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Viewing cable 06PARIS2848, MEDIA REACTION REPORT - NATO Expansion

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06PARIS2848 2006-05-02 10:43 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 02 PARIS 002848 
 
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. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR FR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - NATO Expansion 
PARIS - Tuesday, May 02, 2006 
 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
NATO Expansion 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
Domestic stories dominate front pages, editorials and a 
majority of today's inside coverage. The 
political/financial scandal Clearstream is today's lead 
story, with two of the main players, PM Villepin and 
Interior Minister Sarkozy prominently featured. PM 
Villepin, who is suspected by Liberation of having 
triggered the investigation into Sarkozy's alleged 
financial wrong doings, headlines: "The Ten Questions He 
Can No Longer Elude." Added to the PM's recent difficulties 
-the CPE, social unrest-, the poll conducted by Liberation 
and featured on its front page concludes: "Only 20% of 
Respondents Support Villepin." Liberation's attacks include 
Interior Minister Sarkozy, as illustrated in its editorial: 
"What other government has in less than a year accumulated 
such trophies as the CPE, social unrest and financial 
shenanigans at the highest level of the state?  Such are 
the astounding results of the Villepin-Sarkozy duo." Le 
Figaro's front page carries an interview with General 
Rondot, who categorically denies being asked by Villepin to 
investigate Sarkozy or other politicians. 
 
Today's second lead story involves Sarkozy's 'selected' 
immigration policy plan. In Le Figaro, the editorial asks: 
"Do we lack in France the mechanism that helps integrate 
our immigrants, who are the result of so many years of 
uncontrolled immigration? . The continued influx of 
unskilled migrants in a country undermined by unemployment 
weighs heavily on French society, while it condemns the 
immigrants themselves to poverty. While nothing will 
replace growth in order to help integration, Sarkozy's 
immigration policy has the merit of finally saying that 
fighting clandestine immigration is not enough. Is it too 
much to ask a prospective immigrant to abide by our laws 
and learn to speak French? Sarkozy's immigration policy is 
not, as the Socialists and the Clergy are saying, useless 
and dangerous." 
 
All media, including the electronic media, carry the story 
of "striking Latinos" on May 1st to protest the new U.S. law 
on illegal immigration. "The U.S. Deprived of Its 
Immigrants" titles Liberation, while Le Figaro's article is 
entitled: "Latinos, a Boycott to Hurt the U.S. Where it 
Counts: the Pocketbook."  The editorial in La Croix, 
although devoted to French immigration, begins thus: "Proof 
by contradiction. In order for their place in American 
society to be asserted, immigrants of Hispanic origin 
yesterday had to refrain from working or consuming to shed 
light on their presence and usefulness." Le Parisien 
reports that the President's "proposed immigration law 
carries with it a major political stumbling block: should 
the 12 million illegal immigrants who live and work in the 
U.S., representing 5% of the population, be amnestied?" 
 
Le Figaro carries a report on "NATO's proposed 
globalization" and those who are reluctant to adhere to the 
U.S. proposal. (See Part C) 
 
Catholic La Croix carries a profile of Ann Wright, "A 
Diplomat Against the War in Iraq." Gilles Biassette reports 
on the "diplomat who resigned to protest Washington's 
foreign policy." and on Saturday's protest March in New 
York. "For years she traveled the world to serve her 
country. At the end of 2001 she was posted in Afghanistan 
where she was preparing for the reopening of the U.S. 
Embassy. But a few months later she threw in the towel. For 
the first time she did not feel like representing her 
country. In her letter to her boss, Colin Powell, she says: 
'I believe that this administration's policy is making the 
world more dangerous, not safer.' Three years later, her 
vision has not changed. In her view, this war is meant to 
distract America from what should really be its goal: 
dealing with international terrorism." 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
NATO's Globalization 
 
"NATO's Globalization: Few Takers" 
Arnaud de la Grange in right-of-center Le Figaro (05/02): 
"The ambitions of the Americans for NATO, an Alliance that 
would spread from Vancouver to Tasmania, has no limits. 
This idea was debated in Bulgaria but was finally received 
with lukewarm enthusiasm, including from decidedly pro- 
Atlanticists. For American strategists, and for NATO's 
Secretary General, the reasoning is simple: new threats 
 
SIPDIS 
have become global and the means to deal with them must 
follow. But NATO's Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was careful to 
distinguish between a 'global alliance' and an 'alliance 
with global partners.' America's idea is to establish a 
partnership with nations which participate in operations, 
although they are not in the ranks to become NATO members. 
In Asia, this could include Japan or Australia. But says a 
diplomat: 'Such a step could worry China and Russia. it 
could also dilute and weaken the Alliance.' For months, the 
debate has dealt with NATO's extension, both geographical 
and thematic. The Alliance is playing a civilian role in 
Afghanistan, a humanitarian one in Pakistan and is involved 
in a political dialogue with Gulf States and the Maghreb. 
In the Middle East, Darfur and Africa, it is upstaging the 
EU. In Sofia, new members such as Poland and Latvia were 
reserved about the plan for 'global' partners, which could 
marginalize them. 'Old members' like Spain or Portugal, 
feel that NATO is already overwhelmed with its nearby 
environment. Others like the Netherlands are very keen to 
keep the specific nature of the original transatlantic 
relationship. In short, the French are not the only ones to 
be concerned about NATO's involvement every which way." 
 
STAPLETON