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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 000379 
 
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 - Iranian President in Syria - 
Ben Laden's Threats 
PARIS - Friday, January 20, 2006 
 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Iranian President in Syria 
Ben Laden's Threats 
 
(B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
Left-of-center Le Monde's front page deals with President 
Chirac's speech on the subject of nuclear deterrence. The 
daily claims that the speech was intended to reassure the 
French that nuclear deterrence remains an essential part of 
the French arsenal. The daily asks: "In a post-Cold War world 
where Russia is a diplomatic partner to France and NATO is 
looking to define its role is it really necessary to have a 
nuclear arsenal?" Right-of-center Le Figaro this morning also 
leads with President Chirac's speech: "France Adapting its 
Power of Deterrence to the Threat of Terrorism." For Le Figaro 
what is especially significant about the speech is that it 
marks the first time, since 9/11, that the French president 
has associated nuclear deterrence and terrorism. For 
Liberation "Chirac is Sticking His Chest Out." 
 
International news today includes the visit to Syria of 
Iranian president Ahmadinejad (See Part C) and French FM 
Douste-Blazy's visit to Russia. For left-of-center Le Monde 
the issues that the French FM and his Russian counterpart will 
discuss are such a priority for the two countries that the 
"more touchy subjects" such as Chechnya, "will have to wait." 
 
The Ivory Coast continues to get some play and media all 
report the "relative calming" of the situation noting the 
efforts of Olusegun Obasanjo, the Nigerian president and 
chairman of the African Union, who flew to the Ivory Coast on 
Wednesday to try to end the violence. Left-of-center Le 
Monde's editorial puts forward that the return to calm "shows 
that the threat of sanctions works." 
 
Right-of-center Le Figaro's front page also announces that: 
"Ben Laden Has Re-appeared and is Threatening the U.S." This 
elicits a number of commentaries from the regional press 
especially in light of President Chirac's speech on using 
nuclear deterrence as a weapon against the threat of 
terrorism. (See Part C) 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
Iranian President in Syria 
 
"The Syrian and Iranian Presidents Make Common Cause" 
Thierry Oberle in right-of-center Le Figaro (01/20): "For his 
first official bilateral meeting since being elected, the 
Iranian president's choice of meeting with Syrian president 
Bachar al Assad may seem odd: Iran is an Islamic republic run 
by clerics while Syria is a secular Arab state. But the degree 
of international pressure that has been exerted on these two 
countries makes them inevitable partners in their refusal to 
give in. Ahmadinejad's trip has been timed to prove that he is 
not as isolated on the international scene as some have said, 
but it is especially intended to prove to Muslim public 
opinion that Iran has the unwavering support of an Arab 
capital in its tug-of-war with the west." 
 
Ben Laden's Threats 
 
"Psychological Propaganda" 
In regional daily Les Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace 
editorialist Jean-Claude Kiefer writes (01/20): "Ben Laden's 
low cost propaganda is entirely based on psychology and the 
characteristically oriental method of lulling people into a 
false sense of security after a long period of silence. 
Unfortunately this is a frighteningly effective method that 
promotes, among other things, proselytizing. Throughout France 
and Europe recruiters for the Jihad are afoot. This serves to 
show, to the rest of the world, that the U.S. is in a 
stalemate with its public enemy number one. Like it or not, in 
the suburbs of Casablanca or the slums of Cairo, in the 
Palestinian refugee camps or the tribal zones of Pakistan Ben 
Laden is a hero. The west needs to face facts: al Qaeda and 
its followers could not survive without the help of 
established organizations that protect them. There is a good 
deal of double talk in the Middle East." 
 
"The Devil in the Box" 
In regional Le Progres, Francis Brochet (01/20): "The devil 
has once again sprung out of his box. But is it really him? In 
the end it does not truly matter who it is, the goal has been 
achieved: to revive the threat, keep up the terror. Ben Laden, 
or his epigones, clearly know how to use modern media. Leading 
us to believe that he is everywhere, can strike anywhere and 
at anytime. This is untrue but the threat is terribly 
effective. To use nuclear deterrence as a weapon against the 
specter of terrorism, as Jacques Chirac underscored yesterday, 
seems surreal. To bomb what? Iraq, Afghanistan Pakistan? That 
has already been done. and only highlights further the 
difficulty of fighting a nebulous entity such as al Qaeda. 
 
"Deterrence" 
Regional daily La Republique du Centre's editorialist Jacques 
Camus (01/20): "It is hard not to subscribe to President 
Chirac's theory on nuclear deterrence when Ben Laden has re- 
surfaced and `rogue' states are threatening to build the bomb. 
But the only real question that we should be asking ourselves 
today is if France has the means to live up to its ambitions? 
Obviously the answer is no and the solution is a common 
European defense which is far from being a reality today. It 
seems that some prefer to remain under the protection of the 
American shield even if it means swallowing their national 
pride." STAPLETON