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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 004693 
 
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR FR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Middle East - Operation Summer Rain 
- North Korea, Missile Tests - 
Afghanistan 
 
 
PARIS - Monday, July 10, 2006 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Middle East - Operation Summer Rain 
North Korea - Missile Tests 
Afghanistan 
 
(B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
The World Cup final victory of Italy over France dominates all of 
the headlines and front pages, even of the economic dailies. In 
international news the lead story is the worsening situation in 
Gaza. 
 
Right-of-center Le Figaro reports that the head of Hamas in the 
Palestinian government, Ismael Haniyeh's, "popularity has been 
reinforced by the Israeli offensive." The unsigned editorial in the 
Sunday/Monday edition of left-of-center Le Monde notes critically 
that: "Israeli leaders seem to believe that if they are able to 
break the Palestinian population, the latter will turn against 
Hamas... this is a dangerous political delusion first and foremost 
for Israel itself." A separate article in Le Monde says that Israeli 
public opinion is "disoriented" by the operation in Gaza. Catholic 
La Croix labels the situation "critical," noting however that Israel 
may be willing to release some Palestinian prisoners if doing so 
would calm tensions, not to trade for captured Israeli soldier Gilad 
Shalit. "We are not talking about an exchange of prisoners." (See 
Part C) 
 
According to Monday's right-of-center daily Le Figaro: "Washington 
is Seeking Consensus" on the North Korean missile tests issue. "The 
Bush Administration is walking on eggshells with regard to North 
Korea... the clearest sign of this came from Ambassador Christopher 
Hill... following meetings this weekend in Beijing and Seoul where 
he asserted that his mission is not to push for sanctions... but to 
ensure that all parties speak with one voice. (See Part C) 
 
Saturday's right-of-center Le Figaro devotes a page to violence in 
Baghdad, reporting on "confidential information" it allegedly 
obtained that shows that Iraqi and U.S. authorities routinely 
undercount car bombs and other acts of violence in the city.  "These 
attacks are most often planned and perpetrated by former members of 
Saddam Hussein's army.  But the Americans try to lay the blame for 
them on the hard kernel of Iraqi guerillas.  The U.S. prefers to say 
that the suicide attacks are committed by foreign jidhadists, their 
enemies in the Al-Qaida terrorist network." 
 
An editorial in regional Le Republicain Lorrain emphasizes that the 
deterioration of the situation in Iraq should not overshadow another 
"essential theater of operations: Afghanistan." (See Part C) 
 
Saturday's Le Figaro reports on five criminal investigations 
underway on American troops.  "Considering that they are supposed to 
be fighting for the Forces of Good, the troops of George W. Bush 
certainly have a lot of black sheep.  Five investigations are 
underway against American soldiers for crimes perpetrated in Iraq, 
threatening to lastingly tarnish an already damaged image of the 
army because of Abu Ghraib."  It also reports that General Chiarelli 
will soon announce the results of another, separate investigation 
into charges that 24 unarmed Iraqis, including children, were 
massacred by Marines in Haditha in November. 
 
In centrist business-oriented La Tribune, the G8 Summit in Saint 
Petersburg heralds the "return of a Great Russia." "Eight years 
after taking part in the G8 Summit as a 'sleeping partner,' Russia 
is now taking on the presidency and reclaiming its position on the 
international scene as a superpower... something of which the 
Americans have a dim view." 
 
In economic news, plans for a General Motors - Nissan - Renault 
alliance prompt right-of-center economic supplement Le Figaro 
Economie's front page to note that: "America is Skeptical." The 
inside article notes that "analysts, the media and public opinion 
are hostile to an alliance... believing that a three-way wedding 
between GM, Renault and Nissan would be a 'nightmare' in that it 
would contribute to the car manufacturers already cumbersome 
decision-making process." La Tribune devotes two pages to the 
alliance plans. 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
Middle East - Operation Summer Rain 
 
"Collective Punishment" 
The unsigned editorial in the Sunday/Monday edition of Le Monde 
(07/09-10): "Officially the Israeli Army's Operation Summer Rain has 
two objectives: to free the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad 
Shalit... and to end rocket launches from Gaza on neighboring 
Israeli towns... Among the forty Palestinian deaths in the last few 
days, two thirds were civilians and many were children... Various 
Israeli NGOs have asked the army to stop 'collectively punishing' 
the Palestinian people in the name of an anti-terrorist operation... 
Israel's indignation at the kidnapping of one of its soldiers would 
be justified if there were not thousands of Palestinians captured 
and imprisoned in Israel, some of whom have been held for years 
without trial... Israeli leaders seem to believe that is they are 
able to break the Palestinian population, the latter will turn 
against Hamas... this is a dangerous political delusion first and 
foremost for Israel itself." 
 
North Korea - Missile Tests 
 
"North Korea: The Chinese Card" 
Le Figaro's editorial by Pierre Rousselin on Saturday (07/08): 
"Chinese diplomacy has one absolute priority: to preserve regional - 
if not global - stability and to guarantee the conditions for a 
'peaceful emergence' of the planet's most populated country.  On the 
Korean peninsula, this means avoiding the collapse of Pyongyang's 
communist regime, which has the two-fold advantage of being robust 
and of maintaining the division between the North and the South.  If 
masses of Korean refugees were to be unleashed in China, a scenario 
of regime change would destabilize border regions and threaten the 
very existence of the communist power in Beijing.  A reunification, 
on the German model, would put American troops on the border of the 
People's Republic, which would then be ringed by two powerful 
American allies: Korea and Japan.  One can see why, in these 
conditions, the Chinese reaction to the 'provocation' of Pyongyang 
was very measured....Beijing is not unhappy to see Washington 
embarrassed at a moment when a certain hardening of the American 
position towards China is manifest. With regard to Teheran, China 
overcame its traditional neutrality and now supports the offer that 
the great powers have made to Iran. Will it do the same when it 
comes to Pyongyang? For now China sits back and sees that the U.S. 
can say what it wants, it can do nothing... The Korean missile 
crisis is not about to go away. In order to push Washington to talk 
to him, the little Stalin of Pyongyang chose to launch his missiles 
on the 4th of July... The stakes are going to get higher and higher. 
 China... has the means to act: without its oil deliveries and food, 
North Korea would not survive for long.  Beijing is waiting, 
however, for the United States to be compelled to play the Chinese 
card." 
 
"Old Demons" 
Louis Bigot editorializes in regional daily Le Republicain Lorrain 
(07/10): "The situation in Iraq and the sad press reports that we 
have been getting everyday the past few years, have overshadowed a 
second theater of military operations that is still very volatile 
despite over four years of Western presence in the region. During 
the past months, Afghanistan once again seems to be in the grips of 
its old demons... Because at the onset of the war they did not give 
themselves the means to control the country as a whole and to 
neutralize the neighboring rear bases of terrorist networks, the 
U.S. and NATO have left the door wide open for the return of the 
Taliban. At a time when NATO has to practically double its troops 
and officially take over for the U.S. in the country, it is 
legitimate to be worried that Afghanistan will once again be on the 
front stage of the war on terrorism, a war that has failed on its 
two main fronts."  STAPLETON