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Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank

By Jeralyn, Section Other Politics
Posted on Wed Mar 16, 2005 at 08:37:03 PM EST
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Despite widespread support, rocker Bono didn't want the job of chief of the World Bank. He suggested Colin Powell. Some criticized that idea because Powell would not be passionate enough in his support for the needy in Africa. The World Bank is the world's largest provider of aid to developing nations.

Bush today nominated Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz for the position. How is he qualified? Where is his humanitarian spirit? What an awful choice. This will do nothing for "Brand America" but sink it further.

If approved by the bank's board, Wolfowitz would assume command of an institution that lends about $20 billion a year to developing nations and often plays an enormously influential role in shaping their policies because of the conditions it sets for aid.

The World Bank in recent years has been a target of groups that consider it to be an agent of Western corporate capitalism, especially the U.S. variety. Sensitivities abroad are inflamed about the Bush administration's propensity to throw its weight around the world.

Accordingly, the nomination was denounced by many of the groups that came to regard the bank under Wolfensohn as more receptive to their concerns. "Wolfowitz has shown nothing but disdain for collaboration with other countries," said David Waskow, director of the international program at Friends of the Earth. "How's he going to run the World Bank effectively, and to what end?"

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    • Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank | 36 comments (36 topical)
    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#1)
    by Dadler on Wed Mar 16, 2005 at 09:12:43 PM EST
    Wolfie's first act will be to change the name of the place to "Neo-Con Slavings and Loon". I'd laugh if it weren't so repulsive to think of this greedy, thoughtless, imagination vaccuum in that office. Dear God, a bolt of lightning, please.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Mar 16, 2005 at 09:22:04 PM EST
    More signs that a COUP isn't a legitimate gov't. They have to move the original conspirators around like musical chairs. That's why no one gets fired (unless they threaten to blow the BIG LIE)-- not enough cohorts. And the media! The Rice for President thinktank lead balloon, the Social Security baldfaced lying, the leveling of a town of 300,000 ignored -- thank God Almighty for Michael Jackson. The NYT should print their paper in negative, with white type on black. It's that far into fantasyland.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Mar 16, 2005 at 09:35:10 PM EST
    Terrible news. The Daily Show commented on this. I posted the video over from the Daily Show over at my place.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#4)
    by Al on Wed Mar 16, 2005 at 11:02:48 PM EST
    There's still hope. The EU may exercise a veto.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 12:42:19 AM EST
    Bush wins once more with one of his evil little friends, and this guy is real big on mexico and china on top of that.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 02:15:57 AM EST
    That's an assessment of people as cardboard nationalists. On 15 Feb 03, somewhere between 15 and 30 million marched, in every city in the world, against Bush's attempt to roll back everything WE have learned since the dawn of the nuclear age. This Saturday, people will again be in the streets in every city, calling out for an end to the kind of violent nationalism that violates the ethic raised by JFK: "We seek not the success of our system, or any system, but the general success of humankind." Wolfowitz is just another slap in the face to the world by people whose intentions match their illegal accession of power. Such face-slaps are a pre-lim to the further military destruction of the Middle East. Ultimately, he seeks the destruction of the Republic and its reputation, but really Bush is just a criminal, and that spirit expressed by JFK represents America.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#8)
    by Richard Aubrey on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 04:27:11 AM EST
    Maybe Wolfie will start by intercepting the money before it goes from dictator to Switzerland. What, you guys have investments with the Gnomes of Zurich?

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 05:50:46 AM EST
    Another hack for Bush Just like his appointment of Karen Hughes as roving ambassador --demonstrates that Bushco doesn't give a crap what anyone thinks

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 06:54:57 AM EST
    wg writes - "Think death penalty, health care systems, decent safety nets, etc." Think 10% unemployment, rising inflation, shrinking population, a lack of desire to defend themselves, loss of market share for major exports, booming immigration of Moslems. Yes indeed, they are really in wonderful shape. PIL - Problem is, democracy, as bad as you may think it is, is the only system that works for the benefit of people. et al - I am LOL. A few posts up you are condeming Bush for not have a "plan" for Social Security when he says he is looking for input. Here you are condeming him for not looking for input from old Europe, the UN and other happy bands of thieves and corruption. Could you please make up your mind? BHAW.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 08:15:02 AM EST
    Given that the man was the architect of the spring (democracy) revolution in the Middle East, I'd say he's a terrific choice. If things go as well at the World Bank as they are in the Middle East (hard to imagine, but who knows), he'll be a great choice. Also, I'd like say that our new UN ambassador was a fabulous selection.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 08:55:18 AM EST
    OK, it's a bit off topic, but I'll bite. I'm thrilled that Bush is asking for input on his Social Security proposal. But we're all giving him our input -- that it's a bad idea and we'd be better off making various tweaks to keep it on track instead. Investments accounts are great, but don't mix 'em up with Social Security. For some reason, Bush doesn't seem to like our input, or even the input from members of his own party, when they say things like that.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 09:10:26 AM EST
    Bill Clinton rejected an IMF candidate; some Europeans will be tempted to return the favor now—though they'll probably refrain, knowing how George W. Bush responds to international naysayers. Besides, they may recognize that Wolfowitz is not so bad a choice for World Bank boss. There's another dimension to this transfer. Wolfowitz may have wanted to leave the Pentagon, but it's possible that his days there were numbered. (McNamara, too, was never quite sure whether he was fired or he quit.) Are we seeing the opening stages of a second-term shift of power in the Defense Department—a belated (though, if it comes, unacknowledged) reckoning with the first term's grand mistakes? Sheep in Wolf's Clothing

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 09:42:38 AM EST
    well said wg, you are so right on the money, when bush and business are done with us, we will become nothing but one more Mexico and that is what he wants, just wait and see the camps opening up in 2008, this guy bush is nothing but a want-to-be-gang lord just like our so called congress and judges are now. by the way to show how totally evil the system is just open your eyes and look at 20 million alines inside the non nation once called the U.S.A., And all to help keep people down and poor all over the world, that is the real reason we have people here and that is the real reason our mexican borders will be opened until the end of this nation state. and that is why wolfowitz was picked by bush and busniess to help in the final solution to the question of our ideals and national culture. Hey Bush where is bin laden?

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 09:55:35 AM EST
    well said wg, you are so right on the money, when bush and business are done with us, we will become nothing but one more Mexico and that is what he wants, just wait and see the camps opening up in 2008, this guy bush is nothing but a want-to-be-gang lord just like our so called congress and judges are now. by the way to show how totally evil the system is just open your eyes and look at 20 million alines inside the non nation once called the U.S.A., And all to help keep people down and poor all over the world, that is the real reason we have people here and that is the real reason our mexican borders will be opened until the end of this nation state. and that is why wolfowitz was picked by bush and busniess to help in the final solution to the question of our ideals and national culture. LOL...you guys are great. You can't make this stuff up. Dream on you left-lunactics. Bush is on his way to democratizing the entire middle east, somthing which (I think most would say) portends very nicely for the safety of the citizens of the US, and the for the welfare of greater population of the Middle East. WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE MIDDLE EAST RIGHT NOW IS AMAZING!! Bush will be remembered no less favorably than the great Ronald Regan, who, if you've forgetten, you couldn't get within 500 of his casket upon his death he was so dear to the American public. By comparison, when Jimmy Carter dies there will be plenty of tickets available. Your grandkids will ask you about Gerorge Bush one day, the one who freed the oppressed, and you'll say to them, I fought him every step of the way. And then your grandkid will look at you funny and think, what the f* is wrong with grandpa, and start to cry. Bush the Great Emancipator! Democrats, the enslavers...

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 10:39:54 AM EST
    Wolfowitz is just another major-league killer. I cannot imagine him having any compassion or understanding for the world's poor and poverty ridden areas. With him, the World Bank becomes a tool to advance neo-con corporate fascism and dominance.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#19)
    by kdog on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 10:41:39 AM EST
    I gotta ask mb...have you been to the Middel East lately? From what I understand, innocent people are dying every day. This is "amazing" to you? Also, is there anything the gov't tells us that you don't believe?

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 12:08:17 PM EST
    What's next? Mickey Mouse nominated as Chief Justice? OK, let's have Rumsfeld in charge of American Arts & Culture. America will never ceaze to amaze the rest of the world, for now it's becoming n°1 in the art of ridicule.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#25)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 12:32:22 PM EST
    Jim's daily lie: "PIL - Problem is, democracy, as bad as you may think it is, is the only system that works for the benefit of people." You spelled demockery wrong, Jim. There is a janitor who gives Bush pretty good head. He's going to be nominated to be head of Homeland Security, because that's good head. He knows good head. He's a man of good experiences. (What's his name, Gannon, Cannon....I forget. But he's a top, a top ... guy. And you got to like tops... er, you know, like top dogs.) That's the cool thing about being a Preznit. You get to choose your guys, give them little presents from the preznit and stuff. Hey, Dickie -- catch! It's the head of an Iraqi girl that the Marines just dropped off. Cool, huh? It's hard to find those things intact.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 12:36:40 PM EST
    "Of course people are dying. People died in our country if you'll recall when we acheived our democracy." Yeah, too bad no one can live in Lexington even hundreds of years later, because of all the depleted uranium and cluster bomblets. People died in Poland too! Don't forget Poland (Hitler didn't).

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#27)
    by kdog on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 01:15:32 PM EST
    The key to our safety is that these people have something in their life, a reason to live
    . The key to our safety is live and let live. Stop interfering in the affairs of other nations for economic/political gain.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#28)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 02:21:51 PM EST
    ...demonstrates that Bushco doesn't give a crap what anyone thinks.
    because there prepared to spend your money, and send your children, to who knows were next to get their way and the f____ wingnuts here just chime in without thought and/or analysis.
    Also, is there anything the gov't tells us that you don't believe?
    for these wingnuts here, no, not a damn thing, bush is becoming god to some of them, particularly "mb". about par!
    Jim at March 17, 2005 11:53 AM See how easy it is to "predict" the future?
    had to go all "Fred Dawes" on that a$$ huh. just an advisory: MB is a compensated troll, and there are others here.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#29)
    by Dadler on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 03:04:33 PM EST
    m.b., so now bush is responsible for the "miraculous"? forgive me if i begin to question your sanity. attributing more than is actually occurring to bush's policies is one thing, but to label them as miracles, well, are you nuts? and thanks for not addressing any actual point, angle, specific i was addressing. appreciate it. peace, my fellow free american.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#30)
    by jondee on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 04:22:58 PM EST
    This Reagan-is-god sh*t that the lgf refugees spew kills me. A monumental mediocrity and fraud who had no business being gov. of California - a testament,like the current pres,to how far undue influence and cronyism will carry a lightweight with the right connections.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#31)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 05:50:46 PM EST
    "MB is a compensated troll, and there are others here." Yeah, duh. He posted the EXACT same boilerplate last week. It's probably written backward, nailed to his scalp, and he uses a mirror to retype it with his dick.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#32)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 17, 2005 at 07:18:38 PM EST
    The ultimate economic hitman. A continent of client states with repressive regimes sucking up foreign capital. They were made for one another.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#33)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 18, 2005 at 01:07:18 AM EST
    That and the inquests, indictments, revelations, convictions, and sentences carried out, Doc. Bush has the credibility of Al Capone. He just shot himself in the foot over social security, and the war is seriously unpopular, and becoming less popular the more people find out what horsesh*t has been going on in the media lies and on the front lines. To whit: Custer Battles, two guys with White House connections, go to Iraq and by ridiculous low bids no legitimate company can match, get the contract to guard Bagdad airport ($12 million). They don't have startup costs, so CPA gives them $2 million in duffel bags, as an advance. They parlay their hiring of a Kuwaiti subcontractor (making millions in profit and NOT fulfilling the contract terms), into the contract to TRANSPORT old Iraqi dinars! ($26 million). No track record, no credit, they get that contract, this time apparently without having to bid for it. And then the director of Custer Battles is caught in Beirut trying to smuggle duffel bags of dinars onto a plane. He is in custody in Lebanon (Leboleboland, according to Bush). People find that out, and darned if that doesn't sound like good husbandship of our tax dollars. Physician, heal theyself, because you guys suck, and the word is getting out.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#35)
    by kdog on Fri Mar 18, 2005 at 06:30:38 AM EST
    The Bush admin. promotion policy...screw up or drop the ball, retain your position or get promoted!

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#36)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 18, 2005 at 07:30:52 AM EST
    Or am I overestimating intellectual and ethical integrity of this administration.
    hhheeeelllllll yeah!

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#37)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 18, 2005 at 07:44:56 AM EST
    A) Compensated for my views? I wish. B) None of you jokers ever address my main point, that Bush's actions have led to a wild-fire like spread of democracy. That Bush is an empanapator of millions (like Lincoln, Roosevelt and Regan) Why can't you just admit it? Even the Bush hating NY Times admitted it recently. C) This breif excerpt describes you blind (to all current events) Bush bashers: Wake up and admit the obvious! “When Good News Strikes” Glum liberals’ try coping with a changing world. If the world that Democrats have been living in lately were made into a reality disaster show, it would be called “When Good News Strikes.” One of the inconveniences of political debate is that occasionally reality intrudes to invalidate a given position no matter how much its partisans want to believe it. This is what has been happening recently to the argument that the invasion of Iraq produced an irrecoverable mess. Although surely setbacks still await us in Iraq and the Middle East, stunning headlines from the region have left many liberals perversely glum about upbeat news. Schadenfreude has faded into its happiness-hating opposite, gluckschmerz. Liberal journalist Kurt Andersen has written in New York magazine of the guilty “pleasure liberals took in bad news from Iraq, which seemed sure to hurt the administration.” According to Andersen, the successful Iraqi elections changed the mood. For Bush critics, this inspiring event was “unexpectedly unsettling,” since they so “hat[ed] the idea of a victory presided over by the Bush team.” The legendary liberal editor Charlie Peters confessed to his own attack of gluckschmerz: “New York Post columnist John Podhoretz asked liberals: ‘Did you momentarily feel a rush of disappointment [at the news of the Jan. 30 Iraq election] because you knew, you just knew, that this was going to redound to the credit of George W. Bush?’ I plead guilty …” On his show the other night, comedian Jon Stewart — half-jokingly — expressed a feeling of dread at the changes in the Middle East and the credit President Bush will get for them. “Oh my God!” he said. “He’s gonna be a great — pretty soon, Republicans are gonna be like, ‘Reagan was nothing compared to this guy.’ Like, my kid’s gonna go to a high school named after him, I just know it.” Stewart is badly in need of the consolation of a yet-to-be-written pop theological tract, “When Good Things Happen to Bad Presidents.” The Democratic foreign-policy expert who was Stewart’s guest that night, Nancy Soderberg, tried to comfort him, pointing out that the budding democratic revolution in the Middle East still might fail: “There’s always hope that this might not work.” There is historical precedent for that, of course. Liberal revolutions failed in Europe in 1848 and Eastern Europe in 1968. What is an entirely new phenomenon is liberals calling such reverses for human freedom — half-jokingly or not — occasions for “hope.” Soderberg added: “There’s still Iran and North Korea, don’t forget. There’s hope.” The way Bogart and Bergman “will always have Paris,” liberals now tell themselves they “will always have Iran and North Korea.” No matter the good news anywhere else, these nuke-hungry rogue states will provide grounds for bad-mouthing Bush foreign policy. But these two intractable problems won’t seriously detract from Bush’s world-changing accomplishment should he succeed in transforming the Middle East. Some liberals are reluctantly giving him his due. The New York Times surveyed the fresh air sweeping the region and concluded, “The Bush administration is entitled to claim a healthy share of the credit.” Liberal commentator Daniel Schorr remarked: “During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, President Bush said that ‘a liberated Iraq can show the power of freedom to transform that vital region.’ He may have had it right.” Has the administration gotten a few fortunate breaks in the Middle East lately? Well, yes. Asked how he seemed to make so many lucky saves, the great Montreal Canadien goalie Ken Dryden explained that it was his job to be in the right position to get lucky. By toppling Saddam Hussein and insisting on elections in Iraq, while emphasizing the power of freedom, Bush has put the United States in the right position to encourage and take advantage of democratic irruptions in the region. And so we have created the conditions for being pleasantly surprised by the positive drift of events in the Middle East, or unpleasantly surprised — depending on your politics.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#38)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 18, 2005 at 10:06:26 AM EST
    More paid boilerplate from MB, the troll. 4,000 shoulder-fired missiles GIVEN to the hostiles. What part of 'spreading demockery' is ARMING terrorists? When 3,000 passenger airlines are downed with those missiles, you will be out banging your head on the sidewalk apologizing for Bush because you love your little dictator. But his CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE in the deployment of the troops put 40,000 men in harm's way without Kevlar. George and Don wrote NO ORDERS to guard any of the NINETY weapons dumps in Iraq that have been looted. 280 tons of high-explosives, GONE. Perfect for turning American fathers and mothers into tiny pieces of bloody pulp on Iraqi walls. Freedom on the march! Or profit and negligence on the march, and Republicans the MARKS. What a bunch of mental midgets you liar Republicancs are, and how you have destroyed yourself embracing this antichrist.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#39)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 18, 2005 at 10:29:33 AM EST
    Paul: first of all, I have no idea what you are talking about in your previous post. Secondly, and more importantly, get off the glue pal....

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#40)
    by soccerdad on Fri Mar 18, 2005 at 10:44:20 AM EST
    that Bush's actions have led to a wild-fire like spread of democracy
    Back it up with either specific analysis [flag waving doesn't count] or links which address the political structure and outlook in the countries you are so happy about. You keep repeating these lines or small variations but have yet to back up your basic premise.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#41)
    by soccerdad on Fri Mar 18, 2005 at 11:52:49 AM EST
    Dr ACE as usual you have nothing of substance to say, just the standard character assassination approach. I guess when you have absolutely nothing to say of any substance or insight thats all you are left with. Do you have some specifics or just your usual hallucinations, generalities and right wing talking points. Saying something is so doesn't make it so, despite what your boys in DC as well as V Lennin believed.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#43)
    by soccerdad on Fri Mar 18, 2005 at 12:34:25 PM EST
    Dr. ACE - still no content. No links, no analysis, no nothing. Yes the world is as usual. I'm a realist. I have to see tangible, on the ground, real changes that will last more than a month. All you have to see is 1 guy with a sign. It must be nice to live in a fantasy world.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#44)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 18, 2005 at 03:06:40 PM EST
    "Posted by Paul in LA : "4,000 shoulder-fired missiles GIVEN to the hostiles." Posted by MB: "Paul: first of all, I have no idea what you are talking about in your previous post." Bush's admin admits that 4,000 shoulder-fired missiles are missing in Iraq. What don't you understand about kaboom, say goodbye to your family on their Greek vacation? NO ORDERS TO GUARD THE MUNITIONS IN IRAQ!! None. Not one order. That's criminal negligence, and Bush should RESIGN. Rumsfeld's head should be on a White House fence post. Wolfowitz should be fed to the White House dog. Al Gore warned that this would result from Bush's illegal invasion, and he was right. It is a crime against us all. Not one WMD, but let's open the seals on Hussein's armament, and pass out the goods to all comers. And then the wingers will slap their flippers together and go 'Ork, ork,' on cue.

    Re: Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank (none / 0) (#46)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 18, 2005 at 04:34:03 PM EST
    In Paul's case, the orcking.

    Wolfowitz Nominated to Head World Bank | 36 comments (36 topical)