from the SMH

Bush in final effort to save Wolfowitz's job 

Last bid to save Wolfowitz as net closes

Steven Weisman in Washington
May 16, 2007

THE Bush Administration has mounted a last-ditch global campaign to save Paul Wolfowitz from being ousted as president of the World Bank following a finding by a bank committee that he had violated ethical and governance rules.

...

White House and Republican officials said that from the beginning, the US President, George Bush, has seen the controversy over Dr Wolfowitz as a proxy fight waged by liberals at the bank opposed to Mr Bush's policies, and that they would not toss him or the Attorney-General, Alberto Gonzales, overboard just because Administration opponents want them out.

Beyond pride and politics, Administration officials said that having someone at the bank who is viewed as committed to combating corruption and waste in aid programs, and who commands the confidence of conservatives, helps guarantee congressional funding for the bank's projects.

But European governments have increasingly signalled that they would not fund the bank if Dr Wolfowitz stays. In particular jeopardy is a commitment made in 2005 by Mr Bush and other Western leaders to cancel the debts of poor countries, a pledge that will cost $US30 billion ($36 billion) in new funding over the next three years.

These clashes of perspective have ruptured the bank's governance system so deeply that finance officials in many countries worry that it may be irreparable whatever happens to Dr Wolfowitz. If he refuses to resign he might find it hard to travel or issue directives. If he leaves, a fight over choosing his successor is sure to erupt, they said.

 

 

He told the board their decision would affect how the US and the world viewed the World Bank.

World Bank hears Wolfowitz case

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Gus: Sure their decision would affect how the world viewed the World Bank. If Wolfo stays on, the World bank becomes a joke of nepotism and double standards. Sure their decision would affect how the US viewed the World Bank. If Wolfo goes, the US will song and dance like an ADDH trantrumic kid from whom his lollipop was taken away because he keep sticking it in his nose.... At this level of world affairs, there is only one way: hit the kid behind his wet ears... OUT! But then I'm only a small potato in field of human behaviour... and corruption rules best on the higher echelons of big bucks. Bugger, I missed my chance to be crooked and rich when my parents taught me the value of rightfulness and I sheepishly have tried to follow this ideal since then... When I failed, deliberately or accidentally, I paid the price. simple... 

 

 

‘An angry and bitter Paul Wolfowitz poured abuse and threatened retaliations on senior World Bank staff if his orders for pay rises and promotions for his partner were revealed, according to new details published last night.

Under fire for the lavish package given to Shaha Riza, a World Bank employee and Mr Wolfowitz's girlfriend when he became president, an official investigation into the controversy has found that Mr Wolfowitz broke bank rules and violated his own contract – setting off a struggle between US and European governments over Mr Wolfowitz's future.

Sounding more like a cast member of the Sopranos than an international leader, in testimony by one key witness Mr Wolfowitz declares: "If they fuck with me or Shaha, I have enough on them to fuck them too."’

Angry Wolfowitz In Four-Letter Tirade

embarrassing debate over wolfie at the World Bank has "ruptured the bank's governance system so deeply that finance officials in many countries worry that it may be irreparable whatever happens to Mr. Wolfowitz.

If he refuses to resign, many said he might find it hard to travel or issue directives. If he leaves, a fight over choosing his successor is sure to erupt.

Yes John...,

Wolfowitz Hangs On As Ouster Hits WallDay-Long Standoff Ends Unresolved; Talks to Resume

By Peter S. GoodmanWashington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007; Page A01

 

The Bush administration spent much of yesterday trying to broker a graceful end to the ethics controversy consuming the World Bank, offering the resignation of embattled president Paul D. Wolfowitz, senior administration and bank officials said. But Wolfowitz said he would not leave, insisting on a measure of vindication.

On a day full of rumors, counter-rumors and closed-door meetings, the Wolfowitz saga turned into an only-in-Washington standoff.

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Yeah, John... that's the spirit of modern stick-on window-pane glue... Grips like a Wolfowitz tight butt to the CEO chair of a world bank... This advertising for Wolfie Glag was free of charge.

 

From the ABC

World Bank president Wolfowitz resigns

World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz says he is resigning for the "best interests" of the bank, effective June 30.

"I am announcing today that I will resign as president of the World Bank Group effective at the end of the fiscal year (June 30, 2007)," Mr Wolfowitz said.

"The poorest people in the world ... deserve the very best we can deliver.

"Now it is necessary to find a way to move forward."

The decision comes after lengthy discussions about the fate of Mr Wolfowitz who was engulfed in a scandal after helping to gain a pay rise and promotion for his girlfriend, a bank employee.

A statement by the board says mistakes were made on both sides.

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Gus: a replacement stooge is soon to be announced by the White House...

 

Zoellick to Be Named to Lead World Bank
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
Published: May 29, 2007

WASHINGTON, May 29 — Robert B. Zoellick, a former deputy secretary of state and top trade envoy under President Bush, is expected to be named president of the World Bank, administration officials and others said today.

They said he was the top choice of European governments and also of the critics of the bank’s practices.

World Bank accused of razing Congo forests

Internal report says mass logging threatens Pygmies Findings are embarrassing for British government

• John Vidal, environment editor
• The Guardian
• Thursday October 4 2007

The World Bank encouraged foreign companies to destructively log the world's second largest forest, endangering the lives of thousands of Congolese Pygmies, according to a report on an internal investigation by senior bank staff and outside experts. The report by the independent inspection panel, seen by the Guardian, also accuses the bank of misleading Congo's government about the value of its forests and of breaking its own rules.

Congo's rainforests are the second largest in the world after the Amazon, locking nearly 8% of the planet's carbon and having some of its richest biodiversity. Nearly 40 million people depend on the forests for medicines, shelter, timber and food.

The report into the bank's activities in Democratic Republic of Congo since 2002 follows complaints made two years ago by an alliance of 12 Pygmy groups. The groups claimed that the bank-backed system of awarding vast logging concessions to companies to exploit the forests was causing "irreversible harm".