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P 201337Z SEP 07
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KPAO AU
 
SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: September 20, 2007 
 
Bawag to Sell Real Estate Portfolio 
 
¶1. The new board of directors of bank Bawag says it will sell the 
bank's real estate assets, which include the Bawag headquarters in 
Vienna's first district that is topped off with a large penthouse 
formerly inhabited by ex-Bawag CEO Helmut Elsner. Other Bawag 
properties to be sold include the penthouse homes of the former head 
of the Austrian Unions Association OeGB, Fritz Verzetnitsch, and of 
investment banker Wolfgang Floettl. Meanwhile, Floettl's wife Anne 
Eisenhower, the granddaughter of former US President Dwight D. 
Eisenhower, is expected to testify in a Vienna court today in 
connection with the Bawag trial. 
Reporting on the testimony yesterday in the bank Bawag trial of 
former Austrian Unions Association OeGB President Fritz 
Verzetnitsch, mass-circulation daily Kurier runs the front-page 
headline "Verzetnisch sees himself as savior of the OeGB." He had 
"wanted to prevent the OeGB's assets from being gambled away, and 
preserve them instead, and I succeeded in doing so," by "acting 
correctly," Verzetnitsch told the court. Mass-circulation provincial 
daily Kleine Zeitung, also reporting on Verzetnisch's testimony, 
argues the former OeGB boss "avoided all traps," and in the witness 
box "skillfully wriggled out of a tight spot." Criminal proceedings 
against him are highly unlikely, according to the daily. 
 
 
Austria Should Stick With Neutrality, Islamist Says 
 
¶2. Shaker Assem, a well-known Austrian Islamist, has called on the 
Austrian government to maintain the country's neutral status: 
"Austria would do well to stick to its principle of neutrality, and 
not become a tool of the world powers' colonialist policies." As 
long as Austria "stays neutral and refrains from interfering with 
these wars" [in Iraq and Afghanistan], there is no concrete Islamic 
terrorist threat against Austria, Assem believes. Shaker Assem is 
the representative in Austria of the "Party for the Liberation of 
the Islamic World," which aims at creating a theocracy, or 
caliphate, uniting all Islamic nations. The party is being closely 
monitored by the Austrian authorities, says ORF radio early morning 
news Morgenjournal. 
 
 
Busy Week Ahead For Gusenbauer 
 
¶3. Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer (SPOe) will begin a one week trip to 
the United States on Friday. His first stop will be New York City, 
where he will meet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. He will 
also attend next week's UN General Assembly, where he will be 
co-hosting summit talks on climate change with the Chilean President 
Michelle Bachelet. Furthermore, the Austrian Chancellor plans to 
discuss climate issues in New York with former US Vice President Al 
Gore, and will also attend a series of bilateral talks with the 
leaders of Brazil, the Czech Republic, Serbia, South Africa and 
Turkey. 
Semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung reports on Chancellor Alfred 
Gusenbauer's upcoming one week trip to the United States, where he 
will meet in New York with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, and 
former Vice President Al Gore, as well as co-host talks on climate 
change and attend a series of bilateral meetings. In addition, 
Gusenbauer and Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik will be 
lobbying to win Austria a non-permanent rotating seat on the UN 
Security Council, starting in 2009. In New York, the Austrian 
Chancellor is further expected to hold separate meetings with former 
US President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton, US Secretary 
of State Condoleezza Rice, British author Salman Rushdie and 
philanthropist George Soros. Other events include a reception for 
Austrians living in the United States. Gusenbauer will also be 
visiting Boston to give a speech on foreign policy at Harvard 
University's law school. His final stop will be Philadelphia, where 
he will be speaking to the World Affairs Council. 
 
 
Bomb Kills Lebanese MP 
 
¶4. A car bomb has killed an anti-Syrian MP and at least six other 
people in the Lebanese capital Beirut. Syria has joined the 
international condemnation of the killing of Antoine Ghanem, and 
denied any involvement in Wednesday's attack, which came less than a 
week before Lebanon's Parliament is due to elect a new President. 
Speaking in Washington yesterday, US President George W. Bush 
condemned the blast as a "cowardly attack," and accused Syria and 
Iran of undermining Lebanon's sovereignty. 
According to semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung, Antoine Ghamen, the 
Lebanese MP who was killed in a car bomb attacks yesterday, is the 
8th anti-Syrian political victim since 2005 already. And independent 
provincial daily Salzburger Nachrichten, reporting on "Hezbollah in 
a tight spot, suggests that one year after the Israeli-Lebanese war, 
"previously undreamed-of alliances have formed in Lebanon. Islamic 
Hezbollah is searching for a new role, and its strongest ally in 
this is the country's largest Christian party." A Hezbollah 
functionary and former Minister, explains that Lebanon is "in a 
traditional phase. It is the struggle for the path to the future." 
In fact, the daily says, there is one issue all major factions, 
Christians, Sunnis, Shiites, all agree on: This is about building up 
a nation, and about preserving the fragile peace." Hezbollah, the 
Salzburger Nachrichten continues, is playing a key role here. Not 
only Lebanon is on a quest for its identity, but the former 
anti-Israel resistance movement as well. But while calls for peace 
in the country are increasing, Hezbollah is struggling to lose its 
image of a mere militia doing jobs for its financial backers in Iran 
and Syria. Thus, the question arises whether Hezbollah wants to 
become a regular political party, the daily says. 
 
 
UN Chief Calls on Israel to Revert Gaza Decision 
 
¶5. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has urged Israel to 
reconsider its decision to declare the Gaza Strip a hostile entity. 
The Israeli government has said it will cut off energy supplies in 
Gaza in response to the continued rocket attacks against Israel by 
Palestinian militants there. The UN Secretary General warned that 
withholding vital supplies from civilians would violate 
international law. Palestinian group Hamas has meanwhile said the 
Israeli action amounts to "collective punishment" of Gaza 
residents. 
Centrist daily Die Presse says that the Israeli government has 
decided to declare the Gaza Strip a "hostile entity" and cut 
electricity and fuel supplies to the Hamas-controlled region in 
response to the continues missile attacks. Israel's move to "further 
restrict the transfer of goods and movement of people, as well as to 
reduce water, electricity and oil supplies," has also paved the way 
for potential sanctions, and also aims a weakening Hamas. According 
to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barack, the measure is a 
preliminary alternative to a military operation. 
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is currently 
on a tour of the Middle East, emphasized that in the 
Palestinian-Israeli conflict "we can no longer limit ourselves to 
declaring that we want a two-state solution. We have to start moving 
instead," quotes the daily. 
McCaw