US hawk named to run World Bank

[kpih]

US hawk named to run World Bank

President George W Bush has nominated US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz as the next head of the World Bank, a key development agency.

Mr Wolfowitz has earned a reputation as a hawk during his time as Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's deputy, and was a strong advocate of the Iraq war.

President Bush described Mr Wolfowitz as a "compassionate, decent man" committed to global development.

His choice of a hardliner to run the agency is likely to be controversial.

Controversial

Mr Bush said Mr Wolfowitz was "a man of good experience" and a skilled diplomat who had "helped manage a large organisation" during his time at the Pentagon.

Privately, current World Bank president James Wolfensohn had made it clear that he had wanted to continue but failed to get White House backing.

He was appointed by Democrat former President Bill Clinton, and will be leaving on 1 June after 10 years in charge.

The White House began notifying other nations of its choice earlier in the day.

Mr Wolfowitz is a deeply controversial figure in US politics, the BBC's Justin Webb reports from Washington.

He is associated with the so-called "neo-conservatives" - senior figures in and around the Bush administration who believe that America needs to be very active in pressing the case for its values around the world, our correspondent says.

His nomination has been welcomed by International Monetary Fund head Rodrigo de Rato and UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. Both men praised Mr Wolfowitz's experience and said they were looking forward to working with him.

Mr Straw said the US president's choice was "very distinguished and experienced internationally".

It is the second time within weeks that Mr Bush has appointed a hardliner to a key international post.

Earlier in March he nominated Under-Secretary of State John Bolton to be US ambassador to the United Nations - a body Mr Bolton has repeatedly derided.

Seeking support

The World Bank numbers 184 states among its members, and is responsible for leading global efforts to promote economic development and reduce poverty.

For the appointment to go ahead, Mr Wolfowitz must be formally approved by the World Bank's executive board.

In a statement, the Bank said its directors were responsible for making the selection and were "in the process of consultations with the member countries they represent".

"An official announcement of the outcome of the deliberations and actions of the Executive Directors will be made as soon as a decision has been reached," the Bank said.

US appointments to the World Bank presidency are usually unchallenged, as are European nominations to lead the International Monetary Fund.

But there remains the possibility of a veto similar to that used by the US to stop Europe's choice for IMF chief, Caio Koch-Weser, from getting the job in 2000.

The Bank's former chief economist Joseph Stiglitz has criticised Mr Wolfowitz's candidacy, saying he has no experience in economic development or financial markets.

"Even if convention allows the American president to appoint the World Bank's head, the organisation's success depends on the confidence of others," Professor Stiglitz wrote in the UK-based Guardian newspaper last week.

On a recent visit to Brussels, the Bank's current president said his successor should be passionate about battling poverty and not merely an efficient manager. He declined to comment directly on Mr Wolfowitz's candidacy.

Mr Wolfowitz is likely to prove "very sympathetic to new initiatives to revive African and other developing economies" and a "real zealot" on the need for better governance, said Professor John Stremlau of the Centre for Africa's International Relations at South Africa's University of Witwatersrand.

The choice was "going to rub people up the wrong way" but in time Mr Wolfowitz could prove to be "a very important and good leader", he said.

The list of candidates rumoured to be in the running included Carly Fiorina, the recently ousted boss of giant computer firm Hewlett-Packard.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/business/4354839.stm

Published: 2005/03/16 21:05:26 GMT

© BBC MMV

[imturok]

Expect more of the similar to come. The neocons are staging to extend their influence beyond Bush's term.

[Jung Rhee]

It is called Wolf in the hen house. Get it?

[imturok]

Banker Wolfowitz says:
"The buck stop here. Give me all you have, they are safe with me."
"Whoof whoof, want a piece of me?"

[Faithless]

Banker Wolfowitz says:
"The buck stop here. Give me all you have, they are safe with me."
"Whoof whoof, want a piece of me?"
"Want a piece of me?"

No, no. That's what his mistress, Shaha Ali Riza is saying. (Wolfie, that sly dawg!)

Did Wolfowitz's cheating on his wife break up their marriage? (http://www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/032805Thoreau/032805thoreau.html)

By Jackson Thoreau * Online Journal Contributing Writer

March 28, 2005—Ah, the hypocrisy in these Republicans just keeps bubbling over.

Washington is buzzing over Jewish neocon and Iraq invasion proponent Paul Wolfowitz's "personal relationship" with Shaha Ali Riza, an Arab Muslim and the acting manager for external relations and outreach for the Middle East and North Africa region at the very World Bank that Bush nominated "Wolfie" to lead.

For one, it's unclear whether Wolfie is actually divorced from Clare Selgin Wolfowitz, the mother of his three kids, whom he married in 1968. The Washington Post claims he is divorced, but several reporters, including yours truly and some British ones, have not been able to unearth any divorce papers.

The Daily Mail on March 20 reported that Selgin refused to "confirm her marital status—reports of his appointment repeatedly describe Wolfowitz as divorced but The Mail on Sunday has been unable to find any records. Asked if she is separated or divorced, Clare replied: 'That's my business.'"

The Mail adds this juicy tidbit: "They have lived separately since 2001, after allegations of an affair with an employee at the School of Advanced International Studies where [Wolfowitz] was dean for seven years. According to one Republican administration insider, Clare was so upset by rumors about the affair that she wrote to then President Elect Bush, saying if the story were true it could pose a national security risk."

There is also this report at SW-Asia.com by consultant Barry O'Connell, a former Republican and present conservative Democrat:

"Reports indicate that Dr. Clare Selgin Wolfowitz separated from Paul because he had an affair with a woman at Johns Hopkins University. Paul Wolfowitz was Dean and Professor of International Relations at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of The Johns Hopkins University. During that time he used his position to prey on woman under his authority. When the scandal broke, he and his wife Clare separated but appear not to have divorced. At this point it is unclear if the relationship with Shaha Ali Riza predates the scandalous affair at SAIS. One may wonder if Wolfowitz has trouble keeping track of his women, but I have it on good authority that he uses his protective detail of federal officers to manage his affairs and shuttle him from assignation to assignation."

Wolfowitz's Pentagon spokesman has even acknowledged the personal relationship, releasing a statement quoting Wolfie as saying, "If a personal relationship presents a potential conflict of interest, I will comply with bank policies to resolve the issue."

The Washington Post also reported that "Wolfowitz regularly spends the night at Riza's home. Two residents told us that Wolfowitz's guards wait in a car outside until he departs early in the morning. "

Since "morality" is such a key issue among Republicans these days, I think we have a right to ask Wolfie whether he is still technically married to his wife when he is spending the night at Riza's home. We have a right to ask Wolfie whether he is really having an extramarital affair now, and whether he had one years ago that led to the break up of his marriage.

We have a right to ask Wolfie, Bush and other Republicans how such alleged affairs square with their party's morality stance. We have a right to ask Americans who voted for these clowns why they support such hypocrisy.

Remember how many millions of tax dollars Republicans spent to dig into Bill Clinton's private life? We at least should be able to ask questions about Republicans' private lives, especially when they're shoving a "holier than thou" attitude in our faces, should we not?

Jackson Thoreau is a Washington, D.C.-area journalist/writer. He can be contacted at jacksonthor@yahoo.com or jacksonthor@gmail.com.

[Faithless]

In response to the criticism, World Bank officials said in the online report that it was dedicated to alleviating the suffering of the 500 million people who are afflicted with malaria each year.

But it said that, despite successes in malaria control in parts of Brazil, Eritrea, India and Vietnam, "the overall efforts by the Bank in malaria control were understaffed and underfunded."

World Bank criticized over anti-malaria efforts -- Public health experts criticized the World Bank on Tuesday for failing to tackle malaria in hard-hit countries while millions of children have died. (http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=14854)

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

They said the bank, which has an annual budget of $20 billion, has concealed the amount of money it spends to fight the illness, funded ineffective treatment, reduced its expert staff and published false statistics about its efforts.

Professor Amir Attaran of the Institute of Population Health at the University of Ottawa in Canada and his colleagues said the World Bank's program for controlling malaria in 2005-2010 was inadequate to reverse its history of neglect for malaria.

"They have made decisions which have killed a very large number of children throughout the world," Attaran said in an interview.

"The reality is that the Bank got it dreadfully wrong on malaria in a number of ways," he said.

Suprotik Basu, public health specialist on the bank's malaria team, rejected the accusation, saying developing countries were insisting that the World Bank stay engaged in the fight against malaria.

"Any insinuation that the bank's support for malaria control in Africa or worldwide has been responsible for the deaths of children is misleading and grotesquely incorrect," he said.

Malaria, a parasitic disease transmitted by mosquitoes, kills more than a million people a year, mostly young children in Africa.

Attaran and his colleagues described the Bank's technical expertise as insufficient and said it was institutionally unsuited to deliver excellence on malaria.

"We summarize the evidence, show that the Bank possesses demonstrably little experience in malaria, and argue that the Bank should relinquish its funding to other agencies better placed to control the disease," Attaran said in a report published online by The Lancet medical journal.

In response to the criticism, World Bank officials said in the online report that it was dedicated to alleviating the suffering of the 500 million people who are afflicted with malaria each year.

But it said that, despite successes in malaria control in parts of Brazil, Eritrea, India and Vietnam, "the overall efforts by the Bank in malaria control were understaffed and underfunded."

Jean-Louis Sarbib, of the World Bank, said it was not easy, or even possible sometimes, to determine how much input from a donor has gone into specific activities to control malaria.

He added that $500 million in new commitments for malaria control in Africa and south Asia are expected in 2006-2008.

"World Bank Group President Paul Wolfowitz has put the full weight of his leadership behind the Bank's renewed commitment to malaria, with a strong emphasis on results," Sarbib said.

But the public health experts called for the Bank to allocate $1 billion to other organizations such as the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria which has a better track record.

"They simply need to get out of the disease control business," Attaran said.

[LaiSteve66]

Booooooooooooooo! Just say no to neo-cons and their bullshit.