R 151201Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 3048
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 000057 
 
 
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: GZ IS RS UP AF US
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: 
 
¶1.   Lead Stories Summary 
¶2.   Israel-Hamas Conflict 
¶3.   Gas Dispute 
¶4.   Guantnamo Closure 
¶5.   Hillary Clinton Hearing 
¶6.   Afghanistan 
¶7.   Obama Inauguration 
¶8.   Osama bin Laden Tape 
 
 
¶1.   Lead Stories Summary 
 
ZDF-TV's early evening newscast Heute and ARD-TV's early evening 
newscast Tagesschau opened with stories on Deutsche Bank's drastic 
losses of 3.9 billion euros in 2008.  Most newspapers also led with 
stories on the financial crisis, FAZ's cover story dealt with the 
response the German government's economic stimulus package. 
Editorials focused on Deutsche Bank, the German stimulus package and 
the Gaza conflict. 
 
¶2.   Israel-Hamas Conflict 
 
Die Welt editorialized that "Israel cannot defeat, but can only 
weaken Hamas;" and adds: "Rocket attacks on Israel cannot be 
completely prevented, but it has become clear that Hamas will not 
find the exit from the piles of ruins if it does not agree on a 
ceasefire.  And there is a second change: the international 
community has become more critical and is no longer impressed by the 
propaganda war.  Journalists now realize what kind of propaganda 
they bought during the Lebanon war." 
 
S|ddeutsche commented on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's efforts: 
"Given Hamas' bunker mentality and the merciless Israeli warfare, 
the calls of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to put a stop to the 
fighting are useless.  The hectic diplomacy between Cairo, 
Jerusalem, Ankara, Madrid and Berlin seems to be more promising.  A 
quick ceasefire must be the goal." 
 
Berliner Zeitung criticized Israel for disadvantaging Israeli Arabs: 
"Israel is not a state for all of its citizens who live within its 
borders, but it is a Jewish state.  Arabs do not have the same 
duties and rights like Jews; they are underprivileged." 
 
Die Tageszeitung said: "Olmert is playing with fire," adding that 
"while he should be ashamed and quietly leave his office, he is 
going out with a big bang.  Contrary to the voices of Foreign 
Minister Livni and Defense Minister Barak, he ordered to continue 
the fighting in the Gaza Strip.  "Once again, the government leader 
is playing with fire and hesitates to stop the bloodshed.  With 
every day the fighting continues, the danger of mistaken attacks, 
like the one on the UN school in which Palestinian civilians sought 
refuge, is increasing.  The fighting is taking a heavy toll every 
day." 
 
¶3.   Gas Dispute 
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung argued: "Many things are still opaque 
in the gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia.  Such as in August 
when Vladimir Putin sent tanks to Georgia, the suspicions and 
slanders both sides are using to blame each other can hardly be 
checked.  But as long as the details of the contract have not been 
published, no one can say what is true and what is fiction in this 
Russian-Ukrainian intrigue about gas, power, and billions.  But 
beyond propaganda and lies, there are things that are clear: 
Ukraine's independence is at stake in this conflict.  Irrespective 
of whether Putin's unproven arguments are justified or not, the 
Russian reaction to alleged Kiev misdemeanors is structured in such 
a way that it promotes the disintegration scenario, about which 
great power politicians in Moscow have warned again and again.  The 
option of a destabilization or even division of from Moscow's point 
of view "artificial" state of Ukraine has been gone through again 
and again by Russian diplomats.  An eastern Slav, orthodox nation, 
cousins...who want to accede to the EU and NATO is unacceptable for 
Russians tarred with the same brush as Putin  In Georgia, Putin 
proved once before that he knows how to take advantage of certain 
opportunities.  Now he is putting the knife to Ukraine's throat." 
 
¶4.   Guantnamo Closure 
 
Many German newspapers reported that "a member of the outgoing 
government under President Bush has for the first time admitted that 
torture was used in Guantnamo" (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). 
Tagesspiegel headlined "Legal Official admits torture of Guantnamo 
detainee."  Die Welt and Berliner Zeitung both headlined: "Pentagon 
admits to torture in Guantnamo."  Many papers also note that 61 
Guantnamo detainees took up terror activities after they were 
released from prison camp. 
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine editorialized: "America's case shows that its 
approach to Islamists does not pay off in the end.  What happens is 
that you cannot charge somebody whose confessions were made under 
torture.  It is honorable of the Bush administration's official for 
military tribunals in Guantnamo that she also sees it this way. 
Human rights for terrorists? Yes, even if it is for understandable 
reasons not popular." 
 
¶5.   Hillary Clinton Hearing 
 
Sueddeutsche Zeitung noted: "In the hearing before Congress, 
Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton announced a foreign 
policy that is based on 'principles and pragmatism, not rigid 
ideology,' that is based on 'facts and evidence, not emotions and 
prejudices.'  She spoke of 'soft power,' the use of all means, not 
only the use of soldiers, to assert national interests. But as a 
matter of fact, these phrases are more than empty words.  Clinton 
announced a clear break with the previous U.S. foreign policy under 
George W. Bush and no less than the beginning of a new era."  The 
basic motif could not be overheard: the United States and its 
secretary of state want to get actively involved in the settlement 
of conflicts and intensify its diplomatic efforts." 
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung opined: "Everyone is now reading many 
[new] things in the statements, secretary of state-designate Hillary 
Clinton made before Congress.  But is there really the great 
turnabout?  For instance, Cuba.  It cannot be disputed that 
Washington's boycott policy has not been successful.  But Hillary 
Clinton links travel facilitations to concessions of the Cuban 
leadership.  But what will happen if it remains stubborn?  For 
example, Iran: More diplomatic contacts are planned, but when it 
comes to the Iranian nuclear program, the future Obama 
administration is as uncompromising as the Bush administration.  It 
would by no means accept Iran's nuclear arms built-up.  We are 
anxious to see the bait that the new administration will put down to 
Iran.  But what will happen if Iran does not take the bait?  Then 
everything will go on as before." 
 
Der Tagesspiegel wrote: "There are still political stars right next 
to the future president.  The number of journalists who wanted to 
attend Hillary Clinton's hearing...before the Foreign Affairs 
Committee of the Senate was enormous.  She enjoyed this attention. 
But such hearings are a tightrope act.  The candidates try to avoid 
blunt statements which could give reason to vote against his/her 
appointment.  On the other hand, they want to emphasize competence 
and determination.  Hillary Clinton's main message was that she 
wanted 'more diplomacy and less ideology and confrontation.'" 
 
¶6.   Afghanistan 
 
Berliner Zeitung judged: "Even President-elect Obama's team does not 
have the panacea to avert a growing disaster in the Hindu Kush, 
seven years after the expulsion of the radical Islamic Taliban from 
Kabul.  On the contrary, some ideas seem to have been born out of 
despair.  In cooperation with the U.S. embassy in Kabul, President 
Karzai is about to set up so-called Arbakai, rural Afghan police 
forces that are to offset the greatest deficiency in the Hindu Kush: 
they are to confront the Taliban who stop at nothing and are battle- 
hardened.  A similar attempt along the Pakistani-Afghan border 
failed miserably.  In addition, Obama will take over a conflict that 
has definitely expanded to neighboring Pakistan.  For Obama it will 
become even more difficult to seek a political perspective in the 
region.  Over the past years, President Hamid Karzai lost 
credibility among his own people, the Pashtuns, because he did not 
respect any of the promises he made before the elections.  George W. 
Bush always made clear that he would never drop Karzai; it is 
unclear whether Barack Obama thinks in a similar way.  But one thing 
is certain: there is no alternative to the Afghan president in 
sight." 
 
¶7.   Obama Inauguration 
 
In the view of weekly Die Zeit, "the situation for Barack Obama will 
be getting serious next Tuesday.  As soon as he has taken his oath, 
he must shoulder the burden of his job from one moment to the next. 
There is hardly any other president who has prepared for the burden 
of his job so carefully and has surrounded himself with such an 
experienced team as Barack Obama.   But there is hardly any other 
president either who has inherited such profound economic, moral, 
and foreign policy crises than this president.  Next Tuesday, he 
must prove that his governmental platform was drafted by tough 
realists.  As of January 20, a new, better time will hopefully begin 
for America and the world.  There is no alternative to Obama's new 
policy.  With his friend-foe thinking and his pigheaded 
keep-the-state-out-of-the-economy ideology, George W. Bush has 
plunged America and the world into misery.  The situation can only 
improve if the next president changes course and does the opposite 
of what his predecessor did.  There is the great hope that a 
prospering and virtuous America that has freed itself from 
high-handedness, will become attractive again, and will have a 
moderating influence on the despots in Damascus and Tehran and 
become even attractive to them.  This sounds impressive, even though 
the path to achieving these goals will be infinitely difficult. 
Nevertheless, America looks optimistically to the end of an era. 
The best wishes from the whole world accompany the new president." 
 
 
¶8.   Osama bin Laden Tape 
 
Tagesspiegel commented: "Nothing inhuman is unfamiliar to him.  But 
fortunately, delivering speeches has become his main activity. 
Osama bin Laden reported back, praising the global economic crisis, 
calling for Jihad to free Palestine and wonders whether America 
after Bush would still be able to fight his terror organization.... 
Bin Laden is exploiting the Gaza war for his purposes.  It might 
well be that he is happy about the misery." 
 
 
KOENIG