from the ether (possibly the Guardian)

 "Last month, the bank adopted a new anticorruption policy that insisted that Mr. Wolfowitz consult board members, and it placed other restrictions on his ability to act. Resentment of Mr. Wolfowitz has extended to his two top aides, Robin Cleveland and Kevin Kellems, both of whom worked with him on defense matters in the Bush administration. Although some bank officials said the board might have decided to reprimand or dismiss one or both of them for the salary increase, that was no longer deemed a way out of the crisis for Mr. Wolfowitz.

He also appeared a victim of his own declaration that he would bring a new era of accountability to the bank. He boasted that he had doubled the staff of the public integrity division so it could prosecute cases of graft against corporations and bank employees, stirring resentment throughout the bank that he saw them all as corrupt.

Some bank officials, speaking anonymously so they could be candid, said that instead of ousting Mr. Wolfowitz, the board might prefer that he remain but in a weakened position.

“It’s a coin toss right now whether Wolfowitz stays,” one official said. “But the board might prefer to have a weak president dangling by the thread so they can run the policies themselves for the next two years.”

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Gus: beware of a wounded wolf... 

From the BBC

Wolfowitz 'to stay' at World Bank

The embattled World Bank President, Paul Wolfowitz, has indicated he does not plan to resign over a pay scandal.

Mr Wolfowitz told a news conference: "This is important work and I intend to continue it."

He has been under pressure to quit after admitting helping his partner win a promotion and pay rise.

He spoke after World Bank governments described the scandal as a matter of "great concern" but stopped short of asking him to step down.

The statement from the bank's 24-member policymaking Development Committee came after talks in Washington that were overshadowed by the controversy.

"The current situation is of great concern to all of us," the committee said.

"We have to ensure that the bank can effectively carry out its mandate and maintain its credibility and reputation as well as the motivation of the staff," the statement said.

The final decision on Mr Wolfowitz's future will be taken by the bank's board of governors. 

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Gus: this shows the rotten moral fibre of the man... He's been caught out in a "corrupt" behaviour in which he unduly influenced an outcome, but he believes in himself enough to tell others what they should do or not.

His hatred of communism is beyond the pale, especially stiffling some of the poorest countries when the only solution for many of theses is go through this sharing venture, eventually regrowing a market economy which hopefully would not cost the earth like the US "market economy" is doing presently.

His "architecture" of the war in Iraq was a bloody disgrace and should never have been implemented. With Bush, Cheney, Rummy and Osama, he carries the blood of about 700,000 people dead, directly and indirectly.

In this instance, Wolfowitz has to go in order to show that the World Bank is beyond reproach and especially beyond corruption. If the CEO has indulged in unduly influences of power, bordering on corruption if not fully corrupt, what example is he showing the struggling world? His "sorry" rings hollow.

He should go. He should do the only honorable thing. If not he should be retired from being involved in humanity's trials and tribulations. A permanent retirement in the form of an exile in Bermuda might do, as long as he does not express his opinions anywhere anytime... just vanish quietly in a glorious paradise, somewhere. Hell has no fury like being ignored and forgotten like he has treated many of the people of different persuasion.

Yes Gus ...

But is anyone surprised by "wolfie's" behaviour?

The little creep is a member of the corrupt, amoral club of lunatics who genuinely believe they are superior to the rest of our species & for whom the murder of hundreds of thousands means nothing.

And, no surprise to anyone, their crazy enabler, bushit, is the only person on the planet ready to defend the dill.

Bush Wades In To Save Beleaguered Wolfowitz

But, as one US official observed: "There is a sense that we're finally at a moment when Bush needs the world more than the world needs Bush."

From Al Jazeera

Germany 'wants Wolfowitz to go'          

Germany believes Paul Wolfowitz's position as head of the World Bank has become unsustainable, a German minister has told the Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) newspaper.
 
World Bank staff have called for Wolfowitz to quit following his admission that he approved promotion and high salaries for his girlfriend.
   
"The situation ... is no longer acceptable," Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, a development minister, told the FTD in an article to run on Monday.
 
"My conclusion is that Wolfowitz should do the bank a service and take the consequences himself. The sooner, the better."
   
 

Yes Gus, but little wolfie has been doing more than just looking after his pillow pal .....

‘Paul Wolfowitz's grip on his job as president of the World Bank was shaken yesterday after the bank's governing council declared it had "great concern" and ordered an investigation into the contracts of staff connected to him.

After an emergency meeting, the bank's executive directors set up a wide-ranging inquiry into alleged breaches of the bank's code of conduct and ethical rules, and into statements about the controversy made by Mr Wolfowitz's office.

The decision increases the pressure on Mr Wolfowitz, since the board's move widens the investigation to include the employment contracts of two of Mr Wolfowitz's advisers. Robin Kellems and Robin Cleveland moved from working for the Bush administration to the World Bank alongside Mr Wolfowitz in 2005, and have formed part of his inner circle, leading to accusations by bank staff members of special treatment.

The investigation will also look into the revelations that Shaha Riza, a bank employee and Mr Wolfowitz's girlfriend, was given a large pay rise and promotion on his orders when she was seconded outside the bank to avoid rules barring employees in a relationship from working together.

Mr Kellems and Ms Cleveland are also thought to have received open-ended contracts with salaries substantially above their level of experience. They are said to have started on $250,000 (about £125,000) net of tax.’

Bank Investigates Contracts Linked To Wolfowitz

The European Parliament on Wednesday called for the resignation of World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, adding to the pressure on the head of the poverty-fighting institution to step down.

Wolfowitz, a former member of the Bush administration, has already faced calls to give up his post after revelations that he approved a promotion & pay raise for his bank-employee girlfriend, before she was assigned to work at the US State Department.

Lawmakers asked EU leaders to press the White House over the subject at a EU US summit in Washington on Monday.

Meanwhile, the embattled Wolfowitz "will be allowed to argue for his job in front of a bank committee investigating him." But one senior bank official "suggested that members of the committee had already decided to recommend Wolfowitz's ouster, casting Monday's appearance as a last-ditch appeal."

Escalating his campaign to remain president of the World Bank, Wolfowitz accused the bank’s board on Wednesday of treating him 'shabbily and unfairly,' & appealed for more time to defend himself against allegations of favouritism & other matters.

At the same time, World Bank members of a team drafting a strategy to root out corruption in bank lending, an initiative pressed aggressively by Wolfowitz, sent a letter to the bank board on Thursday complaining that “the scandal was jeopardising their work”. The letter was signed by 46 officials.

meanwhile, Naomi Klein of the Guardian highlights that Wolfie’s behaviour is absolutely consistent with that of the organisation he works for …..

"Who wants to be lectured on corruption by someone telling them to 'Do as I say, not as I do'?" asked one journalist.

No-one of course. But that's a pretty good description of the game of one-way strip poker that is our global trade system, in which the United States and Europe - via the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation - tell the developing world: "You take down your trade barriers and we'll keep ours up." From farm subsidies to the Dubai Ports World scandal, hypocrisy is our economic order's guiding principle.

Wolfowitz's only crime was taking his institution's international posture to heart. The fact that he has responded to the scandal by hiring a celebrity lawyer and shopping for a leadership "coach" is just more evidence that he has fully absorbed the World Bank way: when in doubt, blow the budget on overpriced consultants and call it aid.

The more serious lie at the centre of the controversy is the implication that the World Bank was an institution that had impeccable ethical credentials - until, according to 42 former World Bank executives, its credibility was "fatally compromised" by Wolfowitz. (Many American liberals have seized on this fairytale, addicted to the fleeting rush that comes from forcing neocons to resign.)

The truth is that the bank's credibility was fatally compromised when it forced school fees on students in Ghana in exchange for a loan; when it demanded that Tanzania privatise its water system; when it made telecom privatisation a condition of aid for Hurricane Mitch; when it demanded labour "flexibility" in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami; when it pushed for eliminating food subsidies in post-invasion Iraq. Ecuadoreans care little about Wolfowitz's girlfriend; more pressing is that in 2005 the World Bank withheld a promised $100m after the country dared to spend a portion of its oil revenues on health and education. Some anti-poverty organisation.’

The World Bank Has The Perfect Standard Bearer

‘World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz told an investigatory panel on Monday he is the victim of a "smear campaign" aimed at forcing him to resign, as he gained renewed support from United States President George Bush.

Wolfowitz told the World Bank panel he will not quit in the face of a "bogus charge", as he defended himself against allegations he improperly pushed a generous bank pay deal for his girlfriend.

Wolfowitz signalled his intention to fight the charges against him. "The goal of this smear campaign, I believe, is to create a self-fulfilling prophecy that I am an ineffective leader and must step down for that reason alone," he said in a statement also released to the media.

"I, for one, will not give into such tactics. And, I will not resign in the face of a plainly bogus charge of conflict of interest."’

Wolfowitz: 'I'm A Victim Of Smear Campaign'

sounds just like the poor little rich kid, convicted of murdering his parents, trying to “con” the judge into exercising leniency because he’s an orphan …..

‘A committee of World Bank directors has formally notified Paul D. Wolfowitz that they found him to be guilty of a conflict of interest in arranging for a pay raise and promotion for Shaha Ali Riza, his companion, in 2005. The findings stepped up the pressure on Mr. Wolfowitz to resign.

It was not clear whether the committee, consisting of 7 of the bank’s 24 board members, would remove Mr. Wolfowitz from his post or, more likely, express a loss of confidence in his leadership in a manner that might persuade him to resign. Bank officials say that a majority of the bank board has concluded that he should go.’

World Bank Panel Finds Wolfowitz At Fault

Wolfowitz granted more time          

The board of the World Bank has given an additional week to Paul Wolfowitz, the bank's president, to defend himself against nepotism allegations.
 
Wolfowitz, 63, is facing calls to resign after it was revealed that he ordered a large pay rise and promotion for his girlfriend, Shaha Riza, a World Bank employee.
   
In a statement, the bank said late on Wednesday: "The executive directors met today to consider a request from the president for additional time to comment on the draft report of the ad hoc group, which was provided to him on May 6."
   

Wolfowitz was told he will be able to meet the board on May 15 "to communicate his views in person, if he wishes to do so".

"They will then consider all the information available and reach their decisions", the statement said.

Beyond the finance pages, Australia may have been a little slow this week to acknowledge and celebrate the life of one of its greats – James David Wolfensohn, December 1,1933 – November 26, 2020.

The obituaries have steadily mounted but it is merely skimming over his life to record that he went from a modestly middle class Sydney childhood and Sydney Boys High to become an Olympic fencer, a master of global investment banking, philanthropist and president of the World Bank for a decade, among other things.

Combine the Washington Post obit with Jill Margo’s AFR feature and you have a better idea of what you might have missed.

I had the pleasure and privilege of interviewing him several times back in Business Sunday days, including during the chaos of the Crash of ’87 and the immediate aftermath of 9/11. From those interviews, ranging in place from the Channel 9 Sydney studios to the cold roof of a New York skyscraper to his Manhattan brownstone home, I would like to add two small contributions to what those who knew him better have recorded.

Firstly, what stuck with me most was his insight and concern that the shock of the 9/11 terrorist attacks could cause a recession that would kill and impoverish vast numbers of people.

He translated the cold statistic of GDP numbers into human cost. A global slowdown of so many points would mean X million people would not rise out of poverty, Y million people would fall back into it – and therefore Z million would die.

That was a little of Wolfensohn’s constant humanity, humanity that was also present in other ways through his love of music, his hospitality and graciousness.

Kerry Packer was among his clients. Channel 9’s then-chief, Sam Chisholm, heard James Wolfensohn was in Sydney and provided the introduction for an interview.

That was good. What was fine though was that, on subsequent trips to New York for various stories, this Master of Universe would somehow find time for us and our rather insignificant little Australian audience.

The second thing wasn’t something he said, it was what he did.

Banking certainly made James Wolfensohn very wealthy, but he could have become much wealthier, obscenely rich perhaps,  if he had continued to concentrate on finance instead of running the World Bank.

 

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2020/11/29/michael-pascoe-james-wolfensohn/

 

James Wolfensohn was a great humanitarian, unlike the ning-nong with another Wolf name, Wolfowitz, who succeeded him at the World Bank and unlike the present crew of idiots running this ocker country... Vale James...

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