Friday, May 18, 2007

Wolfowitz Resigns

Paul Wolfowitz has finally comes to his senses and resigned (effective as from 30 June) as president of the World Bank.

The World Bank board will meet later today to discuss leadership issues, including the process of selecting the new president.

However, as is custom and practice, the White House still has the right to appoint the president. US Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, said that he would help President Bush to identify a nominee after consultations with other World Bank member countries.

The United States, the bank's largest shareholder, has named the World Bank chief since it formed the bank over 60 years ago.

However, this time around Bush will not find the process of nomination so straight forward:

1 Wolfowitz, a Bush nominee, failed in the post becuase he was arrogant and ignored ethics

2 Bush's presidency is imploding, rocked by domestic political scandals and the Iraq failure, his power and authority is draining away

3 Bush is despised by many European leaders

The failure of Wolfowitz is symbolic of the failure of Bush. The next US nominee will find that the other members of the bank will subject him/her to intense scrutiny before approving him/her.

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