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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BERLIN 001612 
 
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TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO KGHG IR GM AF US
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: COP15, IRAN, GERMANY-AFGHANISTAN, OBAMA 
PRESIDENCY;BERLIN 
 
¶1.   Lead Stories Summary 
¶2.   Climate Change 
¶3.   Iranian protests 
¶4.   Afghanistan 
¶5.   Obama Presidency 
 
¶1.   Lead Stories Summary 
 
ZDF-TVQs primetime newscast Heute led with a story on the traffic 
chaos throughout Europe due to freezing temperatures.  ARD-TVQs 
primetime newscast Tagesschau led with a report on the government 
coalitionQs debate over budget cuts.  Newspapers led with diverse 
stories, including the protests in Iran and considerations of how to 
reduce the national deficit.  Due to the upcoming holidays, Stern 
magazine and Die Zeit were already published today.  Editorials 
focused on the protests in Iran and the government coalitionQs plans 
to cut expenditures in 2011. 
 
¶2.    Climate Change 
 
Handelsblatt editorialized: QIt is also good for the economy if 
Germany is a pioneer in climate protection.   Taking the lead, 
however, does not mean that one moves forward and then stands there 
alone because nobody follows.  Any concessions in climate protection 
are based on the foundation of a common international effort.  Only 
Germany is the exception and promised cutting 40 percent of 
emissions by 2020 without any preconditions.  The German government 
is now alone and does not really know what to do after the failure 
of Copenhagen.  There can be only one answer: revision. 
 
In a lengthy analysis, the weekly newspaper Die Zeit noted: QCan you 
achieve a binding climate protection agreement with 193 countries? 
Multilateralism has shown its worst side in Copenhagen.  The number 
of countries that have to cooperate to save the world is small.  We 
are talking about a handful of major emitters: the U.S., China, 
Japan, Russia and the EU.  However, the climate sinners will not 
promise improvements without being urged to move forward by the 
victims of climate change.    All the hope now focuses on the next 
global climate conference, which will take place in Mexico at the 
end of 2010.  Mankind will continue to negotiate and hopefully 
realize early enough that you cannot negotiate with nature. 
 
Tagesspiegel stated in a front-page editorial: QThe minimum 
consensus on Copenhagen is poor, almost a failure.  Saving the 
world, if something like it can be done by an agreement, was indeed 
delayed.  However, is this also a failure of scientists?  Scientists 
have collected indications that the climate is changing but 
governments are not convinced yet.  Copenhagen was a triumph of 
climate skeptics  However, Climategate could not shake the reality 
that the climate is changing.  The hints are powerful. The findings 
of scientists can indicate the right course, but it must be set by 
politicians.  The democratic division of labor worked well in the 
past, even if some desire an ecological dictatorship after the 
lukewarm results of Copenhagen. 
 
¶3.   Iranian protests 
 
In an editorial, Die Welt noted: QMontazeri was the spiritual father 
of the reform movement, an inspiration and the religious legitimacy 
of the green opposition, whose political face Hussein Mussawi was. 
Montazeri embodied the idea of a enlightened Islam.  However, with 
him the resistance will not necessarily die.  The opposite could be 
the case, as the mass protests at his funeral showed. 
 
Sueddeutsche opined: QWith the funeral on Monday, the confrontation 
will not be over.  It could escalate already on Sunday, because the 
seventh day after the death is the day to greatly commemorate the 
deceived, and in this case it is also the Day of Ashura, when Shia 
 
BERLIN 00001612  002 OF 003 
 
 
Muslims excessively commemorated the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali 
Husayn died fighting against the unjust rule of a usurper. 
Montazeri himself has defined the power of the Khamenei as a 
dictatorship and that of Ahmadinejad as illegitimate.  There is a 
clear parallel for everybody involved. 
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine editorialized: QNothing can intimidate the 
green opposition movement, neither threats nor brutal violence.  The 
opposition exploits any opportunity to protest against the rule of 
President Ahmadinejad, who is probably in power only because of 
election fraud and the support of the regimeQs security 
authorities.  The opposition is having a certain effect because it 
continues to articulate its protest within the system of the Islamic 
Republic.  However, can this change the circumstances? 
 
Handelsblatt commented:  QTurning mourning into protests was the 
motive with which hundreds of thousands of Iranians went to the 
funeral of Grand Ayatollah Montazeri in Qom.  The powerful 
demonstration of the protesters shows: the opposition in Iran is 
alive.  It lost its mentor with the death of Montazeri, who had 
given the reform movement a powerful voice, but it has not lost its 
momentum.  Clerics and the government should be warned.  The 
opposition is intrepidly fighting with mainly peaceful means against 
repression and dictatorial methods.  As long as AhmadinejadQs style 
of leadership does not change, riots could break out in Iran any 
time. 
 
Frankfurter Rundschau showed a front page photo of Grand Ayatollah 
MonazeriaQs coffin with many protesters under the headline QIranQs 
opposition is alive.Q  In an editorial, the paper wrote: QGrand 
Ayatollah Montazeri cannot be replaced. By his constant faithfulness 
to the true lesson of Islam and humanity, which he always 
acknowledged, unlike many of his religious colleagues, he was more 
credible, convincing and popular than many others.  His voice gave 
more weight to the green movement.   However, this personality, who 
the reforms already see as a martyr, was a symbol, not a political 
leader.  The truth is that the green movement has already left 
behind Montazeri.  Nobody can any longer control it and restrict its 
goals within the Islamic system. 
 
¶4.    Afghanistan 
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine editorialized that the idea of talking to 
Afghan insurgents is right Qbecause insurgents in Afghanistan and 
Pakistan are not a homogeneous organization but represent all walks 
of life and stand for diverse goals.  However, Americans and 
Britons have repeatedly tried to pull local warlords to their side 
with nice words and a lot of moneyQwithout being overwhelmingly 
successful.   President Karzai has repeatedly called on Taliban 
leaders to put down their arms and to integrate in the political 
process.  He has negotiated with them through middlemen without much 
success.  The reasons for this difficulty remain unclear, and it 
will certainly not be done by people in Berlin. 
 
Tagesspiegel commented:  QWhen two people say the same thing, the 
impact can be completely different.  Former SPD Chairman Beck was 
accused of being a foreign political nobody and defeatist when he 
approved of talks with moderate Taliban after he returned from a 
visit to Afghanistan in autumn of 2007.   One of his loudest critics 
at the time was CSU foreign policy expert Karl-Theodor zu 
Guttenberg.  Two years later, zu Guttenberg mentions the thought he 
condemned at the time.  One might repeat the old wisdom that 
leftwing politicians are blamed as traitors when they pursue 
realpolitik, and conservatives are celebrated when the do the same. 
However, the dispute over whether to integrate Taliban into a 
peaceful solution is about something more.  It is about the 
understanding that we no longer can achieve our goals and that we 
therefore have to reduce our expectations if the mission is to come 
 
BERLIN 00001612  003 OF 003 
 
 
to a good end. 
 
Ostsee-Zeitung commented: Q[SPD Chairman] GabrielQs rejection to 
send combat troops to Afghanistan can be interpreted as populism. 
On the other side is also clear that the Bundeswehr mission in 
Afghanistan must be rationally analyzed.  How should it go on?  The 
ChancellorQs reference to the London conference on Afghanistan at 
the end of January does not get us any further at all.  Merkel is 
demonstrating a lack of courage in facing unpleasant facts--and weak 
leadership. 
 
¶5.    Obama Presidency 
 
Under the headline QMaybe 2010 will be ObamaQs year,Q Frankfurter 
Rundschau analyzed: QSo far, Barack Obama is a President of great 
hope, great promises and long waiting.  Prior to the end of the 
year, the success of the White House is within limits.  The 
President has prevented the worldQs largest economy from collapsing 
with an unprecedented economic stimulus program.   However, 
unemployment in the U.S. is at a record high.  It feels like America 
is still in a deep recession.  The detention camp in Guantanamo 
might be closed one day, but not as promised on January 22  No-one 
in Washington wants to celebrate the result of the climate summit. 
At the end of the year, the deadline Obama set for Iran is expiring 
at the end of the year to show readiness to seriously discuss the 
nuclear dispute.  Tehran seems to be deaf.  Nothing is moving in the 
Mideast conflict.  Disarmament talks with Russia are entering 
another round and troops are increasing in Afghanistan.  All this 
has led to a sobering feeling in the U.S.: a President of nice 
words, nothing else. However, the premature verdict ignores that 
Obama has got things moving.  He has started many things in his 
first year that might bear fruits soon. 
 
DELAWIE