MEDIA REACTION: AVIATION SECURITY, IRAN, EU-TURKEY,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BERLIN 000028 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 KGHG IR PK RS NATO SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: AVIATION SECURITY, IRAN, EU-TURKEY, U.S.-CHINA, COPTIC CHRISTIANS;BERLIN ¶1. Lead Stories Summary ¶2. Aviation Security ¶3. Iranian regime ¶4. U.S.-Chinese Relations ¶5. Turkish EU Membership Bid ¶6. Killings of Christians in Egypt ¶1. Lead Stories Summary ZDF-TV's and ARD-TV's primetime newscasts opened with reports that the Laender have ordered too much vaccine against the H1N1 flu and that they are now in talks with pharmaceutical companies to reduce these orders. Print media led with a variety of stories ranging from a retrial of a police officer over the death of an asylum seeker, to Foreign Minister Westerwelle's trip to Turkey (Sueddeutsche),the most recent DeutschlandTrend opinion poll (Die Welt),to an interview with NRW's Minister President Ruettgers (FAZ). Editorials focused on the retrial over the death of an asylum seeker in Dessau and on the state of the coalition. ¶2. Aviation Security ARD-TV's Tagesschau led this morning with a story saying "U.S. President Obama ordered stricter security measures after the thwarted attack on a passenger plane. He believes in stricter checks at airports and new technology to find explosives. Obama also accepted the responsibility for the mistakes in the run-up to the attempted attack." The report showed the President saying: "This incident was not the fault of a single individual or organization, but rather a systemic failure across organizations and agencies... And when the system fails, it is my responsibility." Spiegel Online headlined "Obama takes responsibility for the failure of the system," and highlighted: "U.S. authorities made dramatic mistakes prior to the attempted attacks in Detroit. 'The system has failed,' said Obama after an official analysis of the mistakes. He announced tougher checks of passengers and made clear who is responsible: he himself." Sueddeutsche carried a report under the headline: "Late Warning Against The Attacker," and reported: "U.S. security agencies became suspicious of the alleged attacker Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab only during the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit and they planned to interrogate him after landing. This is the result of the investigative report on the circumstances of the prevented terrorist attack, which the White House published on Thursday. At the center of criticism is the National COUNTER TERRORISM Center (NCTC) that was created in 2004 to process the abundance of data that the 16 U.S. intelligence services create day after day. Despite existing indications, the NCTC did not warn against Abdulmutallab. However, for the time being, no one expects President Obama to fire any of the responsible officials after the failure." Under the headline: "Naked Nonsense," weekly Die Zeit dealt with the failed terrorist attack and argued: "The threat from al-Qaida and other terrorist groups is real and possibly deadly, but what is the conclusion from this insight? Is it compelling evidence that body scanners should be put up at all airports? The answer is 'no.' The failed terrorist attempt primarily demonstrates that the billions of dollars that the U.S. invested do not guarantee any protection. And it shows that the intelligence services again failed to correctly process the abundance of data they had collected. The use of body scanners would not have changed this fact. The 'naked scanners' would not have necessarily recognized the kind of explosives that Umar Faruk Abdulmutallab tried to detonate in Detroit. And it has thus far been a promise by scientists that the new version of scanners is able to do this. This debate over full-body scanners replaces serious thinking about the right approach to control passengers. It suggests that there is a solution that guarantees BERLIN 00000028 002 OF 003 security. But this is wrong. Only slowly people are beginning to realize that the probably safest airport in the world, Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, does without full-body scanners. Israeli security agencies pin their hopes on human, not technical, intelligence, on well-trained, well-paid security personnel that looks for suspects instead of making every old lady a potential suspect. But such 'profiling' costs money and cannot be so easily implemented by politicians as a new technical device. This hectic call for body scanners alone will not jeopardize our freedom. But much more worrying is how quickly people fall back into the automatism of calling for even more technical state-of-the-art devices following each new attack, and how quickly we tend to forget that absolute security does not exist." Regional daily Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung judged: "What is going to happen to terror suspects after their transfer? In Saudi Arabia, they land in obscure re-education camps. In Yemen, they were released after mock trials... and continue to operate their al-Qaida network. Is everything better than Guantanamo? Thus far, none of the prisoners has come to Germany because the government in Berlin is refusing to accept any of them. But those who call for the end of the lawlessness in Guant namo must also do something for it: with the power of the rule of law. Trials against two former suspects who were transferred from Guant namo, are currently taking place in Italy. Germany should follow suit." ¶3. Iranian regime Die Welt editorialized: "Nobody knows what is going on in the country of 75 million people, what the future will bring and whether the West can stop the regime from taking the last steps towards the nuclear bomb. There are hardly any Western journalists left in the country, and when they are there they cannot move freely. Given the experience with Iraq, it can be questioned whether the intelligence authorities have an accurate picture of the country. In short, we should be carful about jumping to conclusions about Iran... It is difficult to say what the West can do in this situation. Any decision can be the wrong one. However, the West must take action. It should impose sanctions--if necessary without the Russians and Chinese--and justify them with human rights violations in Iran. The Iranian eople need to be assured that they are not alone." ¶4. U.S.-Chinese Relations Frankfurter Allgemeine editorialized: "The American President has used his first year in office to reach out to all sides. However, you can't make a fool out of him without being punished. This is what China is currently facing. The message from Washington is reaching Beijing via Taiwan. The democratic island republic, which is right to complain about an increasing threat of Chinese missiles, will get Patriot missiles. Beijing's leadership will see this as an unfriendly act--at the least. Some of the hardliners will use tough language. The reasonable people in China should make their minds up about whether it really is in the interest of the country to threaten the other China, which is so resistant, with military violence. And it would also be good for China to reconsider whether it is still a good idea to act like a strong man in the 21st century... Chinese leaders should be assessed by their actions." ¶5. Turkish EU Membership Bid Sueddeutsche Zeitung opined: "The government in Ankara quickly realized the advantage it has with Westerwelle: the chief diplomat enjoys his role and does not even think about changing the German government's recent policy, which, ever since Joschka Fischer and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has been that Turkey can become a EU member. It is only a question of time--which can be until the cows BERLIN 00000028 003 OF 003 come home. In addition, Westerwelle does not care to oppose his coalition partner in Berlin, who is skeptical about Turkey... Concerning Ankara, Westerwelle is right. For the first time in decades and maybe in history, Turkey is pursuing a global foreign policy that aims to resolve conflicts. Dashing Turkey's hopes to become an EU member at this time would be very unwise. Europe can in fact benefit from good relations to Ankara. Stopping the EU talks, as demanded by some CDU and CSU politicians, would snub those in Turkey who see Europe as a guarantee for a further democratization of the country." Handelsblatt remarked: "FDP Chairman Westerwelle has made things clear in Ankara. While the CSU calls the coalition contract into question with its call to immediately stop the EU membership negotiations, Westerwelle said more bluntly than ever before that he stands by what the EU and Turkey have agreed. Given the Chancellor's silence, the clarification was bitterly necessary. For a long time, Europe has snubbed Turkey and undermined the EU membership process that has led to massive and important reforms in the country. Westerwelle was right to make clear that it remains important to Germany that Turkey gets closer to Europe, also under the CDU/CSU-FDP government." ¶6. Killings of Christians in Egypt Frankfurter Allgemeine editorialized: "The consensus between the Muslim majority and the Muslim minority is one of the main values of modern Egypt. The killing of six Copts and one Muslim shows that fanatics among Muslims call this consensus into question. Time and again, there have been tensions between the two religious groups. The recent killings are supposed to be an act of revenge. However, the fact that the killer is known to the police and enjoys the protection of local politicians speaks against this theory. The spiral of violence must be stooped." Regional daily Wiesbadener Kurier commented: "Following the bloody attack on a Coptic Church in Egypt, one thing must be kept in mind: It is not Islam, but Islamism that is threatening Christians. The supporters of this ideology live in religious states, in Tehran and Riyadh. In disintegrating states such as Somalia and Afghanistan, the radicals are also fed with money from robberies and drug trafficking. Much would be won if such sources of support could be closed because the ones who persecute Christians are enemies of all peace-loving people, including Muslims." DELAWIE