VZCZCXYZ0016
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #0224/01 0370911
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 060911Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7167
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000224 
 
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: MEDIA REACTION; UPCOMING TRIP OF U/S NICHOLAS BURNS TO 
ARGENTINA AND BRAZIL; IISS CONCLUSIONS; ARGENTINE SUPREME COURT OF 
JUSTICE WILL TAKE THE US SUPREME COURT OF JUSTICE'S PUBLIC HEARINGS 
AS A MODEL; THE US AND VENEZUELA; CUBA; ARGENTINE PRESS FREEDOM; 
GLOBAL WARMING; 02/05/07; BUENOS AIRES 
 
¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT 
 
Major newspapers report on US Undersecretary for Political Affairs 
Nicholas Burns and US Assistant Secretary Thomas Shannon's upcoming 
trip to Buenos Aires. Other international leading stories include 
the report from London-based International Institute for Strategic 
Studies on the US leading role; the Argentine Supreme Court of 
Justice following the model of the US Supreme Court of Justice's; 
USG criticism of Venezuela's politics and nationalizations; the 
Cuban transition; Argentina's press freedom; and the danger posed by 
global warming. 
 
¶2. OPINION PIECES 
 
- "The US gets closer to Argentina" 
 
Hugo Alconada Mon, Washington-based correspondent for 
daily-of-record "La Nacion," writes (02/03) "According to an 
announcement from the US State Department, two of the most important 
leaders of US diplomacy will travel next week to Buenos Aires in a 
gesture of rapprochement with Argentina. Their trip will serve to 
explore 'opportunities to increase cooperation' between the two 
countries. 
 
"According to diplomatic sources based in this city, US 
Undersecretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns and US Assistant 
Secretary for Latin America Thomas Shannon will seek to make 
 
SIPDIS 
progress on an agenda with important objectives both in Buenos Aires 
and Brazil. 
 
"According to local diplomatic sources, 'the agenda is broad and 
still open and the trip will focus on  public diplomacy, i.e., 
interest in expressing goodwill towards Argentina and Brazil as well 
as showing clear support for Shannon's efforts to  smooth 
disagreement.' 
 
"The agenda will include a review of US investment in the country, 
the struggle against terrorism, the development of Haiti, the entry 
of Argentine products into the US, political developments in 
Venezuela and Bolivia and the nuclear plans of North Korea and 
Iran." 
 
- "Bush wants to reinforce US ties with Kirchner" 
 
Ana Baron, Washington-based correspondent for leading "Clarin," 
comments (02/03) "US President George W. Bush wants to build up a 
stronger relationship with Nestor Kirchner. On the eve of US 
Undersecretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns' trip to 
Argentina and Brazil next week, he praised the US's relationship 
with both countries. 
 
"Burns said 'We are going to Brazil and Argentina because we want to 
establish a stronger bilateral relationship with the two countries, 
and our ties with them are already in very good shape.' Burns will 
travel to Buenos Aires with US Assistant Secretary for Western 
Hemisphere Affairs, Thomas Shannon; Energy Counselor Greg Manuel; 
and a member of Condoleezza Rice's political team, William 
McIlhenny. 
 
"... Their visit will focus on the importance of Latin America for 
the US and recognizes the leading role of  Brazil and Argentina in 
the region. According to a US Department of State communiqu, 
'Brazil and Argentina are partners we value, with whom we share many 
common interests and democratic values.'" 
 
- "British analysts say the world stopped being unipolar" 
 
Gustavo Sierra, international columnist of leading "Clarin," writes 
(02/04) "The US is strong enough to establish an international 
agenda, but not to implement it on a global level. This is the main 
conclusion of analysts from London-based International Institute for 
Strategic Studies (IISS)... They even said that the world is no 
longer unipolar given the only superpower's inability to perform 
successfully on different fronts at the same time. 
 
"According to the report, 'Washington will have to face an uncertain 
future in Iraq, Iran's nuclear plans and China's increasing 
influence in global issues.' And 'there are other countries, whether 
rival States or organizations such as Hezbollah, which, though 
strong enough to rebuff the US agenda are still too weak to 
establish an attractive international alternative or set a local 
counterpart. 
 
"... All this could lead us to an anarchized planet with some 
 
 
 
 
countries playing a regional leadership or an increasing influence 
in a new world, in which superpowers are gone for now." 
 
- "The (Argentine) Supreme Court will incorporate public hearings" 
 
Daily-of-record "La Nacion" front-pages an opinion piece by its 
legal columnist Adrian Ventura, who writes (02/05) "The (Argentine) 
Supreme Court of Justice will introduce operational changes by 
copying a mechanism typical of its US counterpart - public hearings 
for cases of the greatest institutional significance. 
 
"The idea is that lawyers and experts can present their arguments in 
the most relevant cases in front of court judges while being aired 
on TV. According to sources from the Court, it will enable lawyers 
to be listened to and will allow the Court increase its social 
role. 
 
"... The US Supreme Court of Justice only deals with a few hundred 
cases per year because it is focused on the most important cases 
from a political and institutional point of view. And one of its 
most noteworthy features is that of public hearings." 
 
- "US complains about the Chavez administration" 
 
Hugo Alconada Mon, Washington-based correspondent for 
daily-of-record "La Nacion," comments (02/03) "In a new outburst of 
mutual charges and challenges in the US-Venezuelan bilateral 
relationship, the US called on  Venezuela to treat US companies 
'according to international standards' in the nationalization of 
their assets during the next three months. 
 
"The spokesperson of the US National Security Council, Gordon 
Johndroe, said that Caracas should treat those companies in a fair 
way and pay them the corresponding billionaire compensation... 
 
"... The Bush administration reiterated its criticism of Venezuela's 
political evolution, in which the Congress delegated its legislative 
powers to Chavez to rule by decree for the next 18 months, and 
regretted for "wasted economic opportunities". According to Craig 
Stevens, a spokesperson of the US Department of Energy, 
nationalizations imply a "concerning trend, which is far from market 
principles of openness and transparency.'" 
 
- "The prestige of failure" 
 
Jorge Rosales, international analyst of daily-of-record "La Nacion," 
writes (02/04) "... Latin America is witnessing Venezuela's 
dangerous shifting towards an authoritarian regime, which only 
leaves popular voting with a few traces of representative democracy. 
It is not by chance, then, that waves of middle and progressive 
sectors of the country are flooding the consulates of foreign 
countries to obtain the required documents that will enable them to 
leave the country. 
 
"The two nations Chavez has supported, Ecuador and Bolivia, also 
present signs of major weakness." 
 
"... Not only is Europe concerned about the future of Latin 
America... US legislators have also stopped looking at Iraq for a 
while in order to focus on the situation of their Latin American 
neighbors." 
 
- "Cuba - speculation on the transition following Fidel's (death)" 
 
Oscar Raul Cardoso, international analyst, writes (02/03) "... The 
absence of popular rebellion in Cuba against the revolution may help 
understand other ongoing processes in Latin America... 
 
"... Market ideology... seems to be the basis for views like a Cuban 
Apocalypse or a pro-Western paradise in Iraq. Ignacio Ramonet, 
editor of Le Monde Diplomatique, advised that those in Washington 
and Florida State who expect the downfall of the Castro regime 
'should stop looking at Cuba through an ideological prism and 
twisting facts to make them fit in a pre-conceived set of ideas.' 
 
"... Some other voices agree with Ramonet. Julia E. Sweig, author of 
several books on the Cuban experience and head of the Latin American 
Studies Division at the Council for International Relations, said in 
a recent essay ('Fidel's final victory,' Foreign affairs) that this 
downfall will simply not take effect and 'that transition (from the 
post-Castro era) has already successfully started,' with gradual 
changes and no deluge whatsoever." 
 
- "The US criticizes (President) Kirchner's treatment of the media" 
 
 
 
 
 
Leonardo Mindez, on special assignment in Washington DC for leading 
"Clarin," writes (02/05) "International criticism of the Argentine 
Government's treatment of the media is mounting. This time, the 
Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ)... stated that the 
Argentine government's tolerance to criticism is wearing out.' 
 
"In its annual report 'Attacks on the media,' which will be 
submitted today in Washington, the CPJ stated that during 2006, 'the 
Kirchner administration continued distributing official publicity 
amid supporting media and preventing opposing media from receiving 
it. 
 
"Argentine authorities have also been accused of 'editorial 
interference for having abruptly canceled two independent programs 
in State-controlled media.'" 
 
¶3. EDITORIALS 
 
- "The US and the environmental crisis" 
 
An editorial in leading "Clarin" reads (02/05) "For the first time 
over the last few  years, the US has officially acknowledged the 
impact of fossil fuel consumption and gas emissions on global 
warming... 
 
"US President Bush pointed it out in his latest State of the Union 
address... 
 
"The important thing is to emphasize that concern for the 
environment is critical for the evolution of major world 
economies... 
 
"This sparks greater expectations that the US will finally ratify 
the Kyoto Protocol and manage its economic and technological affairs 
in tune with a more consistent approach to environmental 
protection." 
 
To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our 
classified website at: 
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires 
 
WAYNE