R 201206Z MAR 09
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SECDEF FOR USDP/ISA/DSAA, DIA FOR DC-4A 
 
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"PERISHABLE INFORMATION -- DO NOT SERVICE" 
 
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TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO GM US IR AF XG FR VT IZ
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: IRAN, AFGHANISTAN, EU SUMMIT, FED, FRANCE, 
POPE, IRAQ 
 
¶1.   Lead Stories Summary 
¶2.   President Obama's Video Message to Iran 
¶3.   New U.S. Strategy on Afghanistan 
¶4.   EU Summit, Financial Crisis, G-20 
¶5.   Fed Policy 
¶6.   General Strike in France 
¶7.   Papal Visit to Africa 
¶8.   Iraqi Refugees in Germany 
 
¶1.   Lead Stories Summary 
 
ZDF-TV's early evening newscast Heute opened with a story on 
Chancellor Merkel's governmental address in the Bundestag, while 
ARD-TV's early evening newscast Tagesschau opened with a story on 
the EU summit in Brussels. The papers opened with various stories 
ranging from the 1.2 trillion dollar additional intervention by the 
Fed to fight the recession, to Chancellor Merkel's governmental 
address and to the difference in pay between men and women. 
Editorials focused on the Chancellor Merkel's governmental address 
and the trial of Josef Fritzl in Austria. 
 
¶2.   President Obama's Video Message to Iran 
 
ARD-TV's Tagesschau showed part of the video and said: "In a video 
message to Iran, President Obama talked about a new beginning. 
Obama said the U.S. is striving for the Islamic Republic of Iran to 
take its rightful place in the community of nations.  He said this 
cannot be achieved through terror and weapons.  In a first response, 
the Iranian leadership welcomed Obama's announcement.  A spokesman 
for President Ahmadinejad said the statement must now be followed by 
actions." 
 
Spiegel Online headlined "Obama offers Iran new beginning," and 
noted: "While his predecessor believed Iran belonged to the axis of 
evil, President Obama is venturing on a radical course change.  In a 
TV address, he offered the Iranian people a new beginning in 
relations.  The message indicates the end of a decades-long ice 
age." 
 
Zeit Online remarked: "President Obama has once again emphatically 
signalled to Iran the opportunity of a new start in relations 
between the leaderships in Tehran and Washington.  He added that it 
is up to the Iranians to decide whether they want to take their 
rightful place in the international community." 
 
¶3.   New U.S. Strategy on Afghanistan 
 
In an editorial, the Sueddeutsche stated: "U.S. proposals to puff up 
the Afghan security forces to 400,000 troops are a desperate attempt 
to meet the security needs of the people with an organizational 
plan....  The idea is understandable, but it is also very American. 
The number of 400,000 sounds gigantic, but given the size of the 
country it is nothing.  This is the wrong message of the new 
Afghanistan strategy.  The world, which has doubts about the success 
of the mission, wants 400,000 judges, prosecutors and civil 
servants.  The worn out Afghan people do not have them on offer." 
 
¶4.   EU Summit, Financial Crisis, G-20 
 
ARD-TV's late evening newscast Tagesthemen aired the following 
commentary: "Now in this crisis, Europe must demonstrate why it 
exists and what it is able to achieve.  This first of all means, 
vigorous but common action, for all sides involved are aware that 
the end of the horror has not yet come.  We need common rules and 
coordinated action not only in the automobile industry.  Unbridled 
market capitalism prevails and politicians did not set limits. This 
must change now!  No market without oversight!  No actor without 
control!  Europe is able to achieve this if it only wants to badly 
enough.  This is, by the way, also the answer in the controversy 
with the U.S. about more billion dollar economic stimulus programs. 
 
This summit in Brussels and the G-20 summit in London must show that 
the leaders have the power to take control over the ominous free 
play of the liberal market forces.  This would be a courageous 
policy.  This would be Europe's task." 
 
In the view of Handelsblatt, "20 years have passed since the fall of 
the Wall and the Iron Curtain, but while Europe is preparing for 
celebrating this anniversary, a new invisible wall is threatening to 
be built between East and West.  In this crisis, no one wants to 
help the [eastern European] neighbors whose will for freedom and 
willingness for reforms was praised so often.  This hesitance is 
having potentially fatal effects.  People in Prague, Warsaw, and 
Budapest again consider themselves to be second-class people.  They 
rightfully expect greater solidarity from the wealthy West.  Those 
who in good times made a good profit from the new member states 
should not forget in bad times that they are not only customers but 
also partners." 
 
Sueddeutsche opined: "The world of central bankers is now turned 
upside down.  The taciturn self-confident administrators of money, 
who were installed by governments...look as if they are helpless in 
view of the crisis.  That is why the governments must now play a 
more important role.  They must spend even more money to stimulate 
the economy because the lowering of interest rates has had almost no 
effect.  The governments are the only ones who could counter this 
development.  After this crisis, the world, including the world of 
central banks, will be a different one.  Greenspan's heirs will have 
less influence and will have to give away part of their power to 
politicians." 
 
According to Tagesspiegel, "the gap between the U.S. and Europe with 
respect to stimulating the economy must be narrowed.  Either 
President Obama's giganto-experiment will succeed - then Europe must 
refute the argument to have restructured itself at the expense of 
the Untied States - or it will fail, and then Europe's 
faintheartedness will be made responsible for it.  To put it 
bluntly:  In this crisis, Europe all of a sudden finds itself in a 
lose-lose situation.  For the people, who are suspicious of 
excessive state interventionism, this may not matter, but for the 
political dynamism of the West the impact could be threatening." 
 
In a second editorial, Handelsblatt observed: "The G-20 leaders will 
meet in London to discuss a new global financial order, and what is 
the contribution of banks?  Not much compared to the list of 
recommendations that the International Banking Organization (IIF) 
has formulated for the meeting.  In it the banks emphasize their 
responsibility but do not announce their own confidence-building 
measures to overcome the crisis.   To put it briefly: measured 
against their own proposals, the banks have apparently not learned 
their lesson.  With their tone and with respect to the substance of 
the recommendations, the big shots of the banking sector continue as 
before, as if the worst case scenario in the history of finance with 
horrendous damage in the real economy had not existed.  In the past 
the IIF had a considerable influence in politics and the public. 
But this is over now." 
 
¶5.   Fed Policy 
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine argued: "A Federal Reserve that would allow 
itself to serve government and Congress would be fatal for the 
stability of the economy and the monetary value.  The time in which 
Fed officials and economists thought that they were able to pursue a 
reasonable monetary policy without using money as a variable in 
their equations should be over now.  The current course of the Fed 
is the best example that there is a connection between the stability 
of prices and the amount of money that is available. 
That is why Ben Bernanke should not miss the timing for a necessary 
change of directions if he wants to prevent the seeds that he has 
now sown for the development of the next bubble from bearing fruit. 
Then the Fed must act as resolutely and creatively as today, because 
this crisis does not change the iron principle that only scarce 
money is good money." 
 
Die Welt judged in a front-page editorial: "How great must be the 
misery that the Fed is willing to take such a step?  The price that 
Fed chief Ben Bernanke is paying will be high.  The limits between 
government and central bank have become fluid in the U.S.  The Fed 
has turned into a division of the Treasury Department.  But exactly 
this lack of independence was the reason for the big waste of money 
in Europe in the past century.  All those who are now calling upon 
the European Central Bank to follow suit should keep this in mind. 
As bad as the current economic crisis is, it is absolutely necessary 
to keep the long-term implications in mind when choosing the means 
to fight the crisis.  It would be disastrous if the savings claim 
for pensions and life insurance were no longer worth anything 
because the central bank had lost sight of its most important 
goal." 
 
Financial Times Deutschland had this to say: "In view of the 
dramatic crisis of the financial system and in the real economy, the 
Fed has practically no other choice but to accept such very risks 
with this step.  But it is also clear that this operation is by no 
means as harmless as a helicopter flight.  'Shock and awe' can 
result in massive collateral damage." 
 
Regional daily Nordbayerischer Kurier of Bayreuth argued; "The Fed's 
dramatic action shows in what bad shape the U.S. economy really is. 
With all his might Fed chief Ben Bernanke wants to stop the decline 
and give the economic recovery a new impetus.  Because he is at his 
wits' end - U.S. interest rates have almost reached zero percent - 
he is now opening the monetary floodgates.  But this inflated amount 
of money in circulation will confront unchanged demand for goods and 
services.  This is the nurturing ground that can turn into a 
mega-inflation." 
 
Augsburger Allgemeine noted: "The chancellor and the European 
central bankers do not use the Americans moves as a standard because 
they are now flooding the markets with money.  The Fed is now 
starting the money printing machines, thus creating the next bubble. 
 These risky moves reveal sheer despair.  Chancellor Merkel, Finance 
Minister Steinbrueck and Economics Minister zu Guttenberg are acting 
with greater circumspection.  If the crisis escalated, they would 
still have some trump cards in their pack of cards, while the 
responsible U.S. officials are now forced to show their hand." 
 
In an editorial regional daily Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of Halle had 
this to say:  "During his election campaign President Obama called 
for a state intervention of 50 billion dollars.  But the amount of 
money which the U.S. state has pumped into the economy since then - 
please hold your breath - is hundred times as much.  How should this 
work out?  The arguments have been the same since the beginning of 
the crisis:  The U.S. and the global economy need a massive infusion 
of money to survive.  Nevertheless, there is mounting skepticism, 
even suspicion, for the U.S. crisis management is becoming more 
frenetic, more populist, and - more expensive." 
 
¶6.   General Strike in France 
 
Sueddeutsche comments: "Due to the relatively small number of 
members, French trade unions act like big shots to increase 
pressure.  On Thursday, they also benefited from the French tendency 
to blame Paris for all problems.  Playing a little revolution on the 
journe d'action?  The French as individualists like it." 
 
¶7.   Papal Visit to Africa 
 
Sueddeutsche commented that "the Pope forgot to seriously take sides 
with the poor during his visit to Africa" and adds: "It would be 
helpful for Catholics in Africa if the Pope were to engage as a bold 
and intrepid fighter for the poor and name the problems the people 
really have.  This includes corrupt rulers, who currently court him, 
and a doctrine that is closer to the life of the people." 
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine defended the Pope: "Condoms are a proven 
means of contraception, but its usage is not the way out of Africa's 
misery.  Abstinence and faithfulness are the Pope's yardstick to 
avoid HIV infections....  The idea to have intercourse with an 
unlimited number of people if one only uses a condom... might be 
closer to life, human, politically liberal and very convenient.  But 
religions and morality exist to put a stop to some human behaviors." 
 
 
¶8.   Iraqi Refugees in Germany 
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine commented: "A total number of 2,500 refugees 
will come.  Most of them are persecuted members of religious 
minorities.  The American and British war is partly to blame for 
this.  However, it must be said that before the war Iraq was already 
a country where human rights were not worth much.  Saddam Hussein 
and the Baath Party's policy on minorities was unpredictable.... 
Experience shows that Arab Christians integrate easier into European 
societies than their Muslim fellow citizens.  There is a good chance 
that the Iraqis who are now coming will find a new home in 
Germany." 
 
Die Welt editorializes: "It would be better if the Chaldean 
Christians, who have a history of 2000 years in the region, could 
find a future in Iraq.  It would be a defeat if the last third of 
the 800,000 Iraqi Christians would also be expelled from the 
country.  However, given that it is a question of life and death, it 
should be natural for a Christian country like Germany and a 
Christian continent like Europe to help." 
 
Tagesspiegel remarked: "This is a signal.  Germany accepts 2,500 
Iraqi refugees.  Despite the economic crisis, the country is 
open-minded and acknowledges the by far greater misery of others. 
This is both noble and human - characteristics that are becoming 
more popular in the current crisis.  Given that most Germans 
rejected the war in Iraq, there is a good chance that they will 
welcome the victims of this campaign, the terror, violence and 
chaos." 
 
  KOENIG