This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 000351 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR INR/R/MR; IIP/RW; IIP/RNY; BBG/VOA; IIP/WEU; AF/PA; 
EUR/WE /P/SP; D/C (MCCOO); EUR/PA; INR/P; INR/EUC; PM; OSC ISA 
FOR ILN; NEA; WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC/WEUROPE; DOC FOR ITA/EUR/FR 
AND PASS USTR/PA; USINCEUR FOR PAO; NATO/PA; MOSCOW/PA; 
ROME/PA; USVIENNA FOR USDEL OSCE. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR FR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Ivory Coast - 
Secretary Rice's Speech on Transformational Diplomacy - 
 
 
SIPDIS 
Iran 
PARIS - Thursday, January 19, 2006 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Ivory Coast 
Secretary Rice's Speech on Transformational Diplomacy 
 
SIPDIS 
Iran 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
Violence in the Ivory Coast is today's top international 
story.   In U.S. news, Secretary Rice's speech at Georgetown 
receives praise in right-of-center Le Figaro and left-of- 
center Le Monde as well as Catholic La Croix note the Supreme 
Court's decision to strike down an effort launched by former 
attorney-general John Ashcroft to scuttle Oregon's assisted- 
suicide law. 
 
Left-of-center Liberation and Le Monde both report on Human 
Rights Watch's criticisms of the U.S. for supporting cruel and 
degrading treatment of prisoners and other violations that 
have tarnished its human rights leadership. Le Monde calls the 
HRW report an "indictment against Washington." Liberation 
notes HRW's charge that: "the void created by the U.S.'s 
retreat with regard to human rights could have been filled by 
Europe. but it has proved to be incapable of doing so." 
 
"The UN is Caught in a Trap in Cote d'Ivoire" leads Le Figaro 
this morning. For Le Monde: "The International Community is 
Looking to Sanction Laurent Gbagbo" and La Croix's headline: 
The Ivory Coast Defies the UN." Commentary tends to agree that 
the UN's credibility in Africa is on the line in this new 
clash with the Ivory Coast. (See Part C) 
 
Le Figaro's front page announces: "A Diplomatic Change of 
Course in the U.S." following Secretary Rice's Speech at 
Georgetown University on `transformational diplomacy.'(See 
Part C) 
 
"Europe Refuses to Negotiate With Iran" reports Le Figaro: 
"The EU 3 is out of patience and considers that its 
interlocutors in Teheran are insincere. Nothing today seems to 
be able to undermine the Europeans' determination to transfer 
the issue to the UNSC. and the United States, which strongly 
supports the European initiative, is ready to do without the 
blessing of the China and Russia." Alexander Adler in Le 
Figaro pens an op-ed outlining "The Scenario for the 
Inevitable Fall of Ahmadinejad." (See Part C) 
 
 
Prime Minister de Villepin's trip to Germany is widely 
reported today and Le Monde's editorial focuses on Angela 
Merkel's foreign policy stance. For its part Le Figaro calls 
Merkel's diplomacy "a widely popular revolution." Le Monde's 
editorial remarks: "Ms Merkel brought up the issue of 
Guantanamo when she met with George Bush during her first 
official visit to Washington, something no French leader has 
done. The days of the Paris-Berlin-Moscow axis that was 
created in 2003 following the conflict in Iraq appear to be 
over and the "Merkel tone" suggests a diplomatic attitude that 
France would do well to copy." 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
Ivory Coast 
 
"Caught Red-Handed" 
Francois Ernewein editorializes in Catholic La Croix (01/19): 
"This uprising in the Ivory Coast would like to be able to 
justify itself on the basis of what it sees as foreign 
interference in the country. In reality it is merely the 
umpteenth time that the head of state has tried to manipulate 
the people in order to stay in power in contempt of the 
commitments made during the Marcoussis Accord in 2003. 
[Gbagbo's] politics are founded on the repeated refusal to 
respect the terms of UN Resolution 1633 that calls for power 
sharing between Gbagbo and his supporters and the opposition 
in the northern part of the country. But today Gbagbo is up 
against the international community and facing a powerful 
retort. In Paris at the Defense Ministry and in New York at 
the UN the reactions to the situation in the Ivory Coast have 
been intense. Made all the more so by the fact that in the 
last few days the forces that are in place to ensure that the 
Marcoussis agreements are upheld have been targeted. The 
international community will not turn away and a tool exists 
[to pressure Gbagbo] sanctions." 
 
"In Favor of Sanctions for the Ivory Coast" 
Right-of-center Le Figaro's editorial calls for UN sanctions 
on the Ivory Coast. Pierre Rousselin writes (01/19): 
"Considering the legal void in which the Ivory Coast has 
placed itself, the UN's authority must be imposed especially 
as this authority is being exercised in consultation with the 
Ivory Coast and other African partners. Let us not forget that 
the objective is not to redistribute power but to finally plan 
for democratic elections and to disarm the belligerents. 
Beyond the Ivory Coast, it is the UN's credibility on the 
African continent that is at stake especially considering the 
difficulties it had in Rwanda, Congo, Eritrea and Sudan. If it 
is resolutely committed to doing so, the UN can help France 
get out of this sterile confrontation -- propagated by Ivorian 
extremists -- with its former colony." 
 
Secretary Rice's Speech on Transformational Diplomacy 
 
SIPDIS 
 
"Condi Rice Wants to Change the World Gently." 
Washington correspondent for right-of-center Le Figaro, 
Philippe Gelie, writes (01/19): "Condoleezza Rice has found 
more subtle ways than war to change the world. In a speech 
that marks a distinct shift from the doctrine of unilateral 
action and preventive strikes, the Secretary of State outlined 
yesterday the major tenets of her `transformational diplomacy' 
in front of a group of students at Georgetown University. This 
ambitious change in direction is taking place at a crucial 
turning point in the U.S.'s strategic planning. The National 
Security Council. will be making public next month the new 
"National Security Strategy" that will replace the doctrine 
previously drafted by Condoleezza Rice in 2002. After 
September 11, 2001 the priority was on preventive action to 
respond to the threat of terrorism. via the formation of ad 
hoc coalitions or unilateral action. The new direction, as set 
out by the head of the NSC Stephen Hadley, will put the accent 
on democratization and methods to help countries that are on 
the verge of collapse. Beyond preventing conflicts, 
Condoleezza Rice also intends to regain control of managing 
post-war situations. At the close of 2005 George Bush asked 
her to take charge of the Bureau of Reconstruction and 
Stabilization and Congress ordered that the Pentagon hand over 
100 million dollars to the State Department to this end. Condi 
Rice's move to the front lines on these issues confirms her 
dominant position in American politics. With a 63% approval 
rating in the polls she is the undisputed star of the second 
Bush Administration. This allows her to hold her own and mark 
her independence at the head of the State Department. She has 
succeeded in renewing the ties of the transatlantic 
relationship, in working with France and the UN on the 
Lebanese and Syrian situation, she was able to broker an 
agreement with Israel concerning the southern border of Gaza 
and she has been able to soften negotiations with North Korea 
and find a consensus with Iran. The Republicans, who are 
searching for the ideal candidate for 2008, regularly put 
forward her name in spite of her repeated refusals." 
 
Iran 
 
"The Scenario for the Inevitable Fall of Ahmadinejad." 
The op-ed by Alexander Aldler in right-of-center Le Figaro 
(01/19): "There is no mystery behind the extremely serious and 
tense situation in Teheran right now. The new president 
Ahmadinejad has deliberately done away with all of the 
safeguards that were put in place by his predecessors to avoid 
Iran's lapsing into a level of international isolation like it 
has known in the 1980s. But the Iranian leader's most recent 
gesticulations are not merely the product of blind fanaticism. 
there is a definite strategy behind his politics. to halt once 
and for all what [Ahmadinejad and his supporters] see as the 
continual and fatal drift of post-revolutionary Iran toward a 
de facto alliance with the U.S.. The real battle concerning 
Teheran today, however, is no longer with the west - it is 
determined by the strength of the historic ties that bind Iran 
to its most steadfast partners Russia, China, Syria and India. 
It is time for Washington to send the necessary signals to 
Moscow and Beijing. so that they do everything in their power 
to enable reason to triumph. To absurdly punish the Iranian 
people. through sanctions is not the right way. STAPLETON