“HE THAT IS WITHOUT SIN among you, let him first cast a stone . . . ” European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, secure in the knowledge that the Biblical interdiction doesn’t disqualify him as a first-stone-thrower, rushed to the television studios to blame the United States for the collapse of the Doha round of trade talks. Those who follow trade matters might remember that Mandelson antagonized first then-United States Trade Representative Bob Zoellick, and then his successor, by rushing to print every time some confidential negotiation wasn’t going his way.

Mandelson conveniently ignored the fact that it was his E.U. masters, led by France, who forced Pascal Lamy, director-general of the 149-member World Trade Organization, to suspend the negotiations indefinitely after five frustrating years of trying to get the key players to agree on new trade-opening measures.