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Lucia A Keegan  07/27/2006 09:44:01 AM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

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UNCLAS        PARIS 05067

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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 005067 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR INR/R/MR; IIP/RW; IIP/RNY; BBG/VOA; IIP/WEU; 
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ITA/EUR/FR AND PASS USTR/PA; USINCEUR FOR PAO; NATO/PA; MOSCOW/PA; 
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SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - 
Conflict in Lebanon - Pakistan: Proliferation - WTO 
PARIS - Wednesday, July 26, 2006 
 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Conflict in Lebanon 
Pakistan - Proliferation 
WTO 
 
(B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
Lebanon is again the top news story today as fighting enters its 
second week. The international conference in Rome, which gathers 
foreign ministers from some 15 countries, is widely commented. Its 
chances for bringing about a cease fire are limited, according to 
French print and electronic press, but progress could be significant 
in terms of humanitarian assistance and the establishment of an 
international peacekeeping force. Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki's 
first visit to Washington is a major U.S.-related story and the 
economic news continues to focus on the implications of the collapse 
of the Doha Trade Round. 
 
Communist l'Humanite's headline asks: "Will the Road to Peace go 
Through Rome?" And right-of-center Le Figaro notes: "differences 
remain numerous between the Americans and the Europeans as well as 
some Arab countries... Secretary Rice's intervention... will weigh 
heavily on the negotiations... But regardless of the outcome of the 
conference in Rome, there is little chance that Israel will be 
diverted from the goal that it has set for itself: to establish a 
security perimeter in southern Lebanon with or without an 
international peace keeping force."  According to popular 
right-of-center Le Parisien, the Rome conference is "A Small Hope 
for Peace." The newspaper cautions readers, however, that 
differences in opinion on the means for achieving peace are no small 
matter. Le Parisien calls the absence of "Hezbollah's sponsors," 
Iran and Syria, from the Rome conference a problem. 
 
Right-of-center Le Figaro notes that "the Foreign Ministers of the 
EU, U.S., France, Germany and Spain met to discuss an international 
peace keeping mission... Curiously these are the countries that make 
up NATO's Rapid Reaction Force... a force that was intended to be 
fully operational only in the fall." Another article says that "the 
French are very honored to be under consideration on the other side 
of the Atlantic for leading a peacekeeping mission in southern 
Lebanon... but this sign of trust would be easier to get excited 
about if it didn't in fact mean that none of the great military 
powers wants to take charge of operations against Hezbollah... One 
official in Paris expresses concern about 'looking like a back-up 
for the U.S. while working for the Israeli generals...' Of the four 
possibilities for an international peacekeeping mission: UN, NATO, 
EU or ad hoc, the French, realistically, have a preference for the 
latter." 
 
Catholic La Croix focuses on the cost of the war and the resources 
that will be needed to rebuild the "Ruined Landscape of Lebanon." 
The article says the conflict further compounds the troubles of a 
15-year civil war and the assassination of a Prime Minister. La 
Croix adds that: "By attacking infrastructures, the Israeli army has 
imposed a quasi-hermetic blockade on Lebanon." (See Part C) 
 
Popular right-of-center Le Parisien carries an interview with 
Hezbollah Member of Parliament Dr. Hussein Haj Hassan about the "war 
of martyrs" in which the Lebanese people "have nothing more to 
lose." Hassan condemns Israel's overreaction to the kidnapping of 
two of its soldiers, whom he describes as bargaining chips for the 
release of Hezbollah militants. Resistance is all that the Lebanese 
people can do, Hassan believes, because "we are condemned from the 
start." 
 
Pakistani plans to build a plutonium production reactor are reported 
on the front page of right-of-center Le Figaro. According to the 
daily "The specter of an arms race hovers over South Asia... This 
puts the U.S. in an embarrassing position. It cannot afford to put 
them same pressure on a strategic ally like Pakistan as it does on 
neighboring Iran. Teheran may in turn denounce the double standards 
of the American administration." A separate article in Le Figaro 
notes that India is concerned that its nuclear agreement with the 
U.S. may be called into question.  The editorial in Le Figaro 
stresses that the "issue of proliferation has been swept under the 
rug because of the conflict in Lebanon." (See Part C) 
 
Right-of-center Le Figaro reports that "Washington wants to 
reinforce its presence in Baghdad." The Iraqi Prime Minister is in 
the U.S. for the first time "with a list of requests and 
grievances." "What was implicit at the joint press conference at the 
White House yesterday was that while Iraq still needs an American 
military presence on the ground, it is beginning to take a certain 
amount of distance in terms of political questions." 
 
Left-of-center Liberation reports that "Chavez is stocking up on 
arms at Putin's place... After going to Belarus and before visiting 
Iran, the Venezuelan leader is in Russia for two days to buy some 
one billion dollars' worth of weapons from Vladimir Putin... Chavez 
has not ruled out the possibility of going to North Korea." 
 
Catholic La Croix reports that analysts are predicting that trade 
talks will not resume before 2009, "with a new administration in the 
U.S." 
 
The economic supplement in right-of-center, Le Figaro Economie notes 
that "French farmers are having a hard time not showing their glee 
at the failure of the WTO talks... but French small business are 
disappointed." 
 
In an interview in left-of-center Liberation, Celso Amorim, the 
Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister blames the failure of the WTO 
negotiations of the U.S.  "Since September 11, multilateralism has 
taken a blow, this can be seen on a diplomatic level today in 
Lebanon where the UN appears to be powerless." The editorial in 
left-of-center Le Monde echoes the thought that the failure of the 
Doha Round marks a calling into question of multilateralism, 
particularly concerning trade. (See Part C) 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
Conflict in Lebanon 
 
"Urgency" 
The editorial by Francois Ernewein in Catholic La Croix (07/26): 
"Following the departure of the Syrians after thirty years of 
pillaging, Lebanon was slowly beginning to rise up again with a 
promising growth rate, the expansion of the tourism industry, a 
return to prosperity that had Lebanon thinking that it was clear of 
danger... But today death, fear, exile make up the new landscape of 
the country... It is in this context that the critical conference in 
Rome opens today... The stakes are not just economic, they are also 
political. The notion of an eye for an eye in the Middle East as 
well as poverty and desolation are fodder for vengeance that can 
spiral out of control." 
 
The editorial in regional Le Telegramme by Hubert Coudurier says 
that (07/26): "A prominent role for France in a peace keeping 
mission in Lebanon would present a fantastic opportunity for France 
to get its foot back in the door with regard to the Middle East... 
France's relations with the U.S. and with Israel are long since 
normalized and now is the time for it to play a stabilization role, 
conditioned on France's military capabilities because of its 
involvement in Afghanistan alongside the U.S..." 
 
Pakistan - Proliferation 
 
"The Rise of the Nuclear Peril" 
Pierre Rousselin's editorial in right-of-center Le Figaro (07/26): 
"While war takes hold in the Middle East the threat of nuclear 
proliferation continues in Pakistan as in Iran... The roar of 
artillery in Lebanon has drowned out Iran's dogged determination to 
continue its nuclear program and another, just as worrisome 
development: Pakistan's decision to build a reactor capable of 
making 40 to 50 nuclear bombs each year... It is the way of war to 
concentrate energies on the problem at hand, in this case the crisis 
in Lebanon, even if it means letting the elements of a future 
escalation of violence elsewhere be put into place;... If Pakistan 
feels that it has free rein to multiply its nuclear capabilities by 
twenty, it is because the international non-proliferation system is 
collapsing. 
 
WTO 
 
"Agricultural Egoism" 
The unsigned editorial in left-of-center Le Monde (07/26): "The 
failure of the Doha Round will deprive developing countries of the 
progress that had been made over the course of the WTO meetings 
these past few years... Indeed, developed countries followed the 
example of the U.S. and France which were determined to limit the 
concessions made concerning agriculture at all costs. Worse yet, 
behind the failure of the negotiations is the calling into question 
of multilateral trade... What is even more regrettable is that it is 
those powers that traditionally are the greatest backers of 
multilateral trade: the U.S. and Europe, that are responsible for 
its demise." 
 
"Fiasco" 
The editorial in regional daily La Nouvelle Republique du Centre 
Ouest by Herve Cannet (07/26): "Protectionism is responsible for the 
failure of the Doha Round. To say that Washington is mainly 
responsible for this fiasco is not entirely untrue. The Bush 
Administration, like with the environment and the Kyoto Protocol, 
does not feel like it needs take into account international factors. 
Its only concern is domestically... From now on trade talks will 
take place on a bilateral basis, and only between friends." 
STAPLETON