VZCZCXYZ0010
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #0041/01 0101958
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 101958Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6928
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000041 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INR/R/MR, I/GWHA, WHA, WHA/PDA, WHA/BSC, 
WHA/EPSC 
CDR USSOCOM FOR J-2 IAD/LAMA 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO OPRC KMDR PREL MEDIA REACTION
SUBJECT: USG REACTION TO CHAVEZ'S NATIONALIZATIONS; DEATH OF SADDAM 
HUSSEIN; RUSSIA-BELARUS; ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES; 01/10/07; BUENOS 
AIRES 
 
¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT 
 
All local papers report on USG officials' response to Venezuelan 
President Chavez's announced planned re-nationalization of 
telecommunications and utility companies, like US Press Secretary 
Tony Snow's statement that "nationalization has a long and 
inglorious history of failure around the world." Gordon Johndroe, 
one of the spokespersons of the White House National Security 
Council, said "We have already seen the outcome of nationalization 
in other parts of the world and, generally speaking, such actions do 
not yield the expected economic benefits." Sean McCormack, 
spokesperson of the US State Department, stressed that "History has 
already proven that Chavez's worn-out nationalization proposals 
usually do not benefit the population.'" 
 
Local papers also report Somali officials' statement that "many" 
people were killed in Somalia in a US air strike targeting Al Qaeda 
suspects among fleeing Islamist fighters. 
 
 
¶2. OPINION PIECES 
 
- "Rather than Socialism or Peronism, it is a risky radicalization" 
 
Daily-of-record "La Nacion's" contributor Mario del Carril opines 
(01/10) "What is Hugo Chavez's socialism? The question is not being 
made from a dogmatic point of view but from an operative one. 
 
"Today, many believe that Socialism means increasing the role of the 
State in the economy while reducing the importance of the market. 
 
"According to this view, China, ruled by the Communist Party, is 
leaving Socialism as the market is playing an increasing role in its 
economy. 
 
"Instead, Chavez, with his nationalization measures like those in 
the communications field (which affect US companies) seems to be 
heading in an opposite direction. 
 
"However, labeling Chavez as a Socialist with the purpose of 
insulting him, just as some US conservatives term their Democratic 
opponents 'liberal'..., sheds little light on the political reality 
represented by Chavez. 
 
"... Moises Naim, Venezuelan editor of the prestigious magazine 
'Foreign Policy' and former minister of the Perez administration, 
said of Chavez: 'It is not easy to label Chavez among Latin American 
leaders. He has no match because there are many different Chavezes. 
He is a man of strong impulses who is ruling amid a changing 
domestic and foreign framework, which has led him to a 
radicalization of his policies. Within such a changing scenario, we 
can note the price of oil and other raw materials that have sparked 
the South American boom of recent years, vital for the hemispheric 
alliances that Chavez wants to strike. 
 
"... Lastly, the editor of "Foreign Policy" said that Chavez is 
neither Castro nor the Peron of early times. Through the 
radicalization of his position, Chavez looks like General Leopoldo 
Galtieri, who went too far when invading Malvinas (Falklands). 
 
"Argentine democracy started to grow after that defeat, and Naim 
believes that Chavez's trend towards radicalization is also doomed 
to failure and that Venezuelan democracy could re-emerge after 
that." 
 
- "Models" 
 
Telma Luzzani, international columnist of leading "Clarin," writes 
(01/10) "Chavez's nationalization policy brings double concern for 
the US. On the one hand, because it affects the profits of major US 
corporations, such as Verizon, Exxon Mobil or Chevron, but also 
because Chavez's proposal clashes directly with the neat model 
Washington has established in the world, particularly after the 
downfall of the USSR. 
 
"According to the Washington Consensus, free market and democracy 
was the formula for prosperity. This model flourished during the 
'90s but with the new millennium, its deficiencies started to show. 
 
 
"Nationalization may now appear as a new paradigm that will perhaps 
have followers and can even be successful." 
 
- "Washington warns Chavez" 
 
Conservative "La Prensa" reports (01/10) "The USG warned yesterday 
 
 
that it wants to see US corporations 'fairly and promptly 
compensated' in the event they are affected by Venezuelan President 
Hugo Chavez's re-nationalization plans for telecommunications and 
utility companies. The USG also pointed out that this plan will most 
probably fail. 
 
"Gordon Johndroe, one of the spokespersons of the White House 
National Security Council, said 'We have already seen the outcome of 
nationalization in other parts of the world and, generally speaking, 
such kind of actions do not yield the expected economic benefits.' 
 
"Sean McCormack, US State Department spokesman, stressed that 
'Chavez's nationalization proposals are worn-out and generally 
proved in history not to benefit the population.'" 
 
- "Chavez, the uncomfortable partner" 
 
Julio Blanck, political editor of leading "Clarin," opines (01/10) 
"Backed by his oil more than ideology, Hugo Chavez got Mercosur to 
accept him as a partner less than a year ago. 
 
"Ever since, he sought to stamp his  style every time he attended a 
regional form. 
 
"The leaders that feel most uneasy with his attitude are Nestor 
Kirchner and Brazilian Lula. 
 
"And the possibility of moderating Chavez, the promise Washington 
always claims for, comes to pieces.." 
 
- "Saddam's trial, according to the rules of the imperial game" 
 
Daily-of-record "La Nacion" carries an op-ed story by historian 
Carlos Escude, who writes (01/10) "Saddam Hussein committed crimes 
against humanity along his political career. However, his trial and 
execution were made possible because he defied the imperial order. 
 
"The dictator was removed because until his military defeat in 2003 
he behaved just like the leader of a truly sovereign country. 
 
"... If all States were equally sovereign, Iraq's right to own WMD 
would not have been less than that of the US." 
 
- "Hussein and Kirchner" 
 
Daily-of-record "La Nacion" carries an op-ed story by Guy Sorman, 
who writes (01/10) "... The Argentine Government released a 
communiqu condemning Saddam's execution and invoking 'human rights' 
while condemning the crimes he committed 'based on the same human 
rights.' 
 
"For the Argentine Government, which has not been interested in Iraq 
so far (but whose anti-US feeling is profitable), Saddam's human 
rights are the same as those of his millions of victims. This weird 
ethical equivalence could have equated Stalin with the Gulag's 
victims, and Hitler with the Holocaust's victims. There are cases in 
which the hostility against the US is stupid." 
 
 
 
 
- "Energy, source of the Kremlin's political power" 
 
Luisa Corradini, columnist of daily-of-record "La Nacion," writes 
(01/10) "One week after having avoided the gas war, Russia and 
Belarus (so far, its best ally) have just started an arm-wrestling 
for oil whose 'collateral damages' are now being suffered by the 
EU. 
 
"... While Poland and Germany are not seriously threatened because 
they have oil reserves for several months, the Kremlin's attitude in 
this new conflict with one of its former satellite republics has 
shocked the EU. 
 
"The Russian president's decision not only confirmed his little 
concern about his European partners but reminded the EU the 
imperative need for diversification of its energy sources in order 
to reduce its dependence on Russia, from which it receives one-third 
of its gas and one fourth of its oil consumption. 
 
"... More than ever, the EU needs to establish a common energy 
policy and, above all, a common strategy regarding Moscow." 
 
¶3. EDITORIALS 
 
- "Serious environmental deterioration" 
 
 
 
An editorial in leading "Clarin" reads (01/10) "The information on 
environmental degradation released by international and private 
organizations raise concern about a not so distant future. 
 
"... One of the most disconcerting issues is the prospect of a 
gradual temperature increase which could unleash major climate 
problems in vast areas of the world by combining prolonged draught 
with increasing rains and floods of coastal territories... The USG 
has recently admitted, for instance, that polar bears are in danger 
of extinction due to the melting of Artic ice. 
 
"According to latest assessments, even when if all the countries 
started reducing their gas emissions, global warming would continue 
to increase due to the persistence of gases already in the 
atmosphere. 
 
"This reveals the importance of an international commitment to 
reducing carbon dioxide emissions and to sustainable forest 
management, thus contributing to offsetting the effects of 
emissions." 
 
To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our 
classified website at: 
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires 
 
WAYNE