Germany's Foreign Minister Fischer was quick to denounce Malaysian Prime Minister's Mahathir Mohamad anti-Jewish rumblings ("Jews run the world"). Mahathir's remarks are "completely unacceptable", Fischer said according to a press release" published on the German Foreign Ministry's web-site on Oct. 16, 2003.
The press release is in German, and even though the Foreign Office's site offers an English language service where some press releases' English translations are presented, there is no English translation of the Mahathir press release. Compare this to the preferential translation treatment received by this less-than-sensational press release: "The Federal Foreign Office provides 250,000 Euros for Sudanese refugees in Chad"... That's right: 250,000 Euro! Not 2,5 Million Euro, or 25 Million Euro! Virtually no one - with the possible exemption of Chad's media - will take notice of this press release, for good reasons.
Fischer's remarks regarding Mahathir were hardly noticed in the German media. An English translation would have helped to spread Germany's protest internationally - but it sure wouldn't have helped Germany's image among Arab nations. Lot's of contracts in limbo...
Translation by Ray D.
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