R 151241Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 2857
INFO WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC
SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
DIA WASHINGTON DC
CIA WASHINGTON DC
DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
FRG COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 
AMEMBASSY LONDON 
AMEMBASSY PARIS 
AMEMBASSY ROME 
USMISSION USNATO 
USMISSION USOSCE 
HQ USAFE RAMSTEIN AB GE
HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE//J5 DIRECTORATE (MC)//
CDRUSAREUR HEIDELBERG GE
UDITDUSAREUR HEIDELBERG GE

UNCLAS BERLIN 001671 
 
 
STATE FOR INR/R/MR, EUR/PAPD, EUR/PPA, EUR/AGS, INR/EUC, INR/P, 
SECDEF FOR USDP/ISA/DSAA, DIA FOR DC-4A 
 
VIENNA FOR CSBM, CSCE, PAA 
 
"PERISHABLE INFORMATION -- DO NOT SERVICE" 
 
E.0. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO GM
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: U.S.-Iraq, Russia, Rumsfeld, 
Financial-Crisis, Car- Industry, EU-Summit, Germany, Zimbabwe 
 
¶1.   Lead Stories Summary 
¶2.   (U.S.-Iraq)   Bush in Baghdad 
¶3.   (Russia)   New Opposition Party/Antigovernment Protests 
¶4.   (U.S.)   Report on Rumsfeld Regarding Detainees 
¶5.   (U.S.)   Financial Crisis 
¶6.   (U.S.)   Car Industry 
¶7.   (EU)   Reaction To EU Summit 
¶8.   (Germany)   Reaction To Financial Crisis 
¶9.   (Zimbabwe)   Mugabe On Cholera 
 
¶1.   Lead Stories Summary 
 
Editorials focused on the meeting in the Chancellery between 
Chancellor Merkel and leading business representatives on the state 
of the economy and on the debate over stolen bank data.  ZDF-TV's 
early evening newscast Heute opened with a report on the meeting in 
the Chancellery and ARD-TV's early evening newscast Tagesschau 
opened with a story on the stabbing of Passau's chief of police. 
 
¶2.   (U.S.-Iraq)   Bush in Baghdad 
 
Die Welt wondered "how President Bush's image would look like if the 
Iraq war had not happened?  He would probably have entered the 
history books as a leader who, after 9/11, succeeded not only in 
preventing more terrorist attacks on the United States but who also 
developed an anti-terror strategy that would remain valid for 
decades.  But the Iraq war damaged the reputation of the U.S. 
president.  However, Bush won't be put off.  He is loyal to his 
principles and considers the U.S. mission in Iraq to be 
indispensable.  That is why it is only consistent that he now bids 
farewell to his forces in Iraq." 
 
¶3.   Russia)   New Opposition Party/Antigovernment Protests 
 
S|ddeutsche commented: Russia's new liberal democrats have given 
themselves a great name, but they will not achieve the power of the 
Polish model party.  They are as far away from being a mass movement 
as Moscow's glass palaces from the Siberian taiga.  In an 
election... they would probably only get one-digit results although 
they do have a point.  Russia is suffering under the worst economic 
crisis in ten years.  The country needs a real democratic movement, 
more pluralism, and more competition in parliament.  It was shocking 
that a serious problem like the bill to extend the tenure of the 
president was pushed through without a debate.  In Russia, the 
Kremlin is omnipotent - this is the key problem of the democrats." 
 
Die Welt editorialized: "Once again, Russia's liberal democrats are 
making a new attempt to play a role in the political life of the 
country.  They have founded a new party that they want to establish 
as an alternative to the ruling elite.  That is very honorable 
because the Russian 'sovereign democracy,' which looks like the 
Communist model in Eastern Germany, needs a capable, independent and 
constructive opposition....  The new party will be artificially 
created as the political force of the middle class, which is, 
according to the new line of the Kremlin, supposed to rescue the 
country....  Solidarity, the new organization, will, however, not be 
able to change much.  One reason is the autocratic setting in which 
the tandem of Putin and Medvedev operate.  But the liberal democrats 
are also part of the problem, e.g., former Prime Minister Nemzov now 
pretends to stand for a new beginning although his reputation was 
damaged during the privatization in the 1990s.  Thirty percent of 
the Russian voters would potentially cast their ballots for 
democratic alternatives, but only one percent actually votes this 
way.  Most people no longer want to see the faces from the 1990s." 
 
Berliner Zeitung remarked on the antigovernment protests on Sunday 
in Moscow: "Every suspected protester was watched by 80 police 
officers, 20 journalists, ten undercover police and secret service 
agents, five agents provocateur, five pro-government protesters, and 
a few passersby.  If they hadn't taken some people out of the group 
of journalists, police officers, agents, provocateurs and passersby, 
one could have thought that there were no demonstrators.  One day 
there will be demonstrations in Russia without protesters; 
demonstrations of the state power without any spontaneity." 
 
¶4.   (U.S.)   Report on Rumsfeld Regarding Detainees 
 
Berliner Zeitung commented: "Last summer, Jane Mayer published 'The 
Dark Side' - a kind of charge that contained many details proving 
that the leading U.S. politicians did not just approve of criminal 
practices but also initiated them...  This was not enough yet to 
take Rumsfeld to court.  This might not be that bad because if 
Rumsfeld is taken to court after the Bush era there might be a 
chance that he will not be pardoned by the President." 
 
¶5.   (U.S.)   Financial Crisis 
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine noted: "Hardly a day passes in which a higher 
sum is not mentioned that President-elect Barack Obama will approve 
after his inauguration to stimulate the U.S. economy.  But the goal 
is clear: state supported demand is to help where private demand no 
longer exists.  This sounds nice and can be sold as investments for 
the future.  But the problem is that the money for such investments 
does not fall from the sky.  Obama would be better advised to 
concentrate on lowering both income and corporate tax rates linked 
to the promise to put the state finances as quickly as possible in 
order again." 
 
¶6.   (U.S.)   Car Industry 
 
Regional daily S|dwest Presse of Ulm judged: "It is time for the 
three U.S. carmakers to go bankrupt.  Only then can the situation 
improve.  Badly managed, highly indebted, without a plan, and in 
addition stubborn, the companies which have run up debts amounting 
to 40 billion dollars should not be surprised if the U.S. Senate 
considers another 15 billion for them to be wasted money.  The only 
practicable solution is bankruptcy under Chapter 11.  But this is 
only the first step.  The second one refers to their bosses. 
Instead of financial experts, the companies need people at the top 
who consider cars more than only products with which to make 
money." 
 
Mdrkische Allgemeine of Potsdam noted: "We must fear that the next 
disaster is already waiting at the horizon.  With the looming 
bankruptcy of three U.S. carmakers, a global economic slump is 
looming whose extent is hardly foreseeable  President Bush's 
surprising move to rely on the savings package for U.S. banks shows 
how helplessly politicians are reacting to the crisis.  Even if GM & 
Co. can be saved for a while, it is totally unclear what should 
happen thereafter." 
 
Allgemeine Zeitung of Mainz opined: "If the bankruptcy of the U.S. 
car industry would not lead to unforeseeable consequences for the 
entire U.S. economy, we would unrestrictedly applaud the Republicans 
in the U.S. Senate for their 'no' [to the financial package for the 
U.S. car industry].  It is by no means the upcoming global economic 
crisis that has brought GM, Ford, and Chrysler to the brink of 
abyss.  It is rather their business plan of selling outmoded models 
that demonstrates that they have not realized the turn of an era in 
the world.  The future for this industrial sector is called 
environmental awareness and economy.  But with their gas guzzlers, 
the Americans are miles away from it." 
 
¶7.   (EU)   Reaction To EU Summit 
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung judged: "An old European rule is 
still intact: Germans are considered good Europeans only if they 
pay.  But despite the immense external pressure, it was more 
important for the chancellor to stick to her course of a controlled 
crisis management than to be everybody's darling or to remain 
Sarkozy's darling.  The argument of spin doctors that Germany would 
isolate itself if it did not run up debt for the benefit of Europe 
could easily be parroted.  But in Brussels, it was also easy to 
observe what kind of nonsense this is." 
 
Sueddeutsche Zeitung argued: "The chancellor's credibility crumbled 
and the failure of the EU climate package seemed to be 
preprogrammed.  But the opposite happened.  Weighing politics 
between climate change and economic crisis, and supported by a very 
committed EU President Nicolas Sarkozy and a generous chancellor, 
the leaders adopted a climate package that did not follow the 
doctrines of environmental activists or the economic lobby.  And 
this gives reason to hope.  This European climate package is a 
quantum leap in the global learning process.  Who would have bet 
eight years ago on such climate rules?" 
 
In the view of Handelsblatt "the fagade still stands.  Despite 
considerable demolition work in the interior of the climate package, 
the EU continues to remain loyal to its goal of reducing greenhouse 
gas emissions by 25 percent in 2020.  It can still consider itself a 
trailblazer in climate protection, for Barack Obama lags miles 
behind the EU with his announcement that it plans to reduce carbon 
dioxide emissions to the level of 1990.  And from the rest of the 
world we can expect even less.   Politics needs models to convince. 
And thus far, the Europeans have been the only ones who have shown 
the courage to do so.  Despite the economic crisis, the EU leaders 
have withstood the temptation to round file climate protection." 
 
According to Financial Times Deutschland, "the EU several times 
committed itself to supporting the analysis of the UN Climate 
Council.  But instead of investing money in the restructuring of 
buildings in the EU and making transportation more environmental 
friendly, the Europeans are now supposed to invest more in cheap 
climate projects initiated by the developing countries.  In order to 
avoid jeopardizing the overall package, the European Parliament must 
approve it.  But the parliamentarians must make clear that they want 
to correct this mistake if the EU reviews its climate laws after the 
Copenhagen conference in 2009.  Otherwise, the EU will not be 
considered a credible trailblazer with respect to climate 
protection." 
 
Westfdlische Nachrichten of M|nster argued: "With this climate and 
economic package, the EU has proven that, despite the economic 
crisis, it is capable of acting.  But the EU failed with respect to 
its new own structure, i.e. the Lisbon Treaty.  It is simply a 
disaster that Ireland - and thus all other EU countries - will get 
their own individual commissioner in Brussels.  Thanks to the new 
basic rules, Europe was supposed to become faster, more democratic, 
and less bureaucratic.  How should this work with 27 commissioners?" 
 
 
¶8.   (Germany)   Reaction To Financial Crisis 
 
Stuttgarter Zeitung had this to say: "Merkel's situation reminds us 
of the one of legendary Odysseus who had to choose between Scylla 
and Charybdis.  If she wastes billions of taxpayers' euros for 
useless activities, she won't have the funds for an effective 
economic policy.  But if she hesitates for too long, she will risk 
entering the history books as a chancellor who even worsened this 
unprecedented crisis.  The current Nobel Prize winner in economics 
is loudly thinking about the question of whether Merkel 
misinterprets the seriousness of the situation and whether she lacks 
the intellectual flexibility that is now necessary.  Criticism could 
hardly be more devastating." 
 
Express of Cologne argued: "With every new day of the financial 
crisis, helplessness is rising.  Recipes such as bailout packages 
for banks and companies costing billions of euros to a lowering of 
taxes or consumer vouchers are in the tool box.  But does the 
ordinary citizen understand this confusing debate? In addition, he 
or she cannot buy anything with promises.  They are nothing but 
packages with a false label that the governing parties want to use 
until the Bundestag elections.  Currently, the Merkel Cabinet seems 
to lack a concept.  We must fear that the Chancellor will 
anesthetize the country with her policy of a quiet hand and of 
sitting out problems--making it impossible for the country...to 
vigorously master the crisis." 
 
According to L|becker Nachrichten, "the picture that German politics 
is currently offering is not very appropriate to create confidence. 
It rather looks like a chicken coop.  The reason is probably less 
the Chancellor's defensive crisis management but rather her apparent 
lack of authority that is characterizing Angela Merkel's leadership 
style.  The confidence in the Chancellor's ability to master this 
crisis is waning, and the main reason for this is the nebulous 
positions of her Cabinet and the governing parties." 
 
¶9.   (Zimbabwe)   Mugabe On Cholera 
 
According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, "Mugabe's rhetoric 
about cholera as the continuation of British colonialism with 
biological agents is as miserable as the government's pledges that 
Mugabe only sarcastically declared the end of the epidemic.  The 
draft for a constitutional amendment that the government has now 
presented is only a tiny step down the path to political hygiene 
because Mugabe continues to block a real division of power that 
would also end the rule of police and the military.  And Mugabe will 
hardly be able to survive without the military, but not because he 
is afraid of an invasion but because his people know who is 
responsible for the cholera epidemic despite all the propaganda." 
 
Koenig