VZCZCXRO0984
OO RUEHRG
DE RUEHSO #0686 3282000
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 241909Z NOV 09
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0220
INFO RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA IMMEDIATE 0234
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 0035
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000686 
 
SIPDIS 
STATE INR/R/MR 
IIP/R/MR 
WHA/PD 
DEPT PASS USTR 
4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC OIIP BR XM XR KMDR IR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: AHMADINEJAD VISITS BRAZIL 
 
"Better Close than Inaccessible" 
 
Op-Ed in liberal Folha de S. Paulo (11-24) by influential columnist 
Eliane Catanhede says: "...The intent [of the visit of Ahmadinejad] 
is to do what Brazil has done with Chavez's Venezuela: keep close 
enough to have penetration and dialogue, but far enough in order 
not to commit to the regimes, the governments and their 
decision....having moral strength to criticize them.  It is better 
to have Iran close and subject to some commitments than to have it 
isolated and do whatever it wants.....Those who think that 
[receiving the Iranian President] was an act against the U.S are 
wrong.  On the contrary, it is a very well arranged game." 
 
 
 
"The Visitor" 
 
Article in liberal Folha de S. Paulo (11-24) by Janio de Freitas 
notes: "The criticism against Lula for receiving Ahmadinejad....is 
conventional and controversial.....The visit can only be positive, 
at least for making this president listen to a voice that gives 
some importance to him....We don't know.....what Ahmadinejad in 
fact said in private conversations with Lula, but no one should 
worry about Brazil helping Iran, because there is no way it can 
worsen the situation already in place in the Middle East." 
 
 
 
"The Gloomy Alignment with Major Powers" 
 
Analysis in liberal Folha de S. Paulo (11-24) by Clovis Rossi says: 
"The visit....[of the Iranian President] was a test for Brazil's 
diplomacy....[in which] it passed if we look only at acknowledging 
Brazil's new weight in the global arena.  [Nonetheless] It is worth 
noting that the interest in Ahmadinejad's visit had more to do with 
Iran's interests than Brazil's..... In July on the margins of the 
G8 summit in Italy, Obama's spokesman Robert Gibbs said to Folha 
that his boss had suggested to Lula that he used the weight of 
trade relations between Iran and Brazil to try and convince 
Ahmadinejad to follow the Brazilian example of exclusively using 
nuclear energy for peaceful ends..... This was exactly what Lula 
did....Regarding human rights....the arguments are unassailable 
from a moral and ethical point of view.  But the "realpolitik" that 
commands global diplomacy always prevails - and Barack Obama's trip 
to China was just an example of this last week..." 
White