Posted on 05/07/2007 8:11:53 PM PDT by freedomdefender
Leading governments of Europe, mounting a new campaign to push Paul D. Wolfowitz from his job as World Bank president, signaled Monday that they were willing to let the United States choose the bank’s next chief, but only if Mr. Wolfowitz stepped down soon, European officials said.
European officials had previously indicated that they wanted to end the tradition of the United States picking the World Bank leader. But now the officials are hoping to enlist American help in persuading Mr. Wolfowitz to resign voluntarily, rather than be rebuked or ousted.
The goal, they said, is to avert a public rupture of the bank board over a vote, possibly later this week, to sanction Mr. Wolfowitz. Even if the vote is a reprimand, they said, it could effectively make it impossible for him to stay on.
The Europeans worked to arrange a quick exit for Mr. Wolfowitz as a special bank committee concluded that he was guilty of breaking rules barring conflicts of interest in arranging for a pay raise and promotion for Shaha Ali Riza, his companion and a bank employee, in 2005.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Bad idea. You don’t negotiate with extortionists and liars.
I hear John Bolton is available. ;)
A deal is a deal, fellas. ;)
How about Rummy?
How nice of them! What if we want to end their "tradition" of picking the IMF chief? For that matter what if we end the "tradition" of funding and participating in WB and IMF?
Sounds like they want to make a "deal" because they really have no leverage. Telling them that Bolton will be next WB president if Wolfie is rebuked or ousted will cool them off pronto!
And remind them that Segolene lost... Wasn't too long ago, they should be able to recall.
Mr. Wolfowitz resigns and the US withdraws both our membership and all the American taxpayers' money from the World Bank.
Don’t forget that there is no way they can make that charge stick with Wolfowitz. He disclosed his long-term relationship with the woman when he took the job, and recused himself from any decisions concerning her. The bank board decided she should be moved to the State Department with a raise that was due her anyway. No case here!
They are trying to use this trumped up "scandal" as a leverage for taking over WB completely, and cover up their corruption. Just like UN distracted from news about UN-OFF corruption by "torture" charges in Guantanamo and Abu-Ghraib... We should tell them they ain't got no stinking leverage.
If he would not have have promoted his girlfriend over abusing the authority of his office things would have never gone that far. It is Wolfowitz very own fault if we Europeans want to get rid of him.
BTW - I understand the critisim on Kofi Annan i.e. for his corruption and most Freepers were right when they dismissed this UN-”leader”. Corruption and leadership do not go with each other. Therefore we should not lie to ourselves if someone conservative (and in this case American) is also corrupt.
Greetings from good old Europe!
A.B.
Nice dream.
either by no fault of their own,
or incompetence,
or greed,
etc.
the liberal-left is ushering out the bush administration’s appointees.
Politics are a give and take. The problem might be that it is not in the interest of America to loose its influence in those organisations and the influence on its European allies (what would be the case in the long term if America backtracks itself from international organisations - no matter if we talk about NATO, UN, IWF or WB). The US are of course a superpower, but they are not omnipotent. Without their partners in Europe and elsewhere things will getting much more difficult. It is better to solve problems together than alone.
True, but for the most part we give and they take.
The problem might be that it is not in the interest of America to loose its influence in those organisations and the influence on its European allies
Without their partners in Europe
True, but only if they behave like allies and partners which is not the case here. They are trying to save and cover up their corruption - using trumped up charges against Wolfowitz to get leverage. That's not the behavior of allies and partners, that's behavior of scoundrels who want to save their own skin when things get hot for them. When people are willing to resort to extortion, we should stop treating them as allies and partners. We should make them understand that this is no way to get the leverage and that they have none.
As far as influence in those organizations, it's Europeans who are trying dishonestly to get more of it and leave us with less of it (a "deal"), as long as we (American taxpayers) underwrite their profligate ways. If we can assure them of 100% influence with 0% of our money, do you think they would be interested? How much success and influence UN had with Darfur, or Big Three of Europe had negotiating with Iran when we let them go it alone - without influence of our financing or military?
It's time to show our "allies and partners" how not to deal with real allies and partners. In the politics of give and take it's their time to give, especially in this case because it's righteous - corruption and extortion shouldn't be rewarded, or else we will only lose our influence. "New tone" with these scoundrels will never work, it will only be accepted as a sign of weakness, and lead only to real weakness in the future when the stakes for both sides could be higher. Consider it a small skirmish with big consequences.
Do you know that you are not telling the truth. Or are you just a typical European and don't care?
True, and the real problem here is the corruption at WB that needs to be cleaned up, not a phony one created to remove the man who is trying to clean it up.
Europeans are generously willing to make a "deal" to give us "back" something they want but which we already have (presidential appointment authority) in exchange for "forgiving" a "scandal" that only exists because they say it does.
It's hypocritical and it's a low grade bluff on their side - and it should be called, lest they claim the high road on corruption and try it again.
It is better to solve problems together than alone, but it should be real problems, and they should remember that - and this should be the reminder.
Great post!
Thank you for your permission to criticize a CORRUPT UN LEADER under who innocents were raped and killed by UN “peace keeping” troops. A UN leader whose own son was neck deep in the Iraq oil for food money scandal.
Did Wolfowitz do anything NEAR what Kofi and the UN did EVERY day and continue to do? This is a scandal manufactured for the purpose of injuring one of Bush’s circle.
Don’t dare to compare the total corruption of the UN with what Wolfowitz MIGHT have done. That is unless you can PROVE that those under his direct control RAPED and MURDERED innocents, or you can PROVE that he or his associates or family members extorted millions from members of the World Bank or those who he was “granting” loans to.
Face it, the World Bank is a defacto “Bank of the U.S.A tax payers” so we deserve to be in control or we should remove OUR money.
Maybe some of your Euro friends can get together and form their own world bank with their Euro’s. Hopefully they can work as well together as Airbus... oppps.. never mind.
Pardon me, but you should keep this historically accurate. Here is how it would be correctly worded based on the last 75 years of history;
“Without the their partner, the U.S.A. in the U.S.A., things in Europe and elsewhere would NOW be difficult.”
Remember, going back those last 75 years if it had not been for U.S. money and the blood of our soldiers europe would have been either the kingdom of the third reich or just part of the "union" in the domain of the Soviet Union.
Then again, maybe memories in europe are not nearly as long as some claim.
Only if the objective is to destroy the WB.
On second thought .... ;)
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