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Lucia A Keegan  08/29/2006 03:29:36 PM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

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UNCLAS        PARIS 05769

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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 005769 
 
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SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Lebanon, Islam and the West 
Katrina: One Year Later 
PARIS - Tuesday, August 29, 2006 
 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Lebanon, Islam and the West 
Katrina: One Year Later 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
Reactions to Prime Minister Villepin's televised (TF-1) return to 
the political scene yesterday evening received prominent front-page 
play with comments that ranged from a cynical "Villepin Discovers 
the High Cost of Living" (Liberation) to a more sympathetic 
"Villepin Gives Priority to Lower Income Families" (Le Figaro), 
"Villepin Supports Low-Income Workers" (La Tribune), and "Villepin 
Increases Efforts to Improve Purchasing Power" (Les Echos). His 
plans to boost modest salaries and help sustain consumer buying 
elicit analysis and much editorial commentary. 
 
The first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is today's cover and 
editorial story in La Croix, which headlines: "New Orleans's Come 
Back Too Slow." In her editorial Dominique Quinio emphasizes 
"America's fragility twice in the span of a few years" referring to 
9/11 and Katrina. A separate article proclaims "George Bush's Image 
Is Tainted by the Fiasco." Images of President Bush viewing 
Katrina's devastation from Air Force One were "a disastrous 
communications operation that showed a distant, unconcerned 
president watching the drama from on high." The "White House's 
battle to regain prestige" is "in vain," according to Le Parisien, 
which cites discouraging opinion poll results. In Liberation, the 
report on Katrina, prominently featured on the cover page, is 
entitled: "Bush Hopes to See the Wind Turn" while in his editorial 
Gerard Dupuy contends that "the American machine, despite its 
enormous capacity for digesting (events) is still having trouble 
absorbing the residues from the hurricane." (See Part C) FR2's 
journalist called New Orleans "a ghost town", with less than a third 
of the population back in the city. This morning, Radio RTL and FR2 
mentioned Bush's visit to the area, the 13th in one year, quoting 
the American president's promise "to continue federal aid." 
 
The situation in Lebanon is prominently analyzed in Le Figaro (See 
Part C) which also interviews FM Douste-Blazy: "While UNIFIL is not 
mandated to impose peace, it can defend itself if attacked... But 
disarming Hezbollah is a Lebanese matter... In this regard, the 
President has underscored the importance of a political solution... 
Syria must accept to play the game in helping to disarm Hezbollah... 
Syria must respect the arms embargo... Lebanon is at the heart of a 
radicalization which is undermining the region and the world. We 
cannot allow radical movements to pit one people against another... 
In Gaza we want to stop the escalation of violence, obtain the 
liberation of Corporal Shalit and get the negotiations between 
Israel and the Palestinians back on track... Although Tehran's 
latest answer is not satisfactory, it is also open to a dialogue. 
France is equally open to reestablishing a dialogue with Iran." 
 
La Croix's question of the day to Nicole Gnesotto, Director of the 
European Institute for Security Studies, asks "whether the Europeans 
scored in Lebanon." Gnesotto says: "It is certain that the EU has 
gained an important responsibility, not only with regard to the 
Middle East, but in reinforcing the UN... This signals a marked 
reinforcement of multilateral diplomacy... This is the first time 
the U.S. and Israel accept to see the UN play such an important role 
in the region... But important questions remain as to the reservoir 
of the West's capabilities to stabilize international crises. No 
American will be present in Lebanon: they are over-stretched in Iraq 
and Afghanistan..." 
 
A number of reports, commentaries and op-eds are devoted to Islam 
and the West. On its front page Le Figaro reports President Chirac's 
"warning to his Ambassadors" and his "fear of a divorce between the 
West and Islam" while La Croix headlines "Chirac Advertises His 
Concerns About the Middle East." Les Echos announces on its cover a 
two-page debate on "Terrorism and Counter Terrorism," adding that 
"while anti-terrorism measures appear to have been effective in the 
U.S. and Great Britain to dismantle plots, the West's defensive 
approach is less effective abroad, whether it is in Iraq or 
Lebanon." Senior political commentator Jacques-Hubert Rodier 
contends that "the Shia movement and Nasrallah in particular, may 
have gained momentum." (See Part C) Liberation carries an op-ed by 
Great Britain's Home Office Secretary John Reid entitled "Hand in 
Hand With the Muslims." 
Le Monde's Corine Lesnes reports a Pew Research Center poll that 
shows that French Muslims are the "most tolerant in Europe." "The 
French model of integration, which was criticized by the American 
press following the riots during the fall of 2005, has been 
rehabilitated by one of the most prestigious polling institutions in 
the US... The study shows that while British Muslims perceive a 
'natural conflict between practicing Islam and the modern world,' 
72% of the French Muslims polled do not hold this view... The study 
also demonstrates that 91% of French Muslims have a favorable 
opinion of Christians and 71% of Jews, compared with 32% of British 
Muslims, 28% of Spanish Muslims and 38% of Germans." 
 
Le Monde highlights that for the first time since the beginning of 
the conflict in Darfur in 2003, a large part of the north and 
central part of the country has become inaccessible for the 
humanitarian organizations due to insecurity. The article goes on to 
say that the "Anglo-American proposal to replace the AU [African 
Union] mission with UN troops has provoked anger in Khartoum. This 
ire was manifest on Sunday when George Bush's special envoy, Jendayi 
Frazer, was blocked at the airport by demonstrators until the police 
intervened." 
 
Sophie de Menthon, President of Ethic (an association of mid-size 
human-oriented companies), pens an op-ed in Le Figaro entitled: "Is 
Economic Patriotism Viable Within Globalization?" De Menthon equates 
economic patriotism to a "fairytale that no one believes in... but 
to denounce it would be tantamount to being unpatriotic." 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
Lebanon, Islam and the West 
 
"Chirac Concerned Over Middle East" 
Jean-Christophe Ploquin in Catholic La Croix (08/29): "In the 
serious context of the Lebanese war, the French President did not 
adopt a triumphant tone when addressing his Ambassadors... But the 
prevailing feeling at the Elysee is that France was able to keep two 
of its policies on course: a central role for the UN and a strong 
relationship with the U.S. ... France battled to convince the U.S. 
that deployment in Lebanon should be under the aegis of the UN, even 
if Washington had hoped for an ad hoc coalition, possibly led by 
NATO... In its longwinded search for a diplomatic solution, France 
was able to preserve its good relations with the U.S. So much so 
that a diplomat said yesterday, somewhat arrogantly, that 'when it 
comes to Lebanon, it is the U.S. which aligned with France, not the 
other way around.' ... During a presidential breakfast in Saint 
Petersburg, Chirac and Bush had agreed that the U.S. and France had 
to adopt a common stance (on Lebanon.) In the end, it is Lebanon 
which in a way has allowed France to make Washington forget about 
their divorce over Iraq." 
"The Shiite Movement's Renewal" 
Jacques Hubert Rodier in right-of-center Les Echos (08/29): "After 
Iraq, the war in Lebanon has in turn made its contribution to the 
renaissance of the Shiite movement... If on the ground, the war in 
Lebanon has not determined a clear winner, at the political level 
Hassan Nasrallah is proclaiming victory. And some tend to see in him 
the new spokesman of the Pan Arabic world... His 'victory' has 
traveled beyond Lebanon and galvanized support from Iraqi Shiites... 
Although, as in the days of Nasser, unity within the Muslim world, 
between Arabs and, in this instance, Iran, is more an illusion than 
a reality, there is a certain community of interests between nations 
and groups such as Hezbollah. Ahmedinajad has been using this in its 
tug of war with the West... The situation remains explosive: not 
only has Hezbollah not been disarmed, Iran not abandoned its nuclear 
ambitions, Gaza and the West Bank sunk deeper into chaos, but the 
U.S. is increasingly mired in Iraq. And Europe continues to have 
difficulties imposing itself as a mediator in the region. These are 
the weaknesses which Iran will be exploiting with the West to get 
out of its isolation and position itself as a regional power." 
 
"Terror Is Gaining" 
Francois Eswald in right-of-center Les Echos (08/29): "Europe's 
commitment in Lebanon, which marks the end of a certain Western 
divide in the great battle against terrorism, is setting a new 
order... Old Europe, the one which had defied the U.S. in its Iraqi 
adventure, has entered the scene on the operational level, where the 
point is not just to defend itself against terrorism, but to staunch 
terrorism at the source. This is a new extension of an already 
globalized war... Because, although the intervention in Lebanon has 
been placed within the framework of 'maintaining peace' what we 
really have here is a counter-terrorist operation..." 
 
Katrina: One Year Later 
 
"Aftermath" 
Gerard Dupuy in left-of-center Liberation (08/29): "Katrina was like 
a mirror in which the American people disliked seeing itself... 
because it showed the less prosperous side of America... And 
although the economy was able to rebound fairly quickly, in New 
Orleans open wounds remains... And although Washington has earmarked 
billions for New Orleans's reconstruction, where the funds are going 
is eliciting harsh controversy... The American machine, despite its 
enormous capacity for digesting (events) is still having trouble 
absorbing the residues from the hurricane... The levee is like the 
social divide that separates Americans." 
 
"Revelations" 
Dominique Quinio in Catholic La Croix (08/29): "Hurricane Katrina 
left such a strong imprint on us ...because, twice in the span of a 
few years Katrina, after 9/11, revealed America's fragility... One 
year later, the wounds are still open... and despite the courage of 
so many, the task remaining is huge... Experts do not want to say 
whether the violence of Katrina was directly linked to climate 
change. Yet the increased intensity of natural disasters urgently 
calls for global mobilization to protect Mother Earth. The United 
States, so sorely tried, has begun to understand this, although more 
clearly at the bottom of the social scale and less so at the 
summit." HOFMANN