INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: Media Reaction - Atomic Fall Out

Published: Tue 9 Aug 2005 03:21 PM
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SANTIAGO 001674
SIPDIS
FOR IIP/G/WHA, INR/R/MR, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA,
EUR/RUS, EAP/CM
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KNNP KMDR KPAO OPRC PARM CI
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION - ATOMIC FALL OUT
1. On August 6, conservative, influential newspaper-of-
record "El Mercurio" (circ. 116,807) ran an editorial
entitled, "Will Europe Find a Solution?" Quote:
"60 years after the first atomic bomb was dropped on
Hiroshima, the world still fears nuclear holocaust. This
is why...we must find effective ways to live in harmony
and to negotiate with `untrustworthy' countries that will
inevitably seek prestige and power through nuclear
weapons."
2. On August 7, conservative, independent "La Tercera"
(circ. 102,000) carried a column by staff writer with the
acronym MOJ entitled, "60 Years to Remember":
"In WWII, humankind showed deplorable traits that must
not be forgotten: autocrats willing to lead their nations
to the abyss, totalitarian systems in which men became
simple spare parts for a machine...racial prejudice taken
to extremes...the capability and will to build more
deadly war machines, and a moral corruption inherent to
all wars that made the bombing of civilians--labeled a
barbarous act at the war's beginning--acceptable by the
war's end. In light of recent events, it is not clear
that we have learned from the mistakes and horrors of the
past. If in another 60 years we still remember
Hiroshima, we will have progressed."
3. On August 6, conservative, independent "La Tercera"
(circ. 102,000) carried an editorial entitled,
"Hiroshima: The Effects of `Total War.'" Quote:
"What we can do today is analyze the world following the
bombings (of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). The availability
of nuclear weapons and the proof of their destructive
power took the world...into the longest period of peace
in centuries. A stability based on the fear of mutual
destruction...has prevented the use of these weapons
until today.... In the 21st century, however, the
challenge is different: countries that are unhappy with
their position in the international system could use
atomic weapons as currency or to threaten other nations.
That is the path North Korea has chosen and the fear--
which we now know was mistaken--regarding Saddam Hussein.
These are countries that are unafraid of taking risks and
in which decisions are not adequately processed through
institutional filters. Therefore, together with the
possibility--thus far unconfirmed--that terrorist groups
may have obtained nuclear weapons the greatest threat
today is proliferation."
KELLY
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