbauer Offers Tutoring Lessons

UNCLAS VIENNA 000096

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: KPAO AU OPRC

SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: January 17, 2007


Gusenbauer Offers Tutoring Lessons


1. A statement made by Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer during his
inaugural address in Parliament has caused a stir among MPs:
Gusenbauer offered to give tutoring lessons in Austrian schools once
a week, thus reflecting a proposal included in the coalition
agreement that students could do community work instead of paying
university tuition fees. The OeVP has dismissed the idea as a "poor
joke," while the SPOe defended it as a "symbolic gesture."
According to semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung, Gusenbauer was
aiming to take the wind out of the university tuition fee critics'
sails with his proposal to give tutoring lessons. He emphasized
during his inaugural address that the "people have to be at the
heart of politics," the daily quotes. Mass-circulation provincial
daily Kleine Zeitung publishes a critical rating of the Chancellor's
inaugural address: It was a "monotonous, dramaturgically not
aspiring speech, which he read off his notes for the most part." In
addition, it was "not a major socio-political accomplishment, but a
series of vague announcements and phrases." The daily concludes that
it was "not exactly a rousing speech: A premier marked by boredom."

Semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung also publishes a survey by
polling institute OGM, which shows that the majority of Austrians is
not happy with the launch of the new government: 62 percent say the
coalition kick-off was not a success, according to the daily.


More Student Demonstrations


2. The Austrian University Students' Association (OeH) has announced
demonstrations are being held in Vienna and Graz today, as
university students continue to protest against the retaining of
tuition fees, despite a promise made by the SPOe during its election
campaign that the fees would be abolished.
A front-page report in independent provincial daily Salzburger
Nachrichten mentions that a number of high-ranking SPOe
representatives have urged negotiations on the controversial
university study fees should continue: The last word on the issue
has not been spoken yet," the daily quotes floor leader Josef Cap.
Science Minister Johannes Hahn from the OeVP, however, has dismissed
calls for additional talks on the matter, stressing that it is the

terms of the coalition pact, which count for him.


Terrorist Suspect Arrested in Vienna


3. A terrorist suspect has been arrested at Vienna's Schwechat
airport. The Albanian-born US citizen, for whose capture there is an
international arrest warrant, is said to also have worked as a
double agent for the CIA, an Austrian daily writes. The suspect,
identified by the paper as Dodu L., is allegedly the head of a
former Yugoslavian terrorist group, which had planned to carry out
two bomb attacks at the parliamentary elections in Montenegro last
September.
Mass-circulation tabloid Kronen Zeitung reports on the arrest at
Schwechat airport of Albanian-born terrorist suspect Dodu L.,
calling it a "success for the Austrian police." The daily suggests
that Dodu L., who was en route back to the United States, must have
been "aware of the international arrest warrant," and of the fact
that he "ranked high on the list of internationally wanted terrorist
suspects." The suspect is currently being held at a detention
facility in Korneuburg, Lower Austria, and awaiting extradition. It
is not clear, however, where he will be extradited to, as both the
US and Montenegro have claimed him, apparently. The Kronen Zeitung
cites Dodu L's alleged activities as a double agent for the CIA as
the reason for why the United States wants to prevent an extradition
to Montenegro.


Iranian Terrorist Suspect Arrested?


4. A main suspect in the murder of an Iraqi Kurdish opposition
politician in Vienna in 1989 may be among five Iranians arrested in
Iraq. The Iranians were captured by US troops during a raid in Irbil
last week. There has been no official confirmation that the suspect
Mohammed Jafari Sahroudi is in custody, however.
Major Austrian media report on the alleged arrest in the northern
Iraqi city of Irbil of Mohammed Jafari Sahroudi, one of the Iranian
assassins of three Kurdish opposition leaders in Vienna in 1989.
Like all leading Austrian dailies and ORF television and radio,
centrist daily Die Presse mentions the arrest, and adds that
Austrian radio had been sourcing the US media earlier this week.
However, the daily points out, there has been no official
confirmation at this point, neither from the American authorities,
nor from the Austrian Foreign Ministry that Sahroudi is indeed among
those arrested in Irbil in a raid carried out by US troops last
week.


President Defends His Iraq Strategy


5. US President George Bush in a television interview has defended
his decision to commit thousands more troops to the Iraqi capital
Baghdad to try to end sectarian violence there. In related news, at
least 70 people were killed and dozens injured in a double bombing
at a Baghdad university yesterday. According to experts, there is
evidence some of the bombings are targeting more educated people in
Iraq.
Independent provincial daily Salzburger Nachrichten runs the
headline "The costly war in Iraq," and reports that the United
States is spending about 200 million dollars daily on their security
and reconstruction efforts in Iraq - a massive strain on the US
budget. The entire sum spent on Iraq so far can thus easily compete
with expenses for the Vietnam War, and is likely to create another
problem in the White House's dealings with Congress, the daily adds.
After all, some Republicans and the Democrats alike have been
demanding the inflationary Iraq expenses need to be curbed
considerably, according to the Salzburger Nachrichten.
Meanwhile, commentator for liberal city weekly Falter Raimund Loew
writes in the January 17 issue that the Iraq study groups headed by
Republican James Baker and the Democrat Lee Hamilton "rested on the
hope that the entire Middle East policy can be put on a basis that
both parties have agreed on. That hope is now dead. Until the
presidential elections in 2008, Iraq will be the center of the
political debate. Just like in the case of Bush vs. Kerry in 2004,
the debate will focus on the US position in the world. The
unavoidable collective conscience probing that will take place will
hopefully also bring people to reflect on the latest disgrace in the
Iraq that America created: The gruesome series of executions of
condemned top officials of the toppled Baathist regime. (...) It was
the US that, after the invasion, rejected the idea of turning those
officials of the Baathist regime that were responsible for crimes
against humanity over to an unassailable institution such as the
International Tribunal of The Hague. The legitimacy that the US
lacks in Iraq will hardly be achieved by sending more troops. That
is a lesson already learned in Vietnam."


Doubts Regarding Alleged Syria Deal


6. Israel and Syria have denied reports on an alleged draft for a
peace accord set up in secret negotiations. However, the draft
agreement actually exists, an Austrian daily says, explaining that
it had been drawn up as a private initiative, and without having
been officially commissioned.
Liberal daily Der Standard quotes the report published in Israeli
newspaper Ha'aretz earlier this week on an alleged "clandestine
agreement between representatives from Israel and Syria, which
created quite a stir in media circles." The draft after all suggests
that Israel has in principle agreed to give back the Golan Heights
to Syria as part of a gradual, long-term process, the daily
explains. Official sources immediately denied the report, stressing
that the talks had taken place without any authorization from the
Israeli government. Spokespeople for Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert
have emphasized that "no one has been commissioned to talk to the
Syrians."
McCaw