MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-BUDGET, U.S.-QDR, U.S.-EU, U.S.-CHINA,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 BERLIN 000151 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 EFIN MCAP EU CH PARM PTER IR KGHG GR SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-BUDGET, U.S.-QDR, U.S.-EU, U.S.-CHINA, U.S.-RUSSIA, EU-U.S., IRAN, CLIMATE EU-GREECE;BERLIN ¶1. Lead Stories Summary ¶2. (U.S.) Draft Budget ¶3. (U.S.) Quadrennial Defense Review ¶4. (U.S.-EU) Summit Meeting ¶5. (U.S.-China) Relations ¶6. (U.S.-Russia) START Talks ¶7. (EU-U.S.) SWIFT ¶8. (Iran) Nuclear Program ¶9. (Environment) Climate Policies ¶10. (EU-Greece) Budget Trouble ¶1. Lead Stories Summary Print media led with a variety of issues this morning. While Sueddeutsche Zeitung and Frankfurter Rundschau reported that Germany would buy a CD with data of tax evaders, Frankfurter Allgemeine dealt with a reform of the job centers. Other issues in the media were a ruling by the Federal Court of Justice on water prices (Berliner Zeitung, Handelsblatt) and a remark by Health Minister RQsler that he would step down if he failed with his efforts to reform the healthcare system. Editorials focused on the CD with the tax evaders and on the financial troubles of communities and regional governments. ZDF-TV's early evening newscast heute and ARD-TV's early evening newscast Tagesschau opened with reports on warnings by cities and communities that they would face financial collapse if the government did not help out. ¶2. (U.S.) Draft Budget Reports on the President's draft budget are no longer prominent in Germany. There was only one paper that carried an editorial. Regional daily Mnchener Merkur (2/3) argued: "The carrier of hope has turned, for the time being, into a politically assailable debt president. With the biggest budget deficit since WW II around his neck and a budget plan in which savings and freezing efforts only have an alibi role to play thanks to numerous exceptions, Barack Obama is offering further ammunition to the opposition in the year of Congressional mid-term elections. With his financial forecasts, the President was totally wrong when entering office and his economic stimulus program also completely failed to have an effect on the labor market." Handelsblatt (2/3) noted in an editorial: "What will the Americans and the British do to achieve economic growth? It is likely that they will allow a higher inflation rate in order to reduce their debt burden. In the euro zone, however, there are many people who save money and it is the state that runs up debt. In the U.S., the state is also running up debt but the Americans, too, are fighting red numbers. That is why many more Americans are less interested than we are in getting a stable currency. The problem is that, in the future, it could be possible that the euro zone stagnates, while the economy in the United States will grow again. We will then have more unemployed and will admire the Americans. We will find out that they have a more flexible labor market, are more willing to take risks, and do everything better. At the same time, we will realize that our rigid structures prevent higher economic growth. But we can also say there is a certain probability that history will repeat itself. But at least Europe has the consolation of knowing it is more virtuous and has less but more stable economic growth." ¶3. (U.S.) Quadrennial Defense Review Only a few papers carried reports on the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review. Sueddeutsche (2/3) carried a report under the headline: "Pentagon Adapts to 'Small Wars"" and wrote: "More than ever before the United States is adapting its military strategy and BERLIN 00000151 002 OF 005 arms planning to the global fight against terror networks and to dangers emanating from unstable and failed states such as Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the U.S. success in the fight against the insurgents in Afghanistan or Iraq depends on 'America's ability to face the threats of the coming years' when presenting the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). The new QDR version...definitely breaks with the traditional U.S. dogma according to which the U.S. armed forces should be able to stand two large-scale conventional wars at the same time. Gates said: "This condition is 'outdated' and 'no longer reflects the real world.'" In an editorial under the headline: "The Pentagonal Parallel Power Center," Sueddeutsche Zeitung (2/3) judged: "The draft budget for the Pentagon and the QDR allow the conclusion that the Pentagon has established itself as a parallel power center which has left behind all reasonable limits. The Pentagon has quietly bid farewell to the strategy of waging two large-scale wars at the same time. Now it is focusing on a number of small conflicts which are nurtured everywhere in the world due to ethnic and religious rivalries. At the same time, the budget is to increase to 708 billion dollars. If we look at the spending graph, then the arrows have shown a steep ascent since 9/11. There is no doubt: The U.S. deficit problem has a military core. The United States considers itself to be at war. That is why the budget is not being questioned. It is unthinkable to reverse it and melt it down. This fixation on defense will create a bad situation for the allies. They are no longer available as a corrective for the U.S. mission policies. For America, this interplay of mission doctrine and budget deficit is dangerous because there is no escape from the arms logic. But, at the same time, America ignores the real enemy: the breathtaking deficit." ¶4. (U.S.-EU) Summit Meeting Many papers (2/3) carried reports on A/S Gordon's news conference in which he explained why President Obama would not attend the EU-U.S. summit. Sueddeutsche (2/3) carried a front-page report under the headline "Controversy over EU Responsibilities Irritates U.S." and wrote that "President Obama neither comes to Brussels or Madrid [for an official visit]. The United States is obviously irritated at the bickering of the leading personnel [in the EU]. This is the only interpretation of the reason not to come, which was presented in a smug way" by A/S Philip Gordon. The daily cited Gordon as having said: "We are willing to come as soon as the Europeans are ready." The paper wrote that the Lisbon Treaty has been adopted "but, instead of speaking with one voice, the EU now has four: a permanent president of the European Council, a rotating EU presidency, a foreign minister who is not even allowed to call herself foreign minister, and the president of the European Commission are all squabbling about powers and responsibilities. It is understandable that the Americans are no longer in the mood to accept inner-European arrangements." FT Deutschland (2/3) noted that "the U.S. President does not believe that the EU-U.S. summit is worth a visit. Brussels is shocked, particularly because the EU wanted to demonstrate after the Lisbon Treaty that it is more than a coffee shop.... The Lisbon reform was supposed to raise the EU's foreign policy profile. From the U.S. point of view, this seems to have failed." Under the headline: "Setback for Zapatero," Die Welt (2/3) editorialized: "There are good reason why President Obama wants to stay at home in the coming months...and now he even announced that he would not attend the EU-U.S. summit in Madrid. Spain's President Zapatero had planned to orchestrate this summit as the culmination of the Spanish EU presidency: How nice would it have been to demonstrate the support of his government for Obama's America and to bathe in its splendor! But the times in which the Zapatero BERLIN 00000151 003 OF 005 government was supported by a wave of sympathy are long since over. For Europe, however, one thing is true: It is a pity that Obama cancelled the invitation, but it will not touch the core of European-American relations. They need less show at summit meetings but more, concrete arrangements for the new shaping of international financial relations." Frankfurter Allgemeine (2/3) opined: "Spain's President Zapatero would certainly have liked to play the host for President Obama...but the U.S. President does not want to supply nice pictures since he will not take part in the EU-U.S. summit. Now the Europeans have their ideal president and he obviously has better things to do than flying across the Atlantic for a few hours in a coffee shop. But to get serious: Does Obama really have nothing to discuss with the European leadership what would be important to him and would make a flight worthwhile? Or does he not consider the EU to be relevant? One should not make a great fuss about the cancellation of the invitation but, nevertheless, it is an expression of dissatisfaction and indifference. Maybe the truth is beginning to dawn on Europeans: they are not the center of attention of this president either. They should wonder why this is so." ¶5. (U.S.-China) Relations Frankfurter Allgemeine (2/3) headlined: "Beijing warns Obama-measures will be taken if he meets the Dalai Lama." Deutschlandfunk radio reported that "the topic of Tibet continues to cause diplomatic disturbances between the U.S. and China. A spokesman of the Beijing Foreign Ministry expressed vehement opposition to meetings between representatives of the U.S. government and the Dalai Lama, adding that Washington must recognize the sensitivity of the topic of Tibet." Under the headline "Frosty relations," Frankfurter Rundschau (2/3) editorialized: "Prior to the 2008 presidential elections, Beijing secretly hoped that the winner would be McCain or Clinton, but not Obama. The charismatic itinerant preacher made China's leadership feel uncomfortable. Rightly so. In his first year, the U.S. President clashed with the Chinese in almost every possible field of conflict: currency manipulation, climate protection, internet censorship, U.S. weapons sales and Obama's planned meeting with the Dalai Lama. Relations have not been so frosty for years. The confrontation is unwanted and still inevitable. The conflicts of interests between the U.S. and China are increasingly difficult to cover up in the times of a global crisis.... As little as Obama can allow himself to appear weak on China at home, China cannot afford to let him play freely on the global stage because China wants to be a superpower." ¶6. (U.S.-Russia) START Talks According to an editorial in Sueddeutsche Zeitung (2/3),"in his Prague speech, President Obama proclaimed his vision of a world without nuclear weapons. Two hundred prominent advocates of this idea of 'Global Zero' have now gathered in Paris.... This alliance from Paris is creating global attention for the second stage of the disarmament campaign. The supporters of a zero solution are now concretely saying how not only the number but also the military significance of nuclear weapons can be reduced. These would be important stages on the path to their abolition. By doing so, they keep up the pressure on Washington and Moscow. In view of the increasingly difficult domestic situation, President Obama can really use such support.... None of the participants in Paris harbors the illusion that the U.S., Russia or any other nuclear state would be able to completely do without nuclear weapons in the near future. The date, 2030, as the final date for their abolition is a psychological date. The goal must be within reach to motivate others. It would be an important success to break the trend of BERLIN 00000151 004 OF 005 putting nuclear weapons again in the center of military doctrines. The key question is not whether the U.S. and Russia will be satisfied with 1,000, 750 or 500 warheads It is much more important whether a global, primarily regional, stability can be achieved that is not based on the balance of terror. Those who point the way to such a policy must accept strain, but the result would deserve a Nobel Peace Prize much more than any political proclamation." ¶7. (EU-U.S.) SWIFT Under the headline "Strasbourg, say no to SWIFT!," FT Deutschland's (2/3) Reinhard HQnighaus wrote a lengthy commentary on the U.S.-EU agreement to exchange bank data for counterterrorism purposes, opining that the SWIFT agreement "violates data protection and barely increases security. EU parliamentarians must reject it." The author wrote: "It was a modest request from the European parliament. The governments of the 27 EU countries were asked to wait a few days until the parliament could make the decision on February 10 or 11 on the agreement to hand over financial data to U.S. investigators. However, the foreign ministers brusquely ignored the request of the parliamentary president. Without any further debate, they decided last week to enforce the agreement on February 1. This was only the most recent affront in a long serious of humiliations which elected representatives had to cope with in the name of fighting terrorism. Ignoring the EU parliament, negotiators of EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot and the member states previously negotiated with the Americans that U.S. investigators are provisionally allowed to continue to scan financial transactions of EU citizens that are made through the Belgian provider SWIFT. Also the German government allowed this diminution of data and legal protection rights, although there were doubts about whether this would improve security. This and next week, the European parliament will have a unique chance to correct this nonsense. If the parliamentarians take their new rights seriously, given to them by the introduction of the Lisbon Treaty, they must reject the provisional SWIFT agreement. There are three good reasons for this. First, security authorities have not provided any plausible evidence that such widespread interference with data protection rights is reasonable to this end.... The EU commission claims that the SWIFT data led to the arrest the four members of the Sauerland cell who planned attacks on U.S. sites in Germany. German investigators have long since made clear that this is not true.... The EU parliament is not opposed to an intelligent surveillance of the financial sources of terrorism... However, the current text does not meet the minimum standards. Secondly, the parliament demanded that only an independent judge is allowed to decide which banking data can be given to U.S. investigators. According to paragraph 4 of the agreement, the key authority of a member state makes this decision. This would be the Federal Criminal Police Office in Germany, not an independent judge. In addition, the agreement does not meet the standard of legal protection required by the parliament. In case their data are mistreated, EU citizens have no right to file a suit in a U.S. court.... Finally, it is not clear which data are involved.... If the parliamentarians take their conditions seriously, they have no option but to reject the agreement. This is the third, tactical reason for a rejection: those who do not accept shortcomings concerning the data and legal protection rights for a provisional period of time, will not be able to insist on higher standards during negotiations with Americans on a permanent agreement, which begin soon. The pressure coming from European capitals to pass the agreement is great. The 736 representatives must withstand it. Concerning such an important topic, which touches on the basic rights of all EU citizens, the protection of civil rights must be the guiding rule, not reasons of state." ¶8. (Iran) Nuclear Program BERLIN 00000151 005 OF 005 Deutschlandfunk radio (2/3) reported: "Things are on the move in the nuclear dispute with Iran. President Ahmadinejad said on TV that his government is willing to allow the enrichment of uranium abroad - as demanded by the United Nations." Mass tabloid Bild headlined a front-page report "Trick or real offer? Iran wants to give in on the nuclear dispute." Tagesspiegel carried a short report under the headline "Softening its tone on the nuclear dispute?" Frankfurter Allgemeine also carried a report headlined "Iran plans further executions," noting "Despite international protests, nine other dissidents are supposed to be executed in Iran soon." ¶9. (Environment) Climate Policies Sueddeutsche Zeitung (2/3) carried an editorial under the headline: "The World in a Glasshouse," and judged: "If there has ever been evidence of rigidity in climate protection, then it has been presented now in the form of an omnibus volume of collective failure. Empty phrases, conditions, provisos - after the colossal failure of Copenhagen, the states are unable to present anything else. The main principle of climate protection is still valid: no one moves before the other side moves, and, in the end, no one moves.... What the various states have submitted [to the UN Climate Secretariat] is even less than their offers during the climate conference. The world is in a downward spiral and this leads into a greenhouse. A way out is not visible.... The international community of nations seems paralyzed as a result of the Copenhagen conference. But it is high time to think of Plan B, for instance, a two-year extension of the Kyoto Protocol, if President Obama needs more time for his climate bill. Or finding a coalition of the willing in which important industrialized countries organize climate protection among themselves, for instance, the controlled trade with emission rights for carbon dioxide. The world can do without an agreement that is as weak as the most recent state proposals. It would help no one." "Let Fresh Air into the Greenhouse," headlined Die Welt (2/3) and editorialized: "Since the Copenhagen summit, we learn almost on a daily basis new facts that cast doubt on the basis of the summit meeting: the report of the Global IPCC Climate Council. The objections to the IPCC's reports have now grown into a mountain and no one can ignore them any longer, neither Germany where the IPCC was beyond all doubts just a short time ago. The question now is whether the German government will take note of the new situation. But, with the exception of some grumbling from Environment Minister RQttgen, we have heard nothing. Germany is considered the model country of climate protection and it would have great weight if Chancellor Merkel suggested de-politicizing the IPCC. The next UN report should collect all available information and discuss it without a result that is known before." ¶10. (EU-Greece) Budget Trouble Under the headline "Euro crisis -your bankruptcy is my bankruptcy," Tagesspiegel (2/3) editorialized on its front-page: "Greece is the weakest country of the Euro zone and faces bankruptcy. Hedge fund managers are making big money by fueling the crisis, betting that Greece will default to repay its debt. Opponents of the euro in the Anglo-Saxon financial world are already hoping that the common currency will fail, although the banking crisis made the advantage of having the euro obvious." Handelsblatt headlined: "Greece's nervousness is rising - Athens' warnings against speculative attacks fall on deaf ears within the euro zone." MURPHY