Cablegate: Santiago Feb. 23 Media Report

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SUBJECT: Santiago Feb. 23 Media Report

Lead Story

1. President Bachelet and President-elect PiC1. President Bachelet and President-elect PiC

Mercurio, 2/23).

Editorials

9. Editorial on the recent signature of the Chile-U.S. tax
agreement: "The agreement was concluded after 10 years of talks
between the two countries.... Chile is negotiating similar treaties
with 12 other countries and has another 21 already in effect....
Chile should continue in this direction and sign as many agreements
of this kind as possible, because they strengthen international
trade and benefits both parties" (El Mercurio, 2/23).

Obama Administration

10. Editorial entitled, "Together against the Taliban": "We are
beginning to see the first results of Obama's political and
military strategy in Afghanistan. Operation Mushtarak... has been
the largest allied attack on Marjah... a key zone for the Taliban
that was impenetrable .... Many criticized Washington for 'warning'
the Taliban of the attacks through the media, but the calculated
leak allowed civilians to flee ... and many Taliban to desert....
This week we learned that a joint CIA-Pakistan operations resulted
in the capture of three Taliban leaders.... This not only weakens
the Taliban for now. It also shows that the United States and
Pakistan are overcoming the problems that undermined their
cooperation in the Bush administration.... The current strategy
seems to indicate that Obama has understood how to confront the
dangerous and versatile enemy and that it is necessary to include
Afghans and Pakistanis to win" (Conservative, influential
newspaper-of-record El Mercurio, 2/21).

11. Editorial on the meeting between President Obama and the Dalai
Lama: "China has clearly demanded the meeting not take place....
but the U.S. president has gone ahead with it anyway.... This is
just one of several incidents that show that China sees itself as a
world power and as such is demanding respect for its foreign policy
and economic decisions.... Washington is challenging the Asian
Giant in its more sensitive spot: its sovereignty. But both
countries need each other. We are now witnessing the struggle of
an ascending power to place itself on equal terms next to the
world's most important actor" (El Mercurio, 2/22).

12. Editorial "Obama bets on nuclear energy": "The world is at a
crossroad. Gas emissions are aggravating global warming and large
scale alternative energies... are still costly.... Today, 20
percent of the energy that the United States uses is nuclear, and
although it must yet improve nuclear waste recycling, in the
mid-term this type of energy seems to be the only choice to stop
using fossil fuels as soon as possible. Plus, China is building 21
reactors, India five, and South Korea six. In the future, if a
country cannot generate the energy it needs, it will have to buy it
from others" (El Mercurio, 2/22)
SIMONS

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