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Viewing cable 06PARIS31, MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Russia-Ukraine Energy

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06PARIS31 2006-01-04 11:28 2011-08-24 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Paris
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 000031 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR INR/R/MR; IIP/RW; IIP/RNY; BBG/VOA; IIP/WEU; AF/PA; 
EUR/WE /P/SP; D/C (MCCOO); EUR/PA; INR/P; INR/EUC; PM; OSC ISA 
FOR ILN; NEA; WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC/WEUROPE; DOC FOR ITA/EUR/FR 
AND PASS USTR/PA; USINCEUR FOR PAO; NATO/PA; MOSCOW/PA; 
ROME/PA; USVIENNA FOR USDEL OSCE. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR FR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Russia-Ukraine Energy 
Conflict Bush Administration - Domestic and Foreign Policies 
Under Fire 
PARIS - Wednesday, January 04, 2006 
 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Russia-Ukraine Energy Conflict 
Bush Administration - Domestic and Foreign Policies Under Fire 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
Domestic issues dominate most of today's front pages, except 
for Liberation which devotes its front page to the George 
Clooney film "Good Night and Good Luck" and headlines: "George 
Against Bush." The editorial sees the film as a parable of the 
present situation between the Bush administration and the 
media, "even if Clooney is not Morrow." (See Part C) 
 
A number of inside stories in Le Figaro are devoted to the 
political situation in Washington: the trial of Jack Abramoff 
is reported as "the trial of the lobby industry" while 
controversy about Mexican illegal aliens and the new 
immigration bill serves to portray a new trend in the U.S. 
"which fears for its identity." La Croix portrays Senator 
Arlen Specter, "a moderate and influential Republican" whose 
position on the White House eavesdropping controversy reveals 
a man "who, freed from electoral ambitions is also free to 
speak his mind." (See Part C) 
 
Communist l'Humanite devotes two pages to "The American Model 
in Crisis in the Middle East." Pierre Barbancey retraces the 
spots where war and conflicts are smoldering, "from Jerusalem 
to Kabul." (See Part C) He interviews Pascal Boniface on the 
Greater Middle East Initiative and the war in Iraq: "The 
Americans have chosen the policy of a major kick in the 
anthill, including through war. The results of the war in Iraq 
are largely negative. Those who oppose this policy believe 
that a democratic movement can be supported from the outside, 
but that the movement itself must be the fruit of an internal 
process." Popular right-of-center France Soir devotes two full 
inside pages to: "The Middle East Waits for War." Thomas de 
Rochechouart analyzes the context of the Israeli and 
Palestinian elections and concludes: "It would seem that the 
Middle East is at a crossroads. Peace has never appeared to be 
so close. A general conflict as well." 
 
While many articles continue to describe the energy situation 
triggered by Putin, Le Figaro is the only editorial still 
commenting on Europe's dependency and the need to diversify 
its energy sources. The editorial is entitled "Gas, the Atom 
and Dependency." (See Part C) 
 
The editorial in centrist La Tribune, entitled "With Equal 
Weapons" is devoted to Airbus and Boeing's record sales in 
ΒΆ2005. "The Old Continent versus the New Continent, the battle 
is far from new. What is delightful is to see that in this 
particular sector, the battle is waged with equal weapons." 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
Russia-Ukraine Energy Conflict 
 
"Gas, the Atom and Dependency" 
Nicolas Barre in right-of-center Le Figaro (01/04): "Europe's 
dependency on its Russian gas supplier is very worrisome. With 
its attitude towards Ukraine, Russia has just confirmed to all 
of Europe that it intends using energy as a political weapon. 
Today Ukraine, and tomorrow whose turn? In the past, Putin's 
Russia, like Brejnev's USSR, always honored its contracts. It 
was in its best interest. But Moscow's forceful stance with 
Kiev changes everything. Even if Putin is doing all he can to 
reassure Europe and give all possible guarantees that the 
energy supply levels will go back to normal, insecurity in the 
supply of energy for an entire continent has been revealed. If 
Europe were to abandon nuclear energy, it would mean that one 
third of its electricity would have to come from conventional 
sources such as oil and gas. Is this a realistic approach, 
when the geo-strategic situation of the world has been upset 
since 9/11, when both Europe and the U.S. have been subjected 
to power cuts and when China is absorbing the world's entire 
fossil energy production? After the U.S., which has gone back 
to commercial nuclear programs, Europe is, in light of the 
Russian gas crisis, rediscovering the merits of atomic energy, 
first revealed during the oil crises of the 70s." 
 
Bush Administration - Domestic and Foreign Policies Under Fire 
 
"A Parable" 
Patrick Sabatier in left-of-center Liberation (01/04): 
"McCarthyism remains in the U.S. a code name serving to warn 
against the dangers that lurk in a democracy when that 
democracy goes to war: sacrificing freedom and principles in 
the name of national security. In 2006, the war, unlike in 
1954, is sporadic, the enemy is Islamic. And the President 
emulates McCarthy, at least for the most liberal Americans. 
Clooney's film is therefore like an anti-Bush parable. While 
some might say the comparison is exaggerated, it is not 
entirely false. The President is being accused, not without 
reason, of having transgressed certain rights inscribed in the 
Constitution, such as allowing illegal and clandestine 
eavesdropping, renditions and the torture of suspects, all in 
the name of national security and the war against terror." 
 
"Arlen Specter, Bush and Eavesdropping" 
Gilles Biassette in Catholic La Croix (01/04): "The 
controversy over authorized eavesdropping by the Bush 
administration in connection with the war on terror is 
eliciting questions within the President's own party. The 
defense adopted by the White House is considered insufficient 
by important individuals in the Republican Party. Arlen 
Specter is among those who do not like seeing the State 
infringing on private citizens' rights. Specter is an 
influential Senator. who will probably be heard often during 
the next few months: he embodies the moderate arm of the 
party, which was reduced to silence out of solidarity with the 
White House after the attacks on 9/11, but which could start 
to raise its voice again. Specter, who has no electoral 
ambitions is totally free to speak up and can expect to elicit 
the ire of the White House." 
 
"The Lobbying Industry in Shock" 
Philippe Gelie in right-of-center Le Figaro (01/04): "The fall 
of Jack Abramoff is threatening major Congressional figures as 
well as the entire lobbying world over which he reigned. The 
scandal is tarnishing America's entire political class. 
Lobbies have traditionally operated in the open to represent 
the legitimate interests of the American public or of 
industrial and economic sectors in order to draft appropriate 
laws. Unfortunately, at times, personal relations have taken 
over the debate. The ethic rules defined by Congress are often 
easily by-passed. With the mid-term elections in view, there 
is the possibility of a major clean up: according to an AP- 
Ispos poll, 65 percent of Americans have a negative image of 
Congress." 
 
"From Jerusalem to Kabul, Crises and More Crises" 
Pierre Barbancey in communist L'Humanite (01/04): "President 
Bush's first words of 2006 in favor of peace are a far cry 
from the triumphant proclamations that accompanied the 
launching of the Great Middle East Initiative. This is because 
since then, events have proven how inept a plan it is. An 
overview of the region is enough to prove that regional 
tensions, far from having been reduced, have instead been re- 
ignited by the Bush administration's policies: the situation 
has never been so tense between Lebanon and Syria; in 
Afghanistan, Karzai's power is all but stable; in Iraq it is a 
quagmire and Iran is in the hands of ultra-conservatives. 
Wherever elections have taken place, in countries belonging to 
the GMEI, Islamic movements have progressed. The U.S., like 
Europe, continues to reject the notion that the Israeli- 
Palestinian conflict is central and serves as a factor of 
instability for the region. It is used by Islamic movements 
who give it a religious connotation in their fight for 
Jerusalem. Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria: the strong-arming 
methods used by the major powers to pacify the region have 
failed tragically." HOFMANN