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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 003234 
 
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. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR FR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Iraq U.S. Issues - NSA 
Taps Putin and the West 
PARIS - Monday, May 15, 2006 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Iraq 
U.S. Issues - NSA Taps 
Putin and the West 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
A potpourri of stories is featured on today's front pages, 
with Liberation devoting its lead to domestic politics and 
the collateral damage from the Clearstream scandal. The 
motion to censure the government introduced by the Left, 
which is to be voted tomorrow, received the support of the 
UDF, a center-right party of the Parliamentary majority, 
and its President Francois Bayrou. Liberation headlines: 
"The Right Blows Itself Up" and Le Parisien headlines: "The 
Right's Suicide." The weekend paper Le Journal du Dimanche 
devotes its lead to an exclusive interview with General 
Rondot who says he "will not answer the judges injunction 
to answer questions" about his role in the Clearstream 
affair. All media report that Interior Minister Sarkozy 
"has every intention of staying in the government." 
 
Le Figaro leads with "The Da Vinci Code," its world 
premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday and the 
religious controversy it has triggered, and carries a 
second lead story on the Foreign Ministry's plans to 
promote French culture around the world, spearheaded by a 
new agency called Cultures-France. This is the top story 
for La Croix which interviews FM Douste-Blazy: "One way to 
promote French culture is attract more foreign students: in 
the past six years the number of foreign students has grown 
by 60%. The countries of the Maghreb are another important 
resource we intend to concentrate on." 
 
Sunday's Le Journal du Dimanche interviews Foreign Minister 
Douste-Blazy on helping the Palestinians: "It is imperative 
to keep a humanitarian crisis from adding to the economic 
and social crises because it will cause chaos. To this end 
we feel that the funds must transit though an international 
institution to be handed to the Palestinian Authority and 
Mahmoud Abbas, whose efforts we support. The EU will give 
its green light tomorrow. and we hope that our partners, 
the Americans in particular, will also give their agreement 
on this fiduciary system. We need to go as fast as we can. 
At the same time we must continue to work on Hamas to bring 
it around to give up violence, recognize Israel and accept 
the Oslo accords. On Iran, we have yet to agree on 
deterrence measures. But the answer lies in a negotiated 
solution within a multilateral framework. All diplomatic 
avenues must be explored in order to keep the Middle East 
from being destabilized." 
 
In Le Figaro a full page report describes Kurdistan as "A 
Haven of Peace in the Iraqi Hell" while Liberation reports: 
"Bush May be Eavesdropping on its Citizens A Little Too 
Much." (See Part C) The article gives the results of the 
Newsweek poll showing that 53% of Americans think the NSA 
has gone too far, while 41% consider eavesdropping a 
necessary tool to fight terrorism. 
In Le Journal du Dimanche Gilles Delafon devotes his 
analysis to Putin, his energy policy and relationship with 
the West. (See Part C) Deputy Chief of Mission Karl Hofmann 
who visited Marseille on Friday says in an interview in 
regional La Provence: "We must take Putin's reactions 
seriously, for it means that we have offended him. We are 
indeed concerned about Russia's energy policy, a policy 
that also concerns Europe. This is why we must work 
together in matters of geo-strategy." 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
Iraq 
 
"A Haven of Peace in the Iraqi Hell" 
Thierry Oberle in right-of-center Le Figaro (05/15): "In 
Iraq's ocean of violence, the countryside around Kirkuk is 
a haven. inhabited by contradictory aspirations. While the 
Kurds voted for the Iraqi Constitution and try to bridge 
the gap between Shiites and Sunnis, they all have the same 
dream of an independent Kurdistan. But the gap born from 
decades of oppression separating Kurdistan from Iraq has 
now become an abyss. And while Kurdistan is far from a 
center of modernity, it is a protected area for thousands 
of Iraqis. And depending on who is talking, a showcase of 
the new Iraq or a mirage and an exception. But, if the 
process towards independence continues, it will not be a 
walk in the park." 
 
U.S. Issues - NSA Taps 
 
"A Little Too Much Eavesdropping" 
Laurent Mauriac in left-of-center Liberation (05/15): 
"President Bush tried on Saturday to defuse the controversy 
over stored phone listings saying that this was not a case 
of eavesdropping but rather of fighting against Al-Qaeda 
and that nothing illegal was involved. This new controversy 
comes at the worse possible moment for President Bush: 
Michael Hayden who has just been named to head the CIA, was 
head of the NSA when the eavesdropping program was 
implemented between 1999 and 2005." 
 
Putin and the West 
 
"Hitting Too Much on Putin." 
Gilles Delafon in right-of-center Le Journal du Dimanche 
(05/15): "In one more slight to the West, Putin welcomed 
the less than commendable Uzbek President to his summer 
residence over the weekend. With this gesture Putin wants 
to show the world he expects to stay in charge of what goes 
on in his own backyard. This is one more, clear message to 
the U.S. which has called Russia on its human rights and 
energy policy. Reducing Putin's rhetoric to an exercise in 
domestic policy would be a mistake because his main intent 
is to show that Russia has once again become a major power. 
And he is right. Since the fall of communism, this has 
never been so true, thanks mainly to oil and energy 
revenues. Putin's desire to make Russia a military and 
economic power on par with other major powers is 
legitimate. Many western observers agree that the West has 
everything to lose by being aggressive with Moscow, opening 
the door to Russia's rampant populism and bringing into the 
Kremlin, after Putin's departure in 2008, true xenophobes 
who will be even more difficult to manage." STAPLETON