VZCZCXYZ0018
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #1678/01 2091750
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 281750Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5376
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001678 
 
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: WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST; US SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL; AL QAEDA 
ENTERING WAR; HEZBOLLAH AND THE ARAB COUNTRIES; PUTIN-CHAVEZ; 
VENEZUELA'S ENTRY INTO MERCOSUR; US-URUGUAYAN FTA; IMF-ARGENTINA; 
07/28/06 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT 
 
Local papers lead with the US support for Israel; Al Qaeda entering 
the confrontation; ties between Hezbollah and the Arab countries; 
the Russian-Venezuelan relationship; the "dangerous" implications of 
Venezuela's incorporation into Mercosur; an alleged US-Uruguayan 
FTA; and the IMF review of Argentina's current economic status. 
 
¶2. OPINION PIECES AND KEY STORIES 
 
- "Bush's support for Israel, a domestic policy issue" 
 
Hugo Alconada Mon, Washington-based correspondent for 
daily-of-record "La Nacion," writes (07/28) "US President George W. 
Bush's support for the Israeli offensive has bothered EU and China's 
leaders, who seek to agree on an immediate ceasefire. However, 
according to analysts, Bush's support for Israel is due to multiple 
elements of US domestic policy and, to lesser degree, to his foreign 
policy objectives. 
 
"According to The New York Times and CBS News, during a legislative 
elections year, 47 per cent of Americans believe that the White 
House has made the right decisions in the conflict so far, vis-`-vis 
27%, who disapprove of them. 
 
"The percentage of support for President Bush is the highest he has 
had during recent months, well beyond the rate of support he 
receives on all other fronts. Americans believe he is a bad 
president and are pessimistic regarding the economic situation and 
the handling of the situation in Iraq. But they support President 
Bush when it comes to Israel. Why? 
 
"According to analysts Michael Bard and Daniel Pipe in a study for 
the Middle East Quarterly magazine, 'the tenor of the relationship 
between the US and Israel is not only very positive but also very 
deep.' Among other points, they mention the close ties in areas like 
foreign policy, strategic cooperation, economic ties, intellectual 
bonds, shared values and the religious aspect. 
 
"For instance, Israel supports up to 95% of US-promoted initiatives 
at the UN, well beyond allies like the UK. For their part, Americans 
have vetoed 32 resolutions against Israel since 1982. 
 
"...US support for Israel has triggered the hatred of Islamic 
fundamentalists, who accuse the US of being excessively partial and 
permissive with Israel, on which some top level academicians here 
agree." 
 
- "Hezbollah, the confusing factor" 
 
Daily-of-record "La Nacion" carries an op-ed page by writer Marcos 
Aguinis, who writes (07/28) "... Hezbollah is being supported by 
Iran and Syria due to three common elements - hatred of Israel, 
hatred of the US, and an ambiguous position on the creation of a 
Palestinian State in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank... 
 
"Never before have so many Arab and Muslim countries been detached 
like in this lamentable police cleansing operation that Israel is 
carrying out in an Arab country. There are only speeches, but not a 
firm action. They seem to be thanking them for the work that they 
dare not perform themselves. 
 
"Hezbollah poses a danger for Lebanon and the other Arab countries, 
which do not want to be dominated by Iran or merged in a 
fundamentalist totalitarian regime. However, Israel will not be able 
to destroy Hezbollah... It will only weaken it. Then, the Lebanese 
Government will likely be able to finish the work, with the support 
of foreign troops, or perhaps NATO, in order to seize the armament 
piled up in tunnels or civilian areas so that Lebanon may be rebuilt 
and be again one of the most beautiful, peaceful, cultured and 
progressive countries in the Middle East." 
 
- "Israel will recruit three divisions with more than 30,000 
reservist troops" 
 
Marcelo Cantelmi, international editor of leading "Clarin," writes 
(07/28) "The only sure thing yesterday in Israel was that war seems 
doomed to deepen and that Islamic extremists used this conflict as 
an excuse to get united. 
 
"... It is important to streamline what may be contradictory. 
Israel... officially considered that, based on the fact that the 
Rome conference did not come to any conclusions on the crisis, it 
authorized Israel to continue war. 
 
 
 
"It is in this light that we should understand the decision to 
increase its questioned bombings of Lebanon and its calling of more 
than 30,000 reservist troops..." 
 
- "The US accuses Chavez of dealing with 'narco-terrorists'" 
 
Ana Baron, Washington-based correspondent for leading "Clarin," 
writes (07/28) "Just like in the worst days of the Cold War, when 
Russia and the US turned Latin America into one of their 
battlefields, Venezuela has now become one of the scenarios of a 
tense bilateral relationship. 
 
"Yesterday, while Dan Burton, in US House of Representatives, was 
accusing Hugo Chavez of having contacts with FARC 'narco-terrorists' 
and having allowed drug-trafficking to hugely increase during his 
term of office, Russian leader Vladimir Putin received Chavez in 
Moscow and announced the sale of 24 airplanes and 54 helicopters to 
Caracas in spite of Washington's explicit request not to do it. US 
manufacturers are banned from selling armament to Venezuela. 
 
"Furthermore, while the US Department of State is doing everything 
it can to prevent Venezuela from obtaining a chair at the UN 
Security Council and is supporting Guatemala's candidacy, Putin has 
said that he will support Venezuela. This is one more piece of 
evidence of the influence Chavez's petrodollars are having on an 
international level. The armament deal signed between Venezuela and 
Russia is for a total amount of three billion dollars." 
 
- "The Mercosur of Chavez" 
 
Business-financial "Ambito Financiero" carries an opinion piece by 
contributor Daniel Roque Vitolo, who comments (07/28) "As a renowned 
political analyst likes to say 'even though Hugo Chavez is not a 
serious leader, the political phenomenon he created should be taken 
absolutely seriously.' No other definition seems more adequate for 
what has happened with Venezuela's incorporation into Mercosur... 
 
"... Chavez's empathic ties with the Arab world, his fondness for 
North Korea's cause, and his visit to Iran should alert Mercosur. 
With its new 'pro-Chavez' profile, Mercosur could lose the only sure 
achievement it has had since its origin - the political achievement. 
The dangerous profile it is acquiring will unleash uncertainty and 
anguish among its people, which could be dragged to unthinkable 
conflicts. And this is obviously something absolutely serious." 
 
- "Washington offers an FTA to Uruguay" 
 
Conservative "La Prensa" reports (07/28) "According to official 
sources, the USG proposed an FTA to Uruguay, which is similar to the 
one it has recently signed with Peru. According to the Busqueda 
weekly, the proposal was made during a digital videoconference held 
on Wednesday by negotiators from the two countries. 
 
"The Commercial Promotion Agreement format allows the entry of most 
Uruguayan exports to US markets with zero- or lowered tariffs. As a 
way to make up for prevailing asymmetries between the two countries, 
the deal negotiated by Peru also bans certain US exports from 
entering Peru for a considerable length of time. 
 
"According to Busqueda, Uruguayan negotiators have recently sent 
their US counterparts a copy of the FTA signed between Uruguay and 
Mexico to take it as a model for negotiation." 
 
- "The IMF asks Argentina to lower its expenditures" 
 
Hugo Alconada Mon, Washington-based correspondent for 
daily-of-record "La Nacion," comments (07/28) "The IMF will 
recommend the Argentine Government to implement orthodox measures 
aimed at taming inflation and to abandon price control accords in 
order to put the economic recovery recently achieved on a safe 
track. 
 
"According to unidentified sources, the IMF Board will also 
reiterate other demands to President Nestor Kirchner in order to 
help him face energy bottle-necks, attract foreign investment and 
update public rates. 
 
"The IMF recommendations will be included in the analysis the IMF 
makes about the Argentine economy once a year, as well as about all 
its other member countries, as set forth by Section 4 of its 
by-laws. 
 
"Nevertheless, the review of the 'Argentine case' will be special 
because it will happen now that the country is no longer an IMF 
debtor. For its part, the (Argentine) Government has not decided yet 
 
 
 
whether the IMF will be able to release a complete report of 
'Section Four.' 
 
"The IMF and the Argentine Government still have some points of 
disagreement on many central issues - the most important one is 
focused on the reasons for inflation, and what the most efficient 
methods to fight it would be." 
 
To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our 
classified website at: 
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires 
 
MATERA