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| Wolfowitz on shortlist for World Bank top post |
| 2005-03-01 |
| It's only Tuesday, but thus far it's been a very good week (not including the car bomb in Iraq, of course). I think a small snicker would not be out of place. Edited for key points. Paul Wolfowitz, US deputy secretary of defence, has emerged as a leading candidate to replace James Wolfensohn as the president of the World Bank. Mr Wolfowitz is one of a small number of people being considered for the US nomination, administration insiders said. The nomination of Mr Wolfowitz, one of the chief architects of the Iraq war and a former US ambassador to Indonesia, would likely be highly controversial, and could raise new questions about the process by which the World Bank chief is selected. One administration official said his nomination "would have enormous repercussions within the development community". Leadership of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund is decided by all the shareholders in the institutions. But the US and Europe in effect divide up the top jobs, with an American heading the bank and a European running the fund. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #7 Gen. Matthis. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-03-01 4:33:50 PM |
| #6 Has he had enough of the Pentagon? Who'd replace him? |
| Posted by: someone 2005-03-01 4:13:34 PM |
| #5 The World Bank is essentially a political institution. Its success hinges on the degree to which it can keep kleptocratic predators from hijacking public development schemes for their own benefit. |
| Posted by: thibaud (aka lex) 2005-03-01 3:31:06 PM |
| #4 Wolfowitz' expertise is international relations as well as the more specialized defense area. He was Dean and Professor of International Relations at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of The Johns Hopkins University. SAIS is widely regarded as one of the world's leading graduate schools of international relations with 750 students, studying on campuses in Washington, D.C.; Nanjing, China; and Bologna, Italy. As Dean, he led a successful capital campaign that raised more than $75 million and doubled the school's endowment. according to his official bio. Also During the Reagan administration, Dr. Wolfowitz served for three years as U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia - the fourth largest country in the world and the largest in the Moslem world. There he earned a reputation as a highly popular and effective Ambassador, a tough negotiator on behalf of American intellectual property owners, and a public advocate of political openness and democratic values. During his tenure, Embassy Jakarta was cited as one of the four best-managed embassies inspected in 1988. Prior to that posting, he served three and a half years as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, where he was in charge of U.S. relations with more than twenty countries. In addition to contributing to substantial improvements in U.S. relations with Japan and China, Assistant Secretary Wolfowitz played a central role in coordinating the U.S. policy toward the Philippines that supported a peaceful transition from the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos to democracy. The World Bank is arguably much more about IR and development than about finance and banking in the commercial sense. |
| Posted by: Robin Burk 2005-03-01 3:23:07 PM |
| #3 I'm quite fond of Wolfowitz, but does he have the slightest financial experience? He's been a defense and foreign policy professional since forever. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2005-03-01 3:07:56 PM |
| #2 I can't think of a better choice. Wolfowitz is a strong supporter of democracy and human rights with lengthy, hands-on political experience in Asia. Unlike Wolfensohn he's not beholden to the investment banker mafia and will quickly see through the WB's bullshit mega-project proposals that do nothing for the peoples of the third world while handsomely enriching kleptocrats and execs at mutlinationals like Bouygues and Bechtel. Perhaps, finally, we may see the WB actually helping small businesses and ordinary people to gain some control over their lives. |
| Posted by: thibaud (aka lex) 2005-03-01 2:27:00 PM |
| #1 The nomination of Mr Wolfowitz, one of the chief architects of the Iraq war and a former US ambassador to Indonesia, would likely be highly controversial, Tell me, which Bush Administration nominee hasn't been 'controversial'? |
| Posted by: Raj 2005-03-01 12:50:33 PM |