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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 BERLIN 000033 
 
STATE FOR INR/R/MR, EUR/PAPD, EUR/PPA, EUR/CE, INR/EUC, INR/P, 
SECDEF FOR USDP/ISA/DSAA, DIA FOR DC-4A 
 
VIENNA FOR CSBM, CSCE, PAA 
 
"PERISHABLE INFORMATION -- DO NOT SERVICE" 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.0. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: US XF US IT ECON
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: U.S., MEPP, U.S., ITALY, ECONOMIC;BERLIN 
 
¶1.    Lead Stories Summary 
¶2.   (U.S.)   President Obama's Remarks on Improving Security 
¶3.   (MEPP)   U.S. Pressure on Israel 
¶4.   (U.S.)   Harry Reid Comments 
¶5.   (Italy)   Violence Against Africans 
¶6.   (Economic)   Google Tax 
 
 
¶1.   Lead Stories Summary 
 
Print media led with reports that Chancellor Merkel has come under 
pressure from her own ranks because of her alleged weak leadership 
style (Sueddeutsche, FAZ, Berliner Zeitung, Die Welt), while 
Tagesspiegel and Berliner Morgenpost centered on the cold spell that 
 
has hit northern Germany in particular.  Editorials focused on the 
CDU 
leadership crisis and on the attack on the Togolese soccer team in 
Angola.  ZDF-TV's early evening newscast heute and ARD-TV's early 
evening newscast Tagesschau opened with reports on the weather chaos 
 
in northern Germany. 
 
¶2.   (U.S.)   President Obama's Remarks on Improving Security 
 
Saturday media reported on President Obama's remarks on intelligence 
 
and aviation security, highlighting that the President said that "we 
 
are at war against al Qaida" (FAZ headline).  Today's broadcast 
media 
carried short news reports on Obama's interview with People 
magazine, 
underlining that "President Obama does not want to send soldiers to 
 
Yemen and Somalia.  He said that the most effective way would be to 
 
work with international partners" (ZDF-TV's Heute).  Today's 
Frankfurter Allgemeine headlined:  "Doubt in America about strategy 
 
against al Qaida," noting that: "Following the publication of a 
video, 
in which the later suicide bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi 
swears to take revenge for the death of the Pakistani Taliban leader 
 
Baituillah Mehsud, a new debate has flared up in the U.S. about the 
 
right strategy in the fight against al Qaida and the terror network 
al 
Qaida."  The paper concluded: "The government in Islamabad and the 
American leadership try to pull the moderate Taliban to their side. 
 
However, terrorism experts make clear that the cooperation between 
al 
Qaida and the Taliban is so close nowadays that a distinction 
between 
the organizations is hardly possible." 
 
Sddeutsche (1/9) remarked in an editorial that U.S. terror experts 
 
failed to learn the lessons of the attacks on September 11, 2001. 
"The White House tries to play down a new debate during its first 
investigations, saying that the problems of the failed attack on 
Christmas Day could not be compared with the circumstances that made 
 
things easier for the terrorists on 9/11, 2001.  This interpretation 
 
is grotesque.  The old and new mistakes are very similar.  In both 
cases terror experts failed to put larger pieces together correctly. 
 
BERLIN 00000033  002 OF 005 
 
 
 
In this respect, the recent mistakes are even more scandalous than 
the 
past ones." 
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine (1/9) editorialized: "To the dismay of the 
left 
wing of the Democrats, Obama stuck to a larger part of [Bush's] 
security policy.  This is a continuity that Obama certainly did not 
 
desire....  September 11 was eight years ago, but the threat 
continues 
to be imminent.  With that, the topic of security has not been taken 
 
off the list of American concerns.  Obama understands this." 
 
Die Welt (1/9) opined: "The averted attack by the radical-Islamic 
Nigerian on the flight to Detroit has caught the West with its pants 
 
down.   For some time, people have become tired of the fight against 
 
Islamist terrorists.  European NATO partners tend to lack the will 
to 
increase their engagement against the radical Taliban in 
Afghanistan. 
For most of them, the Bush years with the excessive counterterrorism 
 
measures are seen as the wrong path.  Hope had spread that the 
problem 
would go away once Americans no longer provoke Muslim anger with 
their 
cowboy attitude....  Islamic extremism won't make it so easy for us 
to 
get out of the terror paradigm, which defined the first decade of 
the 
new millennium....The era of terror will not be over soon." 
 
Tagesspiegel (1/9) commented: "Following the failed attack on the 
Airbus on the way to Detroit, all eyes focus on Yemen, where al 
Qaida 
recruited and trained the Nigerian.  The country at the southern end 
 
of the Arab peninsula is plunging into chaos....  It faces the fate 
of 
Afghanistan and Somalia....  As in Afghanistan, al Qaida is 
spreading in 
Yemen.  The mountainous regions are a secure hideout for the 
fighters 
from Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Iraq....  Only a year ago, the 
U.S. 
Embassy in Sana'a was the target of a highly complex suicide 
action... 
In the fight against terrorism, [Yemenite President Ali Abdullah] 
Saleh is no better than his Afghan counterpart Karzai.  Washington 
knows this.  As a result, the only option is to stay calm and 
persistent, integrate the Yemenite people and train Yemenite 
security 
forces." 
 
Under the headline "The lesson of Afghanistan," Handelsblatt 
editorialized: "The case of Yemen is so scary because there are so 
many similarities to Afghanistan....  The problem is that the 
situation 
will not improve by ignoring it.  To contain the danger in Yemen, 
the 
international community must learn four lessons from Afghanistan. 
First, it must take care of it quickly without taking on too many 
responsibilities.  The conflicts in Yemen can only be resolved by 
the 
 
BERLIN 00000033  003 OF 005 
 
 
Yemenites.  In Afghanistan, perfectionists took on responsibility 
for 
the whole to reconstruct and democratize the country.  Secondly, the 
 
necessary assistance must be provided.  The U.S. stop-and-go policy 
of 
recent years makes as little sense as Germany's half-hearted 
engagement in the training of Afghan police forces.  Thirdly, the 
international community must agree on a common strategy.  Not much 
is 
won if the Americans focus on the military aspects and the Europeans 
 
pursue civilian efforts.  The government in Sana'a would only play 
the 
allies off against each other, without resolving the conflict. 
Fourthly, the solution must be found in the region.  In the case of 
 
Afghanistan, it took years until Pakistan and Iran were seriously 
involved.  Yemen can only be stabilized if the neighbors on the Arab 
 
peninsula are part of it right from the start." 
 
¶3.   (MEPP)   U.S. Pressure on Israel 
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine (1/11) carried a report under the headline: 
"Clinton: Let's Talk about Borders and Jerusalem Right from the 
Start," and wrote: "Washington is trying to get the peace talks 
between Israel and the Palestinians going again.  Secretary Clinton 
 
said over the weekend after talks with Jordanian and Egyptian 
government officials that the governments in Jerusalem and Ramallah 
 
should also address the borderlines around Palestinian areas and the 
 
status of Jerusalem right from the start.  This approach should help 
 
resolve the conflict over the construction of new Israeli 
settlements, 
which is currently blocking the peace talks.  The Israeli government 
 
reacted with outrage to a statement by U.S. Middle East envoy George 
 
Mitchell who indicated in an interview that Washington could cut 
credit lines for Israel if the peace efforts continued to be blocked 
 
because of Jerusalem's position." 
 
In a report headlined: "U.S. Annoyed at Israel" die tageszeitung 
(1/11) said: "The government in Jerusalem does not want to allow 
anyone to put pressure on it by imposing possible sanctions. 
Israel's 
Finance Minister Juval Steinitz said in a self confident but also 
surprised mood: 'At the moment, we are not dependent on credit 
guarantees from the United States.'  He added that only a few months 
 
ago, the White House extended the deadline of the current guarantees 
 
for another two years, and at that time, no one spoke of 
'conditions.' 
In an interview with PBS the Special Envoy for the Middle East Peace 
 
Process, George Mitchell indicated that cutting credit guarantees 
would be thinkable if there is no progress in the Middle East peace 
 
process.  Israel's Premier Netanyahu was perplexed at the beginning 
of 
the government meeting on Sunday because the talks did not fail 
because of Israel but because of the Palestinians.'  When Mitchell 
again travels to the region "in a few days," then the most recent 
 
BERLIN 00000033  004 OF 005 
 
 
U.S. 
initiative will be on the agenda.  It is another U.S. attempt to set 
 
in motion the difficult peace process again" 
 
¶4.   (U.S.)   Harry Reid Comments 
 
Under the headline: "America Argues About 'N'-Word," Sueddeutsche 
Zeitung (1/11) wrote: "It is a simple word, but it is a word that 
has 
lost its innocence in the United States.  And that is why this 'N' 
word could cost the career of the leader of the Democrats in the 
U.S. 
Senate, Harry Reid, because he used it casually in a book on the 
election campaign, which were published over the weekend.  Harry 
Reid 
did not even try to deny it.  On Saturday, he apologized to Barack 
Obama...and the White House published a statement on Saturday in 
which 
the President officially accepted the apology.  America is reacting 
in 
a highly sensitive matter to the 'N'-word.  It is an irony that Reid 
 
is Obama's most important ally in Congress." 
 
Die Welt (1/11) headlined: "Racism:  Politician Apologizes to 
Obama," 
and wrote that "for a remark which many consider racist, one of the 
 
most powerful Democratic politicians had to apologize to President 
Obama  But former President Clinton, also once used derogatory 
remarks 
about President Obama.  Obama, however, wants to quickly stop the 
debate over Reid's remarks.  On Saturday, he used an instrument that 
 
is unusual for such a case.  In an official statement, the White 
House 
said Reid called the president and 'apologized for an unfortunate 
remark.'  In addition, Reid apologized to the America people and to 
 
other Afro-American politicians.  Bill Clinton, however, continues 
to 
remain silent about another passage of the book in which he is 
quoted 
with allegedly [similar] remarks." 
 
¶5.   (Italy)   Violence Against Africans 
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine (1/11) reported under the headline: 
"Situation 
In Calabria Calming Down," and wrote: "After two days of violent 
clashes between black harvesters, who protested their living 
conditions, and the domestic population, calm returned to the city 
of 
Rosarno in Calabria on Sunday....  Politicians criticized the 
violence 
of both sides but showed sympathy for the fate of the Africans and 
understanding of the population.  According to news reports, there 
will also be an investigation of to what extent the Mafia is 
involved 
in the matter." 
 
All Africans Gone - Mood to Celebrate in Rosarno," headlined die 
tageszeitung and reported: "the clashes between immigrants and the 
domestic population in the Southern Italian village of Rosarno ended 
 
with the complete displacement of the Africans....  On Friday, a 
citizens committee formed, occupied the town hall and demanded that 
 
 
BERLIN 00000033  005 OF 005 
 
 
'all blacks' have to disappear from Rosarno.  Young people from the 
 
city implemented this demand immediately and, armed with clubs and 
guns, they went on a hunt....  This move had a dramatic effect.  On 
 
Friday, the Interior Ministry decided to take all Africans away from 
 
Rosarno...and among the people from Rosarno, who set up road blocks, 
a 
mood of celebration spread." 
 
In an editorial, die tageszeitung (1/11) judged: "For Italy's 
Interior 
Minister Roberto Maroni of the xenophobic Lega Norte, one thing is 
clear: 'A laxness that has existed in Italy's immigration policy for 
 
years, ' has prepared the ground for the violent clashes in Rosarno. 
 
He turns arguments in a brazen way upside down.  Thousands of 
Africans 
- and many with a residence permit - have lived in slave-like 
conditions on Calabria's fields.  They have been exploited with 
peanuts and have become again and again the target for racist 
attacks 
of local youth.  ." 
¶6.   (Economic)   GoogleTax 
 
Justice Minister Leutheuser-Schnarrenberger criticized the strategy 
of 
Google and called for greater transparency.  She told Der Spiegel 
that 
Google is developing into a "vast monopolist, similar to Microsoft." 
 
She added that services such as Google Street View or Google Earth 
are 
absolutely worth examining as far as the law is concerned.  She said 
 
that she is primarily interested in creating greater transparency 
and 
to see to it that users are informed on what is going to happen with 
 
their data.  And if this does not happen soon, the legislative is 
called upon to do something about it.  A Google spokesman rejected 
the 
accusations (all major dailies). 
 
Sueddeutsche (1/11) carried an editorial under the headline; 
"Overdose," and argued: "President Sarkozy launched the idea of 
introducing a Google tax last week.  He did it again out of the 
blue. 
He said that the income Google achieves by selling advertisements 
should be taxed in France and the money should then be passed on to 
 
music, book and newspaper editing houses.  But even loyal supporters 
 
rejected the idea. Why should a successful international company pay 
 
for the failure of French companies?  And this in view of the fact 
that not even large French companies pay taxes in France.  The 
debate 
over the issue lasted only one day until Sarkozy climbed down again 
 
and dispatched his minister for cultural affairs to tell the public 
 
that, if at all, such a tax could be introduced only on a European- 
wide scale.  Rarely before has one of Sarkozy's ideas lost its 
momentum so quickly." 
 
MURPHY