VZCZCXYZ0002
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #1239/01 1771425
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 261425Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8507
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001239 
 
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
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION; US EXPECTATIONS OVER ARGENTINE PRESIDENTIAL 
ELECTIONS; DARFUR; ZOELLICK HEAD OF THE WORLD BANK; 06/26/07 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT 
 
Today's key international opinion stories include the analysis by US 
commentators of Mauricio Macri's victory in the Buenos Aires mayoral 
race; the outcome of the Paris Conference on Darfur; and the 
confirmation of Robert Zoellick as head of the World Bank. 
 
¶2. OPINION PIECES AND EDITORIALS 
 
- "US expectations over Kirchner's retreat" 
 
Hugo Alconada Mon, Washington-based correspondent for 
daily-of-record "La Nacion," comments (06/26) "Mauricio Macri's 
election victory was received with interest in the circles in this 
city that follow Latin American issues. They wonder now whether 
President Nestor Kirchner's retreat could alter the government's 
plans for October (elections) - not the government's eventual 
triumph but who will run as a candidate for the official party. 
 
"This (referring to Macri's victory) is very positive. Now will he 
or she run as a candidate?,' a high-ranking member of the US Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee told 'La Nacion,' in reference to the 
President's re-election or First Lady and Senator Cristina 
Fernandez's presidential candidacy. 
 
"In the USG official's view, 'while it is a local election, its 
implications for October are important. This is why we closely 
follow it.' The source also wondered whether 'the election was a 
referendum on the Kirchner administration' and whether it could be 
understood as a 'victory of Macri over Kirchner' rather than over 
his competitor Daniel Filmus. 
 
"According to Wall Street Eurasia Group political analysis 
consulting company, the response is 'no.' Analyst Daniel Kerner told 
'La Nacion' 'it would be risky to exaggerate the importance of this 
election'... 'It has clearly been a local election.' 
 
"... For its part, the Department of State kept silent, just as it 
did following the 17 presidential elections held during the last 18 
months all over Latin America. It will do the same during the rest 
of the year when elections are held in Guatemala, Argentina, Jamaica 
and Trinidad and Tobago. 
 
"... Analysts from the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a progressive 
think tank in this city, included Kirchner among the 'populist' 
leaders in the region along with Lula, Evo Morales, Hugo Chavez and 
Rafael Correa, among others. They convey a positive quality to the 
term." 
 
- "A bleeding wound with no solution at hand" 
 
Oscar Raul Cardoso, international analyst of leading "Clarin," 
opines (06/26) "The continuing massacre in Sudan is today the 
toughest argument to be faced by those who maintain that a 
harmonious and peaceful co-existence between Islam and the West is 
possible... 
 
"There have been more than 200,000 dead in Sudan since 2003 and some 
2,500,000 refugees, and those to be held responsible for it are 
nomad militias who invoke the Koran, the 'janjaweed', who operate in 
Darfour in favor of the interests of the Khartoum-based ruling 
dictatorship... 
 
"The 36 million Sudanese are still worse off than Iraqis, Afghans 
and Palestinians... Just a few in the international community seem 
to give a damn about their fate. 
 
"French President Nicholas Sarkozy says to have turned the Sudanese 
tragedy into one of his main foreign priorities and yesterday's 
conference is likely to have increased the prestige the French 
president gained following the recent EU summit held in Germany... 
 
"Nonetheless, Sudanese will have very little to be grateful about. 
Sudan's oil still has a stronger voice than the outcry of victims. 
 
"There has not even been any direct, outright criticism of President 
Omar Al-Bashir's regime and much less, an attempt to impose 
sanctions. China appears as the huge international protector of the 
Sudanese regime. 
 
"... The only positive outcome of the Paris conference was France's 
commitment to increasing its financial aid by some 13 billion 
dollars while the EU is assessing whether to assist with 40 billion 
dollars, half of it for peacekeeping forces and half of it for 
humanitarian aid. None of this will be enough. The question is how 
long the massacre will last and how long the international community 
will continue to ignore it." 
 
- "Robert Zoellick is a long-distance runner with political 
ability" 
 
Business-financial "BAE" (06/26) reports "Robert Zoellick, who was 
confirmed yesterday as the new head of the World Bank, is a 
long-distance runner that is used to marathon negotiations and to 
moving swiftly  along the corridors of power. Yesterday, the World 
Bank's Executive Council announced that it has agreed to Zoellick's 
nomination, which was proposed by the White House May 30. 
 
"... His critics say that he lacks personal charm, that he has some 
tendency to intrigue and that, while he is pragmatic, he has done 
the utmost all through his life to defend the US hegemonic position 
in the world." 
 
To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our 
classified website at: 
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires 
 
WAYNE