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Lucia A Keegan  08/17/2006 10:10:37 AM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

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SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Middle East - Lebanon - Hezbollah - 
Iran 
PARIS - Wednesday, August 16, 2006 
 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Middle East - Lebanon - Hezbollah - Iran 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
Chinese and Korean irritation at Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi's 
visit to a Japanese war memorial - where war criminals among those 
honored - leads in both Le Figaro and Liberation today. Saturation 
coverage of issues affecting post-conflict Lebanon continues in the 
electronic media and with double page spreads in both Le Figaro and 
Liberation. The mandate and composition of the UN peacekeeping 
force, expected to be led by France, and the roles of Iran, Syria, 
and Hezbollah - especially during the period of Lebanese 
reconstruction - are the major stories. (See Part C) 
 
Diplomacy is much in the news and Foreign Ministers seem to be 
everywhere. French FM Douste-Blazy is in Lebanon today apparently to 
underscore Lebanon's responsibility for disarming Hezbollah. Foreign 
Minister is expected to speak about Hezbollah's victory during his 
visit to Algeria today.  Israeli FM Tzipi Livni will be meeting with 
UNSYG Annan in New York today. German FM Steinmeyer cancelled a 
planned visit to Damascus after hearing about Bashar al-Assad's 
provocative speech yesterday. 
 
Le Parisien titles its report "The Last Word Rests with the 
Diplomats." The article says peace is "fragile," with Iran 
threatening to retaliate against Israeli or U.S. attacks. FM 
Douste-Blazy is in Beirut to discuss the deployment of an 
international force, which Le Parisien says could operate under 
French command. 
 
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, a guest on FR2 television last 
evening, said that "France had worked hard for peace in Lebanon and 
is now satisfied with the new hope for peace in the region, as hope 
lies solely in diplomacy." He also mentioned that France could lead 
the international force, "but that the decision remained in the 
hands of the President." 
 
Le Figaro characterizes Bachar al-Assad's speech as "a discourse of 
war" in which he announces a "New Middle East" "defined by 
Hezbollah" to stand as "a rival of America's 'Greater Middle East.'" 
There are extensive quotes from the speech, including criticism of 
the Bush Administration, "which believes only in preventive war, not 
peace." France is also criticized, says the reporter, "for having 
initiated the UN resolution on Syria." But the journalist writes 
that "under these attacks, what can be perceived are Damascus's 
fears and concerns about regional boundaries. 
 
Liberation and Le Figaro, which notes that some 14, 000 British 
citizens convert to Islam every year, 60% of them women, report on 
accusations made in the British press that the British government is 
proceeding with 'profiling' methods when screening travelers at 
airports. Speaking about the foiled terrorist attempts during his 
televised interview, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said the 
attacks in London, "should be taken seriously" and added that the 
"terrorist threat in France remained high and permanent." He also 
mentioned that a meeting between the British, German and French 
Interior Ministers would take place on Wednesday to "discuss the 
terrorist threat in Europe and to harmonize European policies." 
 
As part of its series on "born again" cities around the world, Le 
Figaro looks at Kabul. Correspondent Adrien Jaulmes, for whom 
Embassy Paris helped facilitate interviews in Afghanistan, drafts an 
optimistic portrait of a "prosperous city." 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
"Frightening Hezbollah" 
Yves Threard in right-of-center Le Figaro (08/16): "The support of 
Hezbollah by returning Lebanese is indeed frightening, as is the 
tone of Nasrallah's victory speech in which he hailed the victory of 
the 'anti-Zionist resistance.' Jus as frightening are the reaction 
of Iran's officials and the nature of Al-Assad's speech... Although 
the weapons have been put down, hope has not returned: on the 
contrary... Western democracies carry their own responsibilities for 
having allowed the Iranian revolution to take place... and for 
having fraternized with Saddam Hussein's Iraq ... as well as having 
tolerated the rise of fundamentalism... The result stands before our 
eyes, personified by Hezbollah, an organization which looks like a 
fascist movement: few are the western leaders who acknowledge 
this... The true threat comes from Iran more than the birth of a 
'Shia crescent.' Lebanon paid the price of our silence. It is time 
we engaged and demanded the disarmament of the militia... Otherwise 
Iran will feel it has a free rein." 
 
"French Diplomacy to the Rescue" 
Hubert Coudurier in regional Le Telegramme (08/16): "Philippe 
Douste-Blazy is back in Beirut... where Condoleezza Rice is 
unwelcome. France is imposing itself in the Middle East peace 
process as it tries to adopt a balanced stance between the American 
and Israeli interests on one hand, and the interests of Lebanon and 
its two cumbersome tutors, Damascus and Tehran... This is why 
Douste-Blazy is cautious and is insisting on adding Muslim soldiers 
to the French and other western soldiers of the international 
force... The Foreign Minister's previous remarks about Iran playing 
a stabilizing role elicited a certain degree of irony among his 
detractors. Nevertheless, with President Chirac having decided to 
keep Syria out of the equation... France has no choice, if it wants 
to play its score, but to do it through a Paris-Tehran axis. This is 
forcing Douste-Blazy to soften his initial remarks about Iran's 
nuclear ambitions, which were deemed too pro-Atlantist." 
 
"The U.S. Worried About Iran's Strategic Advantage" 
Guillemette Faure in right-of-center Le Figaro (08/16): "The U.S. is 
worried about the strategic advantage which Iran has gained from the 
conflict... U.S. military experts are astounded at Hezbollah's 
resistance, which they compare to what they are facing in Iraq... 
While the White House is trying to portray the cessation of 
hostilities in a positive light for Israel, Henri Berkley, formerly 
of the State Department said it was not realistic on the part of the 
U.S. to expect a complete victory from Israel... Others say that 
America's concern is not only based on the direct threat which 
Hezbollah holds over Lebanon and Israel, but on the strategic 
advantage that Hezbollah provides for Iran. Meanwhile President Bush 
insisted that Lebanon and Iraq are the two fronts of the same war, 
the war against terrorism aided by Iran." 
 
"Lebanon and Gaza: Two Different Stories" 
Left-of-center Le Monde in its editorial (08/16): "The situation in 
Lebanon cannot be compared to the one in Gaza. What isn't working in 
Gaza is Israel's unilateral pullout. The Lebanese issue is 
different: Israel has no conflict with Lebanon, but with Lebanon's 
armed party, Hezbollah. Israel's withdrawal (from Lebanon) in 2000 
was negotiated... and Hezbollah has violated the terms of the UN 
resolution. The first case requires a resumption of talks with the 
Palestinians. The second requires the end of the war and disarming 
Hezbollah. The withdrawals are not at issue here." 
 
"The Peoples' Voice" 
Dominique Quinio in Catholic La Croix (08/16): "The public debate in 
Israel is telling: Nobody can ignore what the war will have cost, 
and everybody can see that, for a majority of Israelis, their army 
did not achieve its goals... The ceasefire's ramifications for 
Lebanese opinion are more difficult to determine. But one thing is 
certain: military options lead to an impasse... They do not 
eliminate the enemy; they reinforce him." HOFMANN