>>> Brazil official's Nazi reference rocks WTO talks
>>>
>>> By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER, Associated Press Writer 57 minutes ago
>>>
>>> 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.
>>>
>>> ADVERTISEMENT
>>>
>>> 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 next week's last-ditch effort to
>>> save seven years of frustrating talks on a new global trade pact toward
>>> alleviating poverty around the world.
>>>
>>> The so-called Doha trade round is already teetering on the brink of
>>> collapse. President Bush has made a Doha deal a key part of his trade
>>> agenda.
>>>
>>> Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said the U.S., Europe and other
>>> wealthy economies have so frequently misrepresented the talks launched in
>>> Qatar's capital in 2001 that public perception has become totally warped.
>>>
>>> "Goebbels used to say if you repeat a lie several times it becomes a truth,"
>>> 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.
>>>
>>> Poorer countries have demanded cuts in the farm tariffs and subsidies used
>>> by wealthy countries, saying they hinder Third World development. In
>>> exchange, rich countries have insisted on better market access in developing
>>> countries for their manufacturers and service providers.
>>>
>>> Amorim implied that rich countries were employing Goebbels' lying tactics in
>>> describing the agricultural concessions they claim they are willing to make,
>>> while criticizing poorer countries for refusing to liberalize their
>>> industrial markets.
>>>
>>> "I am reminded of Goebbels," said Amorim, whose country has co-led with
>>> India a broad coalition of developing countries at the WTO talks.
>>>
>>> Later, his spokesman qualified the remarks and apologized to Schwab.
>>>
>>> Sean Spicer, spokesman for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, said
>>> he was horrified by the "personal venom" of Amorim's words.
>>>
>>> "We came here to Geneva to negotiate on substance," Spicer told The
>>> Associated Press. "For him to make remarks like this is so incredibly wrong.
>>> They are insulting."
>>>
>>> Spicer noted that Schwab visited Amorim to soothe tensions immediately after
>>> negotiations collapsed in acrimony in 2006.
>>>
>>> In an interview with the AP, Amorim's spokesman Ricardo Neiva Tavares said
>>> the minister "regrets if Susan Schwab or anyone else was upset by his
>>> comments on a historical fact. He certainly did not intend to hurt anyone's
>>> feelings, which he deeply respects."
>>>
Tags: Propaganda J Goebbels Geneva
