In this insightful Salon.com piece on Bush administration figures who’ve written in support of former Cheney advisor Lewis “Scooter” Libby (you have to go through their ‘click on sponsor’ page), Sydney Blumenthal offers this damning insight on the lengthiest of those letters of support, written by World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz: Continue reading →

South African newspapers have been remarkably quiet about the Zoellick visit over the weekend.  This from the Sunday Times:  Continue reading →

One of the best pieces yet on Zoellick’s time at CSIS and as US trade representative.  Bizarrely, liberal economist Jagdish Bhagwati has accused Zoellick of pushing free trade at the expense of development: “He was using bilateral deals with Chile and Singapore to try to ram through restrictions on the use of capital controls,” Bhagwati says. “I can’t think of a single developmental economist who would say this is a good idea, and it suggests a cavalier interest in developing countries.”

In its section of “l’homme de la semaine” (Man of the week!) of last week’s edition (No 2421), JEUNE AFRIQUE describes the man who will be the next president of the World Bank. I realize that he is just a nominee but I do consider it a “fait accompli” since the buzz about other prospects has died down and the man in question seems to be the de facto candidate. The article, written by Alain Faujas, the Washington-based correspondent of Le Monde, gives a good overview of what we have read in the North American and British media since the announcement. A translated version, graciously provided by a reader, can be read here. However, in the same edition, we have the best part from Sonia Mabrouk who asks the question:”And Shaha in all that ?” Looks like it is splitsville between Shaha and Wolfowitz! According to the writer: “in this terrible business of nepotism, he has lost everything: his job as President, the respect of the majority of his collaborators and even…..the recipient of his undue favours“. Continue reading →

Zoellick started the first leg of his African trip in Ghana on Wednesday. Ghanaian newspapers reported that Zoellick met with the ministers of finance of Ghana, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso and “discussed not countries but regional dimension of projects such as the West African Gas Pipeline“. While in Ghana he also met with vice president Alhaji Aliu Mahama, energy minister John Adda, chairman of the public utilities regulation commission, Kwame Pianim, and with some civil society organisations, “all behind closed doors”. Continue reading →