Paul Wolfowitz failed to appear yesterday at a high rollers meeting of the World Bank. Some speculate that it's because he's on his way out ... other's suggest that he was asked not to attend since everybody was meeting on his fate.
From this morning's 'The Guardian'
Paul Wolfowitz failed to appear at a high-profile World Bank meeting yesterday, sparking rumours that he was on the verge of quitting as president.
No explanation was offered for Mr Wolfowitz's absence from the conference in Washington, on the day when the bank's governing board was meeting to discuss the controversy over the president's ordering of promotions and pay rises for his partner, Shaha Riza.
The board, made up of 24 representatives of the bank's member countries, had cleared its agenda to deal with the breach of the bank's ethical rules by Mr Wolfowitz.
More on the King of Spades below the fold
Translated from Le Mond
At the Bank over the last two years, Mr. Wolfowitz has not secured a good reputation for himself. He is accused of surrounding himself with an intimate guard of personalities who are close to him intellectually, but who have come from outside the Bank. He is censured for solitary and rigid behavior. His efforts to focus the Bank's policy too exclusively on Africa and an anti-corruption campaign have been criticized.
It's that last demand that backfires against Mr. Wolfowitz today. Upon his arrival in 2005, he demanded that his companion, who worked in the Bank's Middle East department, be moved to avoid any conflict of interest. The principle was good. But the execution was not, for Mr. Wolfowitz subsequently and high-handedly dictated the conditions of his companion's transfer to the State Department and the amount of the raise with which she was gratified on the way. He says that he had advised his board, but the latter has indicated that he never discussed it with them.
And if this isn't bad enough, Wolfowitz has many conservative detractors. Here's a snippet from The American Spectator; no love loss here:
The latest "scandal" to hit the Bush administration involves Paul Wolfowitz, deputy defense secretary turned World Bank president. But forget his missteps in handling his girlfriend's departure from the Bank.
His biggest mistake has been failing to recognize that the Bank has lost its raison d'etre. That is reason enough to choose new leadership. Bank lending programs have consistently failed; the world is awash in private investment capital. The status quo is no longer sustainable.
Wolfowitz was a poor choice from the start. He never was particularly interested in international development. Before signing on as president, he demanded a sufficient salary increase so his pay would match that of the head of the International Monetary Fund. The IMF's managing director had previously played a similar game of financial one-upmanship, at the obvious expense of taxpayers around the world who ultimately fund both the Bank and Fund.
Once ensconced in power, Wolfowitz pushed a $500 million lending program Iraq, which raised the specter, fair or not, of an attempt to use the independent institution to advance Bush administration policies. But what is now threatening his position is his treatment of Bank employee and girlfriend Shaha Ali Riza, for whom he ordered a $60,000 pay increase before detailing her to the U.S. State Department.
The specifics are complicated and personal animus motivates many of his critics. But the apparent conflict of interest is particularly embarrassing since he has initiated a campaign against corruption abroad.
The real dilemma amongst the World Bank's board is that they've never had an overthrow of their President like this. They know that they can oust him, word is that they'd rather he'd resign; and nobody knows what the next steps would be. How do you go about replacing him? Do they just suck up the next staffer from the WH?
Some are saying that now is the time to break with tradition and have some other country head the World Bank. Now on top of a US loss of stature (Thank you Chimp) in the world community, this week the British Pound went above the 2$ mark. And it doesn't look like it's going to retreat anytime soon. This in wake of the Euro's continued strength in recent years and other US economic structural weaknesses makes many suggest now is the time to make a break.