MEDIA REACTION: FX-2 JET FIGHTER BID

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000008 SIPDIS STATE INR/R/MR IIP/R/MR WHA/PD DEPT PASS USTR 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC OIIP BR XM XR KMDR SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: FX-2 JET FIGHTER BID Op-ed in liberal Folha de S. Paulo (1-7) by Eliane Catanhede notes: ".....a U.S. or French representative - I'm not disclosing who - used a provocation similar to one used by French Minister Herve Morin against the [Swedish] Gripen NG: 'Does Brazil prefer a Mercedes or a Beetle?' The answer seems obvious but is not. A rich and 'bellicose' country that invades Pakistan and Afghanistan with no timidity certainly [in an allusion to the U.S.] prefers the Mercedes. But in Brazil, good-natured and with a tight budget, it is an expensive and nonsensical luxury. Maybe it would be more adequate, as the FAB (Brazilian Air Force) is saying, to have a Beetle: a smaller plane, lighter, for half the price, with lower maintenance costs and an ability to perform well in a possible attack....the plane would also provide technology more directly, with ramifications for private companies and good opportunities for business .....the price factor is not an irrelevant one. The Lula Administration ends in one year but the debt will remain......for 30 years.....And who is going to pay? FAB, which concluded the last generation Beetle is good enough for a country like Brazil." White