Disturbing reading from the NYT. The White House and Treasury are moving quickly to find a replacement. Some implications of the article below the fold. [update: Bloomberg chips in from Germany: Germany and Japan back U.S. prerogative. How about they relinquish their control over the IMF and MIGA respectively, as well as refusing to allow Bush to put in another of his cronies] Continue reading
Author Archives: Old blogposts
The Board said yesterday
The Board said yesterday: “The Board will start the nomination process for a new president immediately.” This implies that it is open to receive candidates right now.
The UK had already publicly committed itself to pushing for a merit-based appointment process. We’re not seeing any signs of this publicly (their line at the moment is “it’s too early to talk about the next president’, but the statement from the Board above would indicate otherwise). Continue reading
Selection process
The Board said yesterday: “The Board will start the nomination process for a new president immediately.” This implies that it is open to receive candidates right now.
The UK had already publicly committed itself to pushing for a merit-based appointment process. We’re not seeing any signs of this publicly (their line at the moment is “it’s too early to talk about the next president’, but the statement from the Board above would indicate otherwise). Continue reading
This is What the World Bank Looks Like
John Nichols at the Nation says the Wolfowitz “is and always will be the honest face of the World Bank.” Another good tidbit: “[the World Bank is] the global equivalent of a mob enforcer coming in to break the knees of the sovereign nations that do not march to the drum beat of the wealthy nations that own it.” Well if it was the mob, Tony Soprano was the right guy to run it…
UK backtracking?
Despite a written answer to Parliament last week re-stating the UK’s long-standing commitment to ending the gentleman’s agreement for the selection of the heads of the World Bank and the IMF, Hilary Benn’s reaction to the Wolfowitz resignation is prompting worries that the UK has consented to a backroom deal that allows the US to continue to appoint the World Bank’s President. Continue reading