VZCZCXYZ0010
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSO #0916 3181030
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 141030Z NOV 07
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7673
INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 8794
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 8438
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 2951

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000916 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD 
 
DEPT PASS USTR 
 
USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: PAKISTAN; PRESIDENT SARKOZY'S VISIT TO 
WASHINGTON, MIDEAST; WESTERN HEMISPHERE: VENEZUELA, CHAVEZ; SAO 
PAULO 
 
 
¶1. "Self Coup In Pakistan" 
 
Center-right national circulation daily O Estado de S. Paulo's 
editorial remarked (11/10): "The US and its allies are facing an 
extremely difficult situation in Pakistan. They cannot support the 
violent abandonment of democratic appearances, nor can they impose 
sanctions on a secular government formally engaged in the 'war on 
terror' - which may be replaced by a fundamentalist theocratic 
regime. Such an impasse contains all the elements of a disastrous 
outcome for Western interests. Actually, such a situation has only 
become possible because the West has treated the Pakistani military 
regime with excessive leniency. In order to have a base near 
Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, the US ignored Pakistan's internal 
situation, thereby making possible the creation of a paradoxical 
situation: Pakistan, which is ruled by an ally in the 'war on 
terror,' is also a safe shelter for Al Qaeda's leadership and an 
important center of Islamic radicalism. But what is most serious is 
that the Western powers tolerated that Pakistan developed its own 
nuclear capability and missile technology and delayed in preventing 
its exportation to North Korea and Iran. Now, the West cannot 'miss' 
Pakistan." 
 
¶2. "US Relies On Sarkozy To Calm Down the@QVKTpask 
such an extraordinary guy to help George W. Bush to calm down the 
very complicated Middle East.... Bush wants to convince Iran to give 
up nuclear power through diplomacy. Maybe this is due to French 
influence.  Sarkozy has proclaimed negotiation, not bombings.... 
France can help the US [in its relations] with moderate Arab 
nations. Paris may act to convince them to stand back from Iran and 
its insanity. But, everything is connected in the Middle East, a 
fact that makes very difficult to undo such a knot. Tehran backs 
Hezbollah and Hamas to oppose Washington and Paris efforts to keep 
Iran away from moderate Arab nations because the Palestinian cause 
has the support of even the West's allies.... Ahmadinejad says that 
he wants to 'eliminate Israel.' It is a tactic to attract 
respectable Arab nations, once hatred against Israel is the cement 
that unites Tehran's crazy leaders and rational Arabs." 
 
¶3. "'Why Don't You Shut Up?'" 
 
Center-right national circulation daily O Estado de S. Paulo (11/13) 
editorialized: "Hugo Chvez has never followed the elementary norm 
of civilized political coexistence. He is violent by nature and 
deprived from common sense.... Chvez's behavior, which is typical 
of megalomaniacs, helped make more spectacular the enormous fiasco 
of the 17th Iberian American Summit... Of course it was not expected 
that the meeting would produce any positive result, given the 
increasing evidence that the continental unity continues to be just 
a Simon Bolivar's dream." 
White