'Goebbels' reference rocks WTO talks, US angry at Brazil
GENEVA: Some pre-negotiation jabbing turned into a potentially damaging diplomatic incident Saturday when Brazil's foreign minister said rich countries' deception in trade talks reminded him of tactics used by Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.
His comments drew a sharp rebuke from the United States, whose chief trade negotiator, Susan Schwab, is the daughter of Jewish Holocaust survivors. Her spokesman described the reference to Goebbels as "incredibly wrong."
The controversy threatens to overshadow the importance of next week's last-ditch effort to save seven years of frustrating talks on a new global trade pact that aims to alleviate poverty around the world.
The so-called Doha trade round is already teetering on the brink of collapse.
"Excuse me for quoting the author," Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told reporters at the World Trade Organization, where top negotiators from over two dozen countries are expected Monday for the official start of the talks.
T
Holocaust Rolled Out Yet Again To Silence Criticism
If there’s one thing I object to in the strongest terms, it’s the use of the Holocaust as a political battering ram to shut people up when they criticise fascist behaviour.
In this case, it was Brazil’s foreign minister, Celso Amorim, who, with some justification, said rich countries’ deception in trade talks reminded him of tactics used by Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.
The US delegation, led by Susan Schwab, immediately hurled her decendancy from Holocaust survivors straight back at him, in order to deflect media attention from the fact that the policies of the World Trade Organisation can quite justifiably be compared to those of the Hitler regime.
GENEVA: Some pre-negotiation jabbing turned into a potentially damaging diplomatic incident Saturday when Brazil's foreign minister said rich countries' deception in trade talks reminded him of tactics used by Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.
His comments drew a sharp rebuke from the United States, whose chief trade negotiator, Susan Schwab, is the daughter of Jewish Holocaust survivors. Her spokesman described the reference to Goebbels as "incredibly wrong."
The controversy threatens to overshadow the importance of next week's last-ditch effort to save seven years of frustrating talks on a new global trade pact that aims to alleviate poverty around the world.
The so-called Doha trade round is already teetering on the brink of collapse.
"Excuse me for quoting the author," Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told reporters at the World Trade Organization, where top negotiators from over two dozen countries are expected Monday for the official start of the talks.
T
Holocaust Rolled Out Yet Again To Silence Criticism
If there’s one thing I object to in the strongest terms, it’s the use of the Holocaust as a political battering ram to shut people up when they criticise fascist behaviour.
In this case, it was Brazil’s foreign minister, Celso Amorim, who, with some justification, said rich countries’ deception in trade talks reminded him of tactics used by Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.
The US delegation, led by Susan Schwab, immediately hurled her decendancy from Holocaust survivors straight back at him, in order to deflect media attention from the fact that the policies of the World Trade Organisation can quite justifiably be compared to those of the Hitler regime.