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Lucia A Keegan  09/18/2006 10:23:29 AM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

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SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Iran NATO - Ukraine Backs Off Islam 
and the West: The Pope's Remarks GMOs - Genetically Modified Rice 
PARIS - Friday, September 15, 2006 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Iran 
NATO - Ukraine Backs Off 
Islam and the West: The Pope's Remarks 
GMOs - Genetically Modified Rice 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
Liberation leads with the headline:  "GMOs Are No Laughing Matter." 
Inside, the main report is entitled "A Grain of Rice in the Cogs" 
and the editorial, entitled "Suspicions" raises its hat to Bayer 
CropScience for having given the alert, "despite the price it will 
have to pay..." and generally recognizes that "it is in the interest 
of multinationals to choose to be transparent." But says Liberation, 
"the reasons for the contamination remain a mystery..." (See Part C) 
 A separate report indicates that "there are no signs of any risk to 
humans." 
 
Also on the front page of Liberation one can read:  "Al-Qaida: 
France Targeted."  The inside report reiterates the message carried 
by all television networks that "France's intelligence services take 
these threats very seriously."  Le Figaro's story concentrates on 
"Algeria's Support to Al-Qaida."  Television reports this morning 
noted that France's contingent in Lebanon was being directly 
targeted, a story also developed in Le Figaro and the lead story in 
Le Monde.  La Croix interviews General Alain Pellegrini who heads 
Lebanon's UNIFIL and discusses the broader terms of UNIFIL's mission 
concluding:  "The new reinforcements are undeniably a success for 
us.  But everyone should know that UNIFIL is only one part of the 
solution to a problem which is in fact spreading to the entire 
Middle East." 
 
In Le Monde Nathalie Nougayrede analyzes Iran's latest offer, "which 
leaves the U.S. skeptical."  (See Part C) 
 
In Le Parisien Henri Vernet reports on FM Douste-Blazy's visit to 
the West Bank and his positive reading of the Hamas-Fatah agreement. 
 Vernet comments:  "According to Paris, the fact that Hamas is open 
to sharing power with Fatah is an implicit recognition of Israel. 
But the FM and President Chirac need to convince the Europeans of 
this.  The Americans, who are aligned with their Israeli allies, are 
hostile to a softening of their position." 
 
Several outlets report on the reactions in the Muslim world to Pope 
Benedict's remarks on Islam and his commentary on "the deadly 
illnesses of religion."  Le Figaro notes the angry reaction of 
Turkey's Director for Religious Affairs and comments:  "The Pope has 
always been opposed to Turkey's EU membership..."  All outlets 
report that Dalil Boubaker, who heads the French Council on Islam, 
has asked the Pope "to clarify his remarks."  (See Part C) 
 
Today's installment in Le Figaro in its post-9/11 series is an op-ed 
penned by Philippe Hayez, who was Deputy Director of the DGSE 
(France's CIA) between 2003 and 2006.  His column, devoted to 
France's integration of its intelligence sector, pays tribute to the 
implementation of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Protection 
Act:  "This reform is as important as the CIA'S creation in 1947. 
And although all of its impact has not yet been felt, the reform is 
far more than cosmetic:  it is the answer to Al-Qaida and its 
followers." 
 
The assassination of Russia's central banker Andrey Kozlov is widely 
reported.  Le Figaro comments on his anti-corruption and money 
laundering policy:  "Some of Russia's harshest measures to curb bank 
fraud have just registered the hardest blow ever." 
 
Le Monde devotes an article to the "harsh" negotiations between the 
EU and the U.S. on passenger data transfer, despite "all the emotion 
elicited by the fifth anniversary of 9/11..."  Robert Mocny's visit 
to Brussels is noted.  Philippe Ricard, recalling the controversy 
over CIA secret prisons and Guantanamo, comments:  "Cooperation with 
the U.S. in the judicial sector has become a sensitive issue in 
Europe..." 
La Croix devotes a special insert to "cultural diversity, France's 
choice to avoid the previous more stigmatizing term of 'cultural 
exception...'"  Jean-Christophe Ploquin comments: "Last year, France 
was quick to claim victory over the U.S., the great hegemonic rival. 
 But a year later, the results remain meager and the battle 
continues."   Inside, Culture Minister Donnedieu de Vabre pens an 
op-ed on the need to ratify the UNESCO convention on cultural 
diversity.  Another op-ed by French University Professor James Cohen 
debates the issue of multiculturalism in the U.S. versus France. 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
Iran 
 
"Iran's Offer" 
Nathalie Nougayrede in left-of-center Le Monde (09/15):  "The 
signals sent by Teheran are described as convoluted and 
contradictory.  The question is, to what extent do the various 
Iranian officials' statements reflect the final position that the 
regime will adopt...  The Europeans want to give Iran more time... 
The US, for its part, is increasing pressure to go forward with 
sanctions...  The American rhetoric has become tougher since 
President Bush assimilated the danger that Iran represents to al 
Qaida, and the differences between the American and European 
positions are manifest.  But according to French sources the 
disagreements between the P5+1 are being played down." 
 
NATO - Ukraine Backs Off 
 
"Kiev Says 'No' to NATO" 
Laure Mandeville in right-of-center Le Figaro (09/15):  "Yesterday 
in Brussels Ukraine's PM confirmed the 180 degree turn taken by his 
country over the summer when he announced that Kiev was postponing 
its membership to NATO for an indefinite period.  This is one more 
shift towards Kiev's 'Russian friend' in the chronic back and forth 
between East and West adopted by Ukraine since 1991...  Although, 
out of politeness, he affirmed the question was still open, the tone 
he used to make his announcement made his message quite clear.  On 
the EU he remarked that he wanted to pursue membership negotiations, 
despite the message from the EU that this was premature... 
Pro-Westerners in Kiev are concerned that Ukraine is dropping NATO, 
'a sure thing' for Europe, 'which is not...' and see the move as a 
step backwards for democracy...  What is at stake behind this 
turnaround is Kiev's independence from Moscow in the energy 
sector." 
 
GMOs - Genetically Modified Rice 
 
"Suspicions" 
Pierre Haski in left-of-center Liberation (09/15):  "There are both 
reassuring and worrying aspects to this story...  First, we need to 
praise Bayer CropScience for pulling the alarm on the contamination 
of its own product.  It is paying dearly for it in terms of its 
reputation, on the stock market and with regard to the farmers that 
will take the case to court...  Bayer has shown that multinationals 
have more to gain from transparency... than from being caught 
red-handed, with the disastrous consequences this would have on the 
company's image...  However the reasons for the contamination are as 
yet unknown and there is something very worrisome in this fact.  If 
Bayer had not noticed the contamination or had not alerted the 
authorities, this product would have gone on the market in spite of 
not being approved in the US and in Europe.  Without becoming 
excessively paranoid about GMOs... no one wants to swallow something 
that has not been certified by the scientific community and by the 
governments in question.  This will only add fuel to the fire of 
suspicions that French public opinion has about GMOs." 
 
Islam and the West: The Pope's Remarks 
 
"Muslims Shocked by Pope's Remarks" 
Herve Yannou in right-of-center Le Figaro (09/15):  "The Pope's 
message was above all a warning to the West that the Muslim religion 
is not, like Christianity, motivated by 'reason' inherited from 
Greek philosophy.  No one, not even with the five year anniversary 
of the September 11 attacks, could have anticipated any Pope drawing 
such a distinction between Christianity and Islam...  Apparently the 
Pope has decided to go back to the intransigent tendencies of 
Cardinal Ratzinger who defended the notion that here is only one 
true religion:  that of the Catholic Church." STAPLETON