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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 004415 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR FR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Situation in Occupied Territories 
Conflict Management - North Korea - Iran 
PARIS - Tuesday, June 27, 2006 
 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Situation in Occupied Territories 
Conflict Management - North Korea - Iran 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
Today's headlines and editorials are overwhelmingly devoted to 
President Chirac's interview last night on France 2 television, and 
the second lead story is this evening's France-Spain World Cup 
soccer match. Le Figaro's editorial, entitled "Chirac, Like Zidane," 
(France's star player about to retire) brings both stories together 
as Alexis Brezet writes: "Like Zidane, Chirac won it all, but it was 
a long time ago. Like Zidane, Chirac is getting ready to call it a 
day... Yet the President showed last evening that again, like 
Zidane, he does not want to change team players: the first reason 
for his surprise intervention was reasserting his support for PM 
Villepin..." Brezet concludes that for Chirac, his legacy will be 
"entirely different, depending on whether the Socialists or his 
party wins the next presidential election." 
 
International news is dominated by the kidnapping of the Israeli 
soldier by Hamas and Israel's threat of retaliation; Al-Qaeda's 
escalation in violence as demonstrated by the Internet pictures of 
the execution of the Russian hostages; and Washington's response to 
North Korea: Le Figaro reports that "Washington wants to deploy 
Patriots in Japan." In Les Echos, senior editorialist Jacques 
Hubert-Rodier pens an op-ed on conflict management. (See Part C) 
 
Embedded with NATO troops in Afghanistan by the Embassy Press Office 
in Paris, Le Figaro's Adrien Jaulmes writes a one-page report on 
"The Elusive Taliban of Kandahar." "Operation 'Assault Mountain' is 
supposed to inflict a decisive blow to the Taliban in Southern 
Afghanistan. But despite the strikes and some victories, the 
students in religion have taken a foothold on the doorstep of 
Kandahar, their former capital... The coalition's offensive is 
supposed to 'clean up' the southern provinces before NATO take over 
command... The coalition's strategy varies little and depends for 
the most part on America's overwhelming firepower. Communiqus 
follow one another, with NGO's pointing to the number of civilian 
deaths..." Jaulmes quotes an Afghan policeman: "There is increasing 
resentment against the Americans..." and a teacher: "When they say 
they have killed Taliban, it is generally not true. The dead are 
tallied as Taliban, but the real Taliban are at large..." 
 
In Le Monde, former French Ambassador to Washington, Francois Bujon 
de l'Estang, President of Citigroup, France, pens an op-ed entitled 
"Paris, the Future Financial Capital of the World" in which he 
demonstrates that the NYSE-Euronext merger is a positive step for 
the French stock exchange, with no danger of seeing the 
Sarbanes-Oxley legislation imposed on European companies. 
 
La Croix devotes its lead and several stories to the teaching of 
Islam by women in Morocco, but also in other Muslim countries, as a 
way to counter fundamentalism. France's Muslim community, according 
to La Croix, sees such initiatives as positive steps. 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
Situation in Occupied Territories 
 
"Peace as Target" 
Bernard Guetta on government-run France Inter radio (06/27): "It is 
eminently clear that peace was scoring points. Hence the kidnapping, 
which is targeting neither the soldier nor the Israeli army. The 
target is the glimmer of peace... The difficult and tense 
negotiations within the different Palestinian factions were about to 
succeed... Never, since the Oslo accords, had peace had such a 
chance... But the Palestinian extremists could not accept the idea 
of a compromise... A kidnapping was a sure way of triggering the 
cycle of violence. Israeli troops are ready to enter territories 
recently evacuated with the risk of causing many casualties. Unless 
Abbas and the Hamas ministers are able to find the Israeli soldier 
before it is too late. This scenario, the optimistic one, would 
bring about a rapprochement among the Palestinian factions. All is 
not lost, but the chances for success are limited." 
 
"Israel Threatens to Use Force" 
Patrick Saint-Paul in right-of-center Le Figaro (06/27): "The Gaza 
Strip is a small territory which the Israelis know well. Hamas 
activists know they cannot hold out for long with an Israeli 
hostage. The pragmatists hope to avoid a bloody and costly military 
operation and to save their government by liberating the Israeli 
soldier. But no one knows whether Israel will allow this dangerous 
precedent... Israeli soldiers have traditionally been trained to 
launch firepower whenever a soldier is held hostage, regardless of 
the implications for the hostage." 
 
Conflict Management - North Korea - Iran 
 
"Predicting the Wars of the 21st Century" 
Jacques Hubert-Rodier in right-of-center Les Echos (06/27): "The 
crisis with North Korea and Iran is coming to a head. Even China 
claims to be worried by Pyongyang's nuclear threats. Arab nations 
are for their part concerned about Iran's desire for power... For 
the time being the escalation is only verbal, with Washington 
calling for a diplomatic approach... But military options have been 
circulating in the U.S., and now Washington wants to deploy Patriots 
in Japan... Mired in Iraq, today's America is not the America of 
2003... Iran and North Korea's objectives are not the same... These 
nuclear proliferation crises demonstrate to what extent it has been 
impossible to reap the 'dividends of peace...' America is navigating 
in 'un-chartered waters,' as new non-state players appear, such as 
al-Qaeda... Hostilities around the world are diminishing thanks to 
international peacekeeping operations. But the world remains a 
dangerous place nonetheless... Four years later, Afghanistan is not 
pacified... Nations need to be on the lookout and anticipate: while 
France's predictions about Iraq were accurate, France did not 
foresee Yugoslavia's breakup, while the U.S. had pretty much 
anticipated it. This speaks in favor of a closer international 
cooperation in matters of prediction and prevention. Post 9/11 has 
led to a closer cooperation in fighting terrorism between the U.S. 
and France, including at the worst of our relationship. But there is 
always a major unknown: how the actors themselves will react. Iraq 
is a case in point: the war could have been avoided. As in the case 
of Iraq, the crises with Iran and North Korea will depend on the 
attitude of the major powers, but also on the nations' leaders 
themselves and the internal situation. Neither Ahmadinejad nor Kim 
Jong-Il are predictable." STAPLETON