MEDIA REACTION: AFGHANISTAN, COP15, GENERAL MOTORS;BERLIN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BERLIN 001553 STATE FOR INR/R/MR, EUR/PAPD, EUR/PPA, EUR/CE, INR/EUC, INR/P, SECDEF FOR USDP/ISA/DSAA, DIA FOR DC-4A VIENNA FOR CSBM, CSCE, PAA "PERISHABLE INFORMATION -- DO NOT SERVICE" SIPDIS E.0. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KMDR AF GM KGHG SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: AFGHANISTAN, COP15, GENERAL MOTORS;BERLIN ¶1. Lead Stories ¶2. Climate Change ¶3. Afghanistan ¶4. GM Plans to Restructure Opel ¶1. Lead Stories ZDF-TV's and ARD-TV's primetime newscasts opened with stories on the death of former Economic Minister Otto Graf Lambsdorff. Many newspapers led with the start of the Copenhagen climate conference. Frankfurter Allgemeine led with a story on the September 4 airstrikes near Kunduz, and Berliner Zeitung led with the ongoing debate over income tax cuts. Editorials focused on the beginning of the Copenhagen climate conference. ¶2. Climate Change Many media lead with reports on todayQs beginning of the Copenhagen climate conference, expressing optimism that a new international agreement can be reached. Lead headlines include: QCopenhagen must be a turning pointQ (Sueddeutsche),QCollective confidence prior to the climate summitQ (Die Welt),Q192 governments can save the world,Q (Tagesspiegel). Frankfurter Rundschau highlighted on its front page: QHope for the climate summit in Copenhagen is rising. The reason: President Obama will be there during the critical phase.Q Many papers carry several pages of features and interviews. Several papers highlight yesterdayQs statements by Executive Secretary of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Yvo de Boer, who said that the summit's success has become more likely as more than 100 state and government leaders will be attending. Sueddeutsche profiles U.S. climate negotiator Jonathan Pershing as a man with Qdiplomatic skills,Q noting that Qthe scientist will need all of his ability to reach a settlement. In an editorial on its economic pages, Frankfurter Allgemeine opines: QIt was an odd idea right from the start that the American President would travel to the Copenhagen climate conference, and depart a week prior to the negotiations of more than 100 state and government leaders. Obama did not want to signal such disinterest and seeming lack of responsibility by one of the largest energy consumers in the world. He is now coming when all the other leaders are there to deal with the matter. This is a little ray of hope. ObamaQs presence increases the chance for a binding international agreement against further global warming, or at least for a reliable roadmap to get there Man-made climate change can only be diminished and limited by all people together. Individual activities by a few ambitious countries do not suffice. The climate matters to all of us. We all therefore bear responsibility for it. FT Deutschland editorializes: QObama has signalled that he personally takes climate protection seriously. In climate diplomacy, symbolic gestures have an intrinsic value. In an immediate response to the news that Obama comes to Copenhagen, China said for the first time what its goal for reducing energy consumption would be. Obama needs such commitments to call on his own country to make greater efforts. It will now be about money. The threshold and developing countries cannot be blamed for global warming, and will suffer most. The three billion euros the Europeans announced as a kickstart payment are the right signal. Against the background of the three-digit sum of long-term assistance, this is peanuts. Die Welt editorializes on its front-page: QMany people believe that, due to his Nobel Peace Prize, Obama has a duty to be a pioneer. It should make us wonder whether the Nobel Committee was indirectly calling on him to ignore the Congress. This indicates a dilemma that goes beyond that of Obama: that promises are always good. It seems to be of secondary importance whether the promises are BERLIN 00001553 002 OF 003 realistic. Mass tabloid Bild editorializes: QMelting poles and glaciers, floods and droughts, famines and shortage of water: the threats of global warming are real. The German government is therefore right to push for a global change of mind There is only one world and one climate, which is determined more by countries like the U.S., China and India than the smaller country of Germany. If the large environmental polluters do not finally come to their senses, our efforts will be in vain. Thanks to our environmental policy, Berlin can call on others in Copenhagen to do more. Only foreign competitors, not the environment, would benefit from calls on our national economy to make one-sided moves. Tagesspiegel opines: QCopenhagen is the last chance to negotiate a solution for the climate problem. If we do not succeed in stopping the increase of greenhouse gases by 2015, it will be impossible to reverse the trend after 2020. The climate system is slow, it cannot change course like a car. ItQs rather a tanker that needs several miles to change course. The industrialized countries must therefore begin to embark on the path of an economy free of carbon dioxide emissions. The developing countries must begin their turning maneuver; otherwise things will get too hot. A front-page editorial in Frankfurter Allgemeine remarks on the recent publication of e-mails from the East Anglia climate research centre: QApart from ethical and technical questions, biased tendencies, and questions of political independence of researchers, the scandalous emails do not contain anything that could undermine the theory of greenhouse gases and the fact of climate change Admitting oneQs own limits and shortage of knowledge is difficult The IPCC actually did not exaggerate immoderately its predictions, as its critics suggest. Even the most pessimistic assumptions about the speed of the changes were underestimated. To listen to people in such a situation who advise to ignore the problem would be foolish. Too much is at risk. ¶3. Afghanistan Several papers reported that QTurkey refuses to increase troops in AfghanistanQ (FT Deutschland). Sueddeutsche editorialized: QThe U.S. needs Turkey. How much that is so was revealed by President ObamaQs surprising visit to Ankara in April: it was a consciously chosen signal particularly in regard to AmericaQs relations with Islam. For the U.S., Turkey is invaluableQas a Muslim nation and faithful ally. But how faithful is this ally? . Suddenly, Turkey has its own interests and desires. This might be irritating to some in Washington, but it is not a reason for concern. First of all, Turkey needs the United States, and secondly, its new role in the region makes the country more interesting for Washington. Berliner Zeitung commented: QOnce again, we hear new details about the devastating airstrike in Afghanistan. Once again it becomes clear that the bombardment requested by a German commander was militarily inappropriate. Things in Kunduz would have been worse if U.S. pilots had accepted the German desire for six bombs. There could have been fewer victims if the Germans had complied with the U.S. desire to warn the people by low-level flights. The political affair is not yet over for zu Guttenberg. Based on the NATO report, which contains the new details now leaked to the public, he first said the strikes were militarily appropriate. Has zu Guttenberg read the classified report? If he has, we must wonder whether he understood what he saw. Why did he not inform the public for a month? Why does he now say that the report was militarily inappropriate and bases his judgment on a report that does not contain the details mentioned above? Zu GuttenbergQs crisis management is a catastrophe. Only the publication of the classified NATO report can improve the situation. BERLIN 00001553 003 OF 003 ¶4. GM Plans to Restructure Opel FT Deutschland editorialized: QEconomic Minister BruederleQs approach might seem stubborn, however, it is completely appropriate in the current state of the poker game. It would be good for the GM subsidiary if it were to get more freedom and can develop more models, as the new GM Europe head Reilly said. The concession to change the company into a stock corporation and to give the staff a share in it might help repair the lost confidence. However, we must not forget that what can be done will be decided by Brussels and Washington, not Ruesselsheim and Detroit. The EU Commission has made clear that state subsidies can only be negotiated when the restructuring plan is approved as economically soundQwhich is at the end of January at the earliest. The federal government must be grateful to Brussels to restrict the competition among European governments over jobs and subsidies. On the other side, GM cannot spend U.S. taxpayersQ money in Europe. Theoretically, the rescue operation can still fail because neither GM nor the Europeans are allowed to put money into Opel. As long as this dilemma is not resolved, GMQs concession is worth nothing. And Br|derle can continue to say no. MURPHY