VZCZCXYZ0012
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVI #2148/01 2291245
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 171245Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8336
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/WHITEHOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS VIENNA 002148 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/AGS, INR/EU, AND EUR/PPD FOR YVETTE SAINT-ANDRE 
 
OSD FOR COMMANDER CHAFFEE 
 
WHITEHOUSE FOR NSC/WEUROPE 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KPAO AU
 
SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: August 17, 2007 
 
 
Second Eurofighter to Arrive In August 
 
¶1. Austria's' "first Eurofighter jet will have company soon," 
Austrian media say, explaining that the second of the country's 15 
EADS-made interceptors is expected to arrive from Germany at the 
Styrian Zeltweg Air Base in the near future. According to 
Eurofighter spokesperson Wolfdietrich Hoeveler, the handover of the 
plane is scheduled to take place during the last week of August. 
According to mass-circulation tabloid Oesterreich, which reports on 
the expected arrival by the end of August of Austria's second 
Eurofighter jet, another two interceptors are expected to arrive by 
the end of this year. 
 
 
ATX Hit by Heavy Losses 
 
¶2. The Vienna stock exchange's ATX was hit by heavy losses on 
Thursday, having fallen by more than 5 percent by noon. It rose 
slightly in the afternoon, but remained around 4,300 points. The ATX 
had reached a new high in early July when it hit a record 5,000 
points. World markets were also swept by heavy losses that day, 
Austrian media report. 
Reporting on the heavy losses that hit markets worldwide, including 
the Vienna stock exchange's ATX on Thursday, semi-official daily 
Wiener Zeitung says that this latest development had come after the 
ATX reached a record high in June of this year.  Meanwhile, as 
uncertainty over the impact of losses in the US sub-prime lending 
market persisted, London's FTSE fell below the 6,000 level, 
something that had not happened during a trading session since March 
of this year. It last closed below 6,000 in October 2006. The FTSE's 
fall came on the back of heavy declines in Asia and further losses 
on Wall Street, Wiener Zeitung continues. Concerns abut the state of 
the world credit markets saw the Dow Jones index close below 13,000 
on Wednesday. The US Federal Reserve made another $ 7 billion of 
reserves available to the banking system on Wednesday.  All major 
Austrian media report on the recent developments at stock exchanges 
worldwide, running front-page headlines like "New shock wave at 
international markets" by liberal daily Der Standard, and 
mass-circulation daily Kurier with "Investors need good nerves now." 
 
 
 
FPOe Support for Haider Conceivable 
 
¶3. FPOe boss Heinz-Christian Strache is not ruling out supporting 
Carinthian Governor Joerg Haider from the FPOe spin-off group BZOe 
in the next elections. In an interview with an Austrian daily, 
Strache said that individuals as such don't matter; the issue was 
merely with whom (within the BZOe) it might be possible to implement 
FPOe goals. His statement make the rumors of an alleged deal between 
the two parties appear more likely, despite their official enmity, 
Austrian media say. 
In an interview with centrist daily Die Presse, FPOe leader 
Heinz-Christian Strache said that after the provincial elections in 
Carinthia, "cooperation is conceivable with anyone prepared to 
implement our program." This also applied to the province's current 
governor Joerg Haider, a key figure in the FPOe's spin-off BZOe, 
although Strache was quick to point out that "this is not about 
individual people." Outlining the FPOe's plans for the future, the 
party boss said that "we want to push our program, and bring about a 
change of course in Austria, because the country is going in the 
wrong direction. We are in favor of a referendum on the EU 
constitution. We also want a reasonable tax policy, which 
strengthens the middle classes." Government participation for the 
FPOe "would only make sense if our potential coalition partners are 
prepared to depart from their errant ways, including selling our 
Austrian sovereign rights to the European Union, or if they stop not 
investing enough money in security. You won't find me in government 
for self-affirmation only." 
 
 
Company Signs Contract for Turkish Dam 
 
¶4. Andritz, an Austrian industrial and technology group, says it has 
signed major contracts to supply engineering services for the 
construction of the giant Ilisu dam on the Tigris River in Turkey. 
In a statement released on Thursday, the company said the value of 
the order Andritz's Va Tech Hydro is around 235 million Euros. Major 
conservation groups oppose the Ilisu dam project, claiming it will 
have a negative environmental and cultural impact, but Andritz says 
the project meets the standards of the OECD and the World Bank. 
Reporting on the Austrian industrial and technology group Andritz's 
contracts to supply engineering services for the construction of the 
Ilisu dam in Turkey, semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung explained 
that the Ilisu Hydroelectric Power Project on the Tigris River is 
the largest planned dam project in Turkey. The dam will create a 
reservoir of 313 square kilometers, will flood more than 90 villages 
including the ancient town of Hasaskeyf, and affect up to 78,000 
people, mainly ethnic Kurds. Observers agree that public acceptance 
is essential for development projects that involve equitable and 
sustainable water and energy producing resources. The area of the 
dam project has been devastated by armed conflict and remains under 
emergency rule. Freedom of expression does not exist, and the 
affected communities of Kurds cannot voice their opposition to the 
project which was first conceived in January 2000, the daily 
explained. 
 
 
400 Killed in Iraq Blast 
 
¶5. According to the Iraqi Interior Ministry, the death toll from 
Tuesday's devastating multiple car bomb attacks in northern Iraq 
against the minority Yazidi community is now 400. The bombing of two 
Yazidi villages near Mosul was one of the worst attacks in more than 
four years of war in the country. In a commentary, an Austrian 
foreign editor speaks of "bombed-out illusions," pointing out that 
in Iraq, al Qaeda is "far from having been defeated." Besides, the 
organization is "not the only problem plaguing the country." 
Meanwhile, four Iraqi political parties say they have formed an 
alliance in an effort to break the deadlock which has severely 
weakened the Shiite-led unity government, but the main Sunni Arab 
party - the Iraqi Islamic Party - declined to join. The Moderates 
Bloc of Shiite and Kurdish politicians was announced by Prime 
Minister Nuri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani. 
All media continue to report on the massive car bomb attacks in 
Iraq, which may have left as many as 500 people dead. Centrist daily 
Die Presse in an analysis says the Yazidi group, against whom the 
attacks were directed, now fears other religious extremist groups 
are planning to "wipe them out." There are concerns among the Yazidi 
of a "planned genocide" perpetrated by fanatic Islamists, the daily 
continues, and quotes a spokesperson for the group as warning that 
"all non-Muslim minorities in Iraq are currently in grave danger." 
Meanwhile, in an interview with the centrist daily, terrorism expert 
from Singapore, Rohan Gunaratna, says that al Qaeda "has become 
strong again." He warns of a "growing threat of new attacks" and of 
al Qaeda's "new tactics in Iraq and Afghanistan." During the past 
years, al Qaeda had "succeeded in rebuilding its already shattered 
organization," and is now more and more in the position to be able 
to "recruit fighters and attackers not only in extremist circles, 
but also from the Muslim mainstream," the expert argues. In 
addition, al Qaeda is "cooperating globally with a whole range of 
extremists groups -- most of whom have been in place for a long time 
and are capable of working independently. These groups are "now 
being supplied with technical, financial and ideological support by 
bin Laden's organization," according to Gunaratna. 
 
 
Peru: Death Toll Continues to Rise 
 
¶6. Peru will hold three days of mourning for the victims of a 
devastating earthquake earlier this week that left hundreds dead. 
According to current estimates, as many as 500 people may have died 
and many more were injured, but officials say they still expect the 
death toll to rise. Rescuers are still pulling bodies from ruined 
buildings in the rural town of Pisco and nearby villages, south-west 
of the capital, Lima. Hospitals and morgues have been overwhelmed by 
the disaster, forcing residents to place dead bodies on the streets. 
An airlift has meanwhile been set up to transport relief and medical 
aid to the hardest-hit areas, some of which are still cut off from 
the outside world. In disasters such as this the international 
community is generally very quick to provide assistance, but the 
real problem is for the goods and services to actually reach the 
victims in time, Austrian media say, mass-circulation tabloid 
Oesterreich. 
Kilner