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Lucia A Keegan  09/06/2006 02:43:39 PM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

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SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Mexico - Aftermath of Elections 
Iran - Islam - Greater Middle East 
PARIS - Wednesday, September 06, 2006 
 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Mexico - Aftermath of Elections 
Iran - Islam - Greater Middle East 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
Domestic stories - the controversial merger between GDf (France's 
gas utility national company) and Suez, and the battles within the 
Socialist Party for the Presidential election nomination - lead 
today's news. Popular Le Parisien carries an interview of former 
Socialist PM Lionel Jospin, who, according to the interviewer, 
"entertains the suspense about his possible candidacy. But 
everything points to his leading the Socialists in the battle for 
the 2007 presidential elections." 
 
Afternoon paper Le Monde stands apart with the headline "Blockade: 
Lebanon Asks for UN Intervention." This morning's radio commentaries 
reporting on Kofi Annan's intervention said the "blockade could well 
be lifted in the next couple of days." Le Figaro in its inside story 
announces that "France Will Be Guarding the Lebanese Coasts" to help 
speed up the lifting of the blockade. Liberation reports that "Kofi 
Annan Has Announced the End of the Blockade" and that "a mediator 
will facilitate the exchange of prisoners between Israel and 
Hezbollah." TF1 and FR2 noted that Chirac has deployed a fleet to 
the Lebanese coasts to prevent Hezbollah from receiving weapons. FR2 
said that this is "a crucial mission because enforcing the arms 
embargo is one of Israel's conditions for lifting the blockade." 
 
All outlets report that the Turkish Parliament has ratified the 
sending of troops to Lebanon. FR2 noted that it is the "the second 
Muslim country to join UNIFIL." 
 
An analysis in Le Figaro claims that "with its deployment, (of the 
largest UNIFIL troop contingent) Prodi's Italy has imposed itself in 
Europe." 
 
London's concerns about its "multiculturalism" are a major story in 
Le Figaro. Laure Mandeville analyzes the aftershock of the foiled 
terrorist plans against airliners and the implication of native born 
British subjects involved in the plot, as well as "the discomfort 
felt by British Muslims with regard to London's policy of ethnic 
diversity." An op-ed also in Le Figaro is entitled "Islamism: A New 
Totalitarianism." In Liberation Semih Vaner, a researcher at Ceri 
pens an op-ed on the complicated Middle East, "where the deposing of 
Saddam Hussein has opened up an unprecedented era of interaction." 
(See Part C) 
 
Le Figaro, Liberation and FR2 quote President Bush's speech 
yesterday in which he called Iran's Ahmadinejad a 'tyrant.' FR2 
reported that "the pitch of the rhetoric was going up a notch 
between the U.S. and Iran." Daniel Vernet in Le Monde analyzes 
"Chirac's Diplomacy" and laments that vis-`-vis Iran the P5+1's 
"carrot is less and less appetizing and the stick is less and less 
credible" for Teheran. (See Part C) 
 
Trial lawyer Pierre-Olivier Sur's op-ed in Le Figaro on the "failed" 
French penal system warns against copying the American model, which 
he calls an "anti-model." "This is a model of death penalty... a 
model where a man can be convicted to over one hundred years of 
imprisonment... including business men, as in the Enron case. A 
model where rich and poor are treated differently because of plea 
bargaining... A model that is a source of shame from Guantanamo to 
the phantom prisons of Europe, and which has led to the 
non-ratification of the ICC treaty." 
 
The editorial in Le Figaro, devoted to the aftermath of the Mexican 
elections, is entitled "In Mexico, Democracy in Danger." (See Part 
C) 
 
Other international news includes the EU Parliament's request that 
Ankara recognize the Armenian genocide. Alexandrine Bouilhet writes 
in Le Figaro: "The amendment can still be rejected according to the 
more liberal Parliamentarians who are in favor of Turkey's EU 
membership. And while the Armenian issue is unanimously supported by 
France, in other European countries it is a cause for dissension." 
 
La Croix devotes its lead story to bio-fuels and the question of the 
day to the Chikungunya and the chances for its return in the island 
of La Reunion. Liberation reports on Minister Francois Baroin's trip 
to La Reunion where he is quoted as saying: "Its return is 
inevitable." The article concludes: "Hopes for an effective vaccine 
rely entirely on American researchers." 
 
Economic news is topped by the OECD's figures for economic growth. 
Le Figaro Economie headlines: "Growth for 2006: 2.7% for Europe; 5% 
for the World." A separate article indicates that France, "thanks to 
restructuring, has moved up from 47th to 35th in the World Bank's 
yearly classification of country's facilitating business 
enterprise." Singapore is ranked first, the U.S. third. 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
Mexico - Aftermath of Elections 
 
"Mexican Democracy In Danger" 
Pierre Rousselin in right-of-center Le Figaro (09/06): "With a very 
short margin, Calderon is going to inherit a nation more divided 
than ever with protests which may undermine the country's 
stability... Obrador speaks of a fraud which has yet to be proven... 
and threatens to create a parallel government... For the time being 
the outgoing government has avoided falling into the trap set by 
Obrador's provocations... The Mayor of the Mexican capital is hoping 
to awaken the old demons of political violence as part of his 
insurrectional strategy. Mexico, which aspires to be a modern 
nation, deserves better than this anti-democratic movement and this 
contempt for the right of law... Obrador's anachronistic activism is 
emblematic of the Latin American continent's populist trend. The 
Mexican crisis challenges the entire continent... Calderon's task, 
with only 38% of voter support, is immense." 
 
Iran- Islam - Greater Middle East 
 
"Chirac and Multilaterlism" 
Daniel Vernet in left-of-center Le Monde (09/06): "In the 
negotiations with Iran, the carrot being offered by the P5+1 is less 
and less appetizing for Tehran and the stick less and less credible. 
This is no doubt a great disappointment for Chirac, champion of 
multipolarity... While Jacques Chirac no longer openly criticizes 
George W. Bush's foreign policy, he implicitly targeted the U.S. 
President when he deplored a 'world order that tolerates 
injustice'... or when he rejected the idea of a two-fold enlargement 
of NATO to be discussed at the Riga Summit... But in the Middle 
East, neither French-sponsored multilateralism nor American 
unilateralism has been successful." 
 
"Islamism: A New Totalitarianism." 
Essayist Thierry Wolton in right-of-center Le Figaro (09/06): "There 
is a difference between dictatorships, which are imposed on a people 
and totalitarian Islamism which is an ideology shared by an entire 
nation... The aim for Islamism is to build a Utopia based on the 
infallibility of said ideology, in this case the Koran... Islam 
becomes state, family, ethics: a system adopted by today's 
terrorists to shed blood around the world." 
"An Intricate Middle East" 
Semih Vaner, a researcher at Ceri in left-of-center Liberation 
(09/06): "The deposing of Saddam Hussein has opened up an 
unprecedented era of intricate interaction in the Middle East... The 
tectonic movements in this region have never been greater. Policy 
here is made up not just by the politicians and the diplomats, but 
by tribes and ethnic groups... Even if the American administration 
were truly concerned about promoting democracy in what it calls the 
Greater Middle East, why then include Turkey, one of the most 
democratic states of the region, in the GME? This geo-strategic 
subdivision corresponds to America's own strategic interests in the 
region... But Turkey, despite the umbrella protection of NATO, is 
necessarily threatened by its neighbor's nuclear ambitions. Iran is 
indeed another major power with feet of clay... Tehran's messianic 
message does not mean the regime is not realistic. Its desire to arm 
itself is a response to its own desire for regional influence, but 
it is also a defensive necessity against the American threat, which 
rightly or not, is perceived as real. One cannot be treated as a 
'rogue state' and not react." STAPLETON