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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #0469/01 0591215
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 281215Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3637
INFO RHMFIUU/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000469 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INR/R/MR, I/GWHA, WHA, WHA/PDA, WHA/BSC, 
WHA/EPSC 
CDR USSOCOM FOR J-2 IAD/LAMA 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO OPRC KMDR PREL MEDIA REACTION
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION IRAN-RUSSIA IRAQ US-BOLIVIA US- 
ARGENTINA US-EUROPE CUBA 02/27/06;BUENOS AIRES 
 
¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT 
 
Weekend stories cover Iran and Russia agreeing to establish 
a joint uranium enrichment venture; the danger of civil war 
in Iraq; Palestinian PM-designate Haniyeh's statement that 
Hamas would establish "peace in stages" if Israel were to 
withdraw to the borders it held before the 1967 Middle East 
war; Venezuela cutting flights by US carriers Delta Air 
Lines, Continental Airlines and American Airlines in the 
latest dispute between Washington and Caracas; the US policy 
on Bolivia; the US-Argentine bilateral relationship; the 
renewed US-EU ties; and the new attack of the Cuban 
government on Argentina. Left-of-center "Pagina 12" front- 
page "The main Ford business executive, accused of having 
kidnapped 25 Ford delegates after the 1976 military coup in 
Argentina, is a retired lieutenant colonel who used to work 
as head of security for the factory and was subsequently 
hired by the US Embassy where he worked until 2004." 
 
¶2. OPINION PIECES AND KEY STORIES 
 
- "Limits" 
 
Marcelo Cantelmi, international editor of leading "Clarn," 
writes (02/27) "If the deal announced yesterday is 
implemented, the US will have to find an alternative route 
to get Iran under control. The Russian decision has the 
Western support but the White House is not fond of it. We 
all know the spat between US VP Dick Cheney--who has asked 
for reports from his spies on Vladimir Putin, whom he does 
not trust--and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who 
wants to resume talks with Moscow. Cheney is telling Putin 
that he must agree to discipline or face frozen bilateral 
ties. However, the Russian president is acting as though his 
country were still the other superpower in the world. Before 
this, he validated Hamas, thereby ignoring the isolation 
demanded by the US after the Hamas' victory in the 
Palestinian territories. These are signs of a world in which 
real power has changed and limits cannot be ignored." 
 
- "Iraq - between tragedy and disaster, the civil war" 
 
Oscar Raul Cardoso, international analyst of leading 
"Clarin," writes (02/26) "No one could have predicted in its 
entire extent the new 'by-product' of the US-UK occupation 
of Iraq - the possibility of a new civil war between the 
religious majority of the country (Shiite Muslims) and the 
largest minority, the Sunnis. 
 
"Both factions, separated by their form of Islamic 
interpretation, have only one thing in common: the profound 
disgust toward the occupying forces, on which they project 
blame for all their evils... 
 
"... The best thing to be said is that this is a curious 
present from the 'Western democracy,' which has allowed for 
the enactment of a constitution that has not ensured a 
significant participation of the Sunni minority, and has 
also allowed for the election of a Shiite government which 
has unleashed retaliation against the Sunnis. 
 
"Washington and London's way to see the Iraqi problem has 
obviously worn out." 
 
- "'Washington lacks a clear policy on Bolivia'" 
 
Gerardo Lissardy, on special assignment in Washington for 
leading "Clarin," writes (02/26) "Academian Eduardo Gamarra 
invited Bolivian coca leader and official senator Leonilda 
Zurita to lecture at the Florida International University... 
but Zurita's trip was thwarted when the US cancelled her 
visa on grounds of terrorist suspicions, all of which 
unleashed the first diplomatic incident between La Paz and 
Washington. 
 
"After the incident, Gamarra told 'Clarin' that Bolivian 
President Evo Morales himself lacks a US visa, and he warned 
that Washington should change this in order to assess the 
direction of the US-Bolivian relationship. 
 
"Gamarra said 'There is no US policy on Bolivia, they are 
looking for one.'... There is a trend at the US State 
Department, another at the US Congress, another at the 
Treasury Department, another one at the Department of 
Defense, and there is no (overall) consistent reaction. 
 
"According to the analyst, the Bush administration decided 
 
to wait and see 'how the sea of contradictions evolves in 
Bolivia,' where Morales faces a hard choice - satisfying the 
social movements that brought him to power or address the 
international accusations placed on Bolivia since 1988 
regarding the struggle against drugs." 
 
- "De Vido is preparing two crucial trips to the US and 
Germany" 
 
Mariano Obarrio, political columnist of daily-of-record "La 
Nacion," comments (02/26) "The Federal Planning Minister, 
Julio De Vido, is the new strong man of the Argentine 
Government... With the President's support, De Vido is 
preparing two trips that are crucial for the Argentine 
Government and that will take place in the next couple of 
months - one to the US and the other to Germany. He will 
have an intense agenda of negotiations in which he will 
attempt to continue healing the US-Argentine bilateral 
relationship and the EU-Argentine ties. 
 
"... De Vido became a foreign minister in the shadows. He 
conveyed a message that the Argentine relationship with 
Caracas is focused on State business, not on an ideological 
and political alliance. 
 
"In the next two months, De Vido is reported to visit US 
Assistant Secretary of the Western Hemisphere Thomas 
Shannon. 
 
"The Argentine Government started to heal the US-Argentine 
bilateral relationship following the tension at the Mar del 
Plata SOA..., when De Vido lectured at the Council of the 
Americas in New York last December." 
 
- "The new European center" 
 
Claudio Uriarte, international analyst of left-of-center 
"Pagina 12," writes (02/26) "Europe is turning to the right. 
Is Europe turning to the right? In any event, 'nations 
change very slowly, but the people never change'... 
 
"... No, Europe is not exactly turning to the right, but to 
the center... Perhaps one could argue that it is turning to 
the right if one bears in mind its old stance, what Donald 
Rumsfeld would call 'the old left wing'... Now, there is a 
new convergence between US policy and all of Europe. For 
example, in the Iran case, just a few days ago, the French 
foreign Ministry launched a strong warning against the 
Iranian nuclear program. This was a very unusual attitude in 
a country that generally does its best to win prestige 
through diplomatic incidents with the 'giant'... 
 
"In Great Britain, David Cameron attempted to override Blair 
in his transatlantic solidarity by criticizing Blair for a 
weak stance regarding the ayatollah regime... 
 
"Of course, not only Europe should take pride for this new 
transatlantic convergence. Since Condoleezza Rice took over 
as US Secretary of State, the US foreign policy has also 
slowly returned to multilateralism, which was favored by the 
US State Department's traditional old guard. But we'll have 
to see what happens when the escalation with Iran goes from 
words to deeds, and the current UN and IAEA (International 
Atomic Energy Agency)'s round of conversations ends up in a 
predictable failure." 
 
¶3. EDITORIALS 
 
- "Also a religious war in Iraq" 
 
An editorial in leading "Clarin" reads (02/27) "The attack 
against one of the most important Shiite mosques in Iraq has 
worsened the religious factor of the Iraqi confrontation, 
which scares away the liberalizing and democratizing 
purposes with which the US justified its invasion of the 
country... 
 
"A religious war between Sunnis and Shiites is another ghost 
hovering over Iraq and it could trouble even further the 
search for a reconstruction of Iraq on a representative and 
democratic basis. On the other hand, the use of sacred 
religious sites as targets for attacks is another expression 
of the progressive degradation of current wars and 
conflicts." 
 
- "Cuba - new attack on freedom" 
 
Daily-of-record "La Nacion" editorializes (02/25) "The Cuban 
government has just given another sign of the thoughtless 
and even illogical way in which it chooses to handle its 
international relationships. This time, the target of its 
misbehavior was Argentine writer, historian and journalist 
Jose Ignacio Garcia Hamilton, who was denied the entry to 
Cuba in spite of the fact that the Cuban embassy in Buenos 
Aires granted him a Cuban visa. 
 
"... As we have said many times on these pages, the solution 
lies in the hands of the international democratic community, 
of which Argentina is part, and it implies wielding 
continued pressure on Castro so that he puts an end to the 
atrocities of his government and democratic transition can 
start on the island along with the return of individual 
liberties." 
 
To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our classified 
website at: 
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires 
 
The Media Reaction Report reflects articles and opinions by 
the cited news media and do not necessarily reflect U.S. 
Embassy policy or views.  The Public Affairs Sectin does 
not independently verify information.  The report is 
intended for internal U.S. Government use only. 
 
GUTIERREZ 
 
Graciela E. Vega 
Information Assistant 
Public Affairs Office 
US Embassy 
Tel. 54-115-777-4593 
Fax  54-115-777-4228 
vegage@state.gov