MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-INDIA NUCLEAR DEAL,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 002713 SIPDIS STATE FOR NP, AC, PM STATE FOR INR/MR STATE FOR SCA/INS, PM/CBM, PM/PRO STATE FOR SCA/PPD, PA/RRU STATE FOR AID/APRE-A USDOC FOR 4530/IEP/ANESA/OSA FOR BILL MURPHY E.O. 12958:N/A TAGS: KMDR KPAO PGOV PREL IN SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-INDIA NUCLEAR DEAL, PAKISTAN, AFGHANISTAN/IRAQ, GLOBAL RECESSION; NEW DELHI. This cable reports on relevant media reaction from India's large non-English press. Embassy New Delhi reports on English-language media via email in the daily "Early Edition". USG customers please write to Geeta Krishali (KrishaliG@state.gov) to subscribe to the "Early Edition." -------------- U.S.-INDIA NUCLEAR DEAL -------------- ¶1. "PRANAB'S REQUEST," editorial in the October 14 RASHTRIYA SAHARA Hindi daily: "After signing the India- U.S. civilian nuclear agreement with the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee's remarks in Washington were significant. He urged Pakistan not to be apprehensive of the deal. This statement goes out as a reassuring message not only to our neighbor, but to the whole world. It will go a long way in maintaining the relation of trust with a guarantee that India will never misuse the treaty, or expand its nuclear weapons arsenal. India has indicated it would not mind the United States entering a civil nuclear deal with Pakistan, saying it believed every country has the right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. By saying that India is committed to peaceful nuclear use, India has reiterated its well-known position of responsible behavior. India stands where it is because of its responsible behavior. The U.S. flatly denied a similar nuclear agreement with Pakistan because of Pakistan's unreliability factor. While India has said that it is not opposed to a similar treaty with Pakistan, given the situation in that country, anything like this looks highly improbable." -------------- PAKISTAN -------------- ¶2. "INDIA SURROUNDED BY FAILED NATIONS," op-ed in the October 14 DAINIK BHASKAR Hindi daily by Pankaj Parashar: "It is no coincidence America's favorite country Pakistan tops a list of failed nations recently compiled by Foreign Affairs magazine and the Fund for Peace. Another embattled nation is Iraq. Despite America's best efforts, the country is bleeding, with untold misery arising from violence and terrorism. And then there is Afghanistan - still groping in the dark ages. Pakistan has an uncertain future after Musharraf. Pakistan is an artificial political construct in which several diverse and historically rival ethnic groups were arbitrarily forced together into what was supposed to become an Islamic melting pot. India, surrounded by failed nations, needs to tread very cautiously. We are in a dangerous neighborhood." -------------- AFGHANISTAN / IRAQ -------------- ¶3. "OFFER TO TALIBAN TO JOIN AFGAHANISTAN GOVERNMENT", editorial in the October 14 right-of-center Urdu daily NEW DELHI 00002713 002 OF 002 HAMARA SAMAJ, New Delhi: "Disappointed over the prevailing situation in Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai has offered Taliban to join him in the governance. He has offered this package only after a green signal from the United States of America. In fact, the deteriorating condition of America is due to its direct military aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq. Billions of dollars have been spent during the eight years of the war, which hollowed America. Now, it wants to come out from the quagmires of Iraq and Afghanistan. It indicates helplessness of Karzai and impotence of America; otherwise, the present dictator George W. Bush would never be ready to give such an offer to Taliban. Under these circumstances, how America and its forces can remain stationed in these countries? It seems difficult to foretell." -------------- GLOBAL RECESSION -------------- ¶4. "THE NOBEL PRIZE IS FOR KRUGMAN'S CORRECT FINANCIAL PREDICTIONS" editorial in the October 15, 2008, Mumbai edition of centrist Marathi daily SAKAAL. "The Nobel Prize in Economics going to well-known New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is a great tribute to a left- leaning intellectual-economist who has always pleaded for protectionism and greater control over the financial system. The Princeton professor, whose newspaper columns regularly criticized President George W. Bush's policies, had predicted a major recession in his writings around two years ago. Krugman is a refreshingly outspoken economist as well as a committed social democrat and Democratic partisan. His social-democratic impetus promotes people's interests, notably poor people's interests. At a time in the U.S. when `unrestricted capitalism' is the norm, Krugman dares to make a case for distributional politics and greater government-required redistribution..." WHITE