I remember watching the documentary HOTEL TERMINUS in which a German praised Klaus Barbie because he liked dogs (or dogs liked him, can’t recall).
Posted by: Lupin | Mar 25 2005 10:59 utc | 1
Anyone connected to PNAC is Not nice. The unbridled glee on his/their faces as they prepared to announce the invasion of Iraq in F-911 says it all. And the image of him putting his comb in his mouth before he put it in his hair is burned in my memory forever.
Posted by: beq | Mar 25 2005 12:46 utc | 2
Murray Kempton on Robert McNamara, who insisted that the bombing of Hanoi didn’t hurt civilians: “What you have to understand about this McNamara is that he’s a warm, troubled intellectual”.
Posted by: alabama | Mar 25 2005 14:31 utc | 3
how fitting that the world bank is being ran by wolves….wolfenson…wolfowitz. what a coincidence, eh? and the comb-licker thinks he’s really a nice guy? heh…he really is delusional, isn’t he. i’m sure there’s plenty of timorese, iraqis, afghanies, and western military families who have an opinion on this. hey paul, if you really want to be recognized as being nice, stop killing other people’s children. the nerve of this guy. …and if you need some more spit for your hair, all ya gotta do is ask.
Posted by: b real | Mar 25 2005 17:00 utc | 4
The World Bank is not the horrible place of leftist lore. It is the place where you have the most expertise about poverty around the world, and it is staffed by great people.
It is also a God-awful bureacracy, stuffed with politicos, cronies of peole-in-power around the world (as it needs to hire from everywhere) and of course also influenced by the CW of the times.
Of course, putting Wolfowitz there is a big “fuck you, world” message sent by Bush. The Europeans do not want to be blamed for starting the transatlantic war again, and they probably have decided that this one is not worth it (they would not be able to oppose the next one, which would be even worse, in all likelihood…), but be sure that they won’t forget.
It’s a cold détente.
Posted by: Jérôme | Mar 25 2005 18:03 utc | 5
@ Jerome – I have been under the impression that the director’s of the WB were in rotation for the top position and that no one stayed at the top for any length of time. Am I wrong, or has this changed?? I knew a man (friend of my father) who served in this capacity.
Posted by: beq | Mar 25 2005 18:32 utc | 6
Jerome
Ask any “local” consultants in Africa what they think about the World Bank.
Sure it is staffed by people who are nice; I am sure there are nice analysts working for the CIA.
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Mar 25 2005 23:20 utc | 7
I have been listening to Franken alot lately. That guy is good. he can someone to pieces with his humor and they just go, what the hell hit me? He’s good.
Wolfie will fit right in to the WB with new girlfriend. All you starving peasants in Africa, “get a job.” Thats the Wolfie way.
Posted by: jdp | Mar 26 2005 1:50 utc | 8
Jérôme, once again I must apologize for my country.
Posted by: fourlegsgood | Mar 26 2005 5:47 utc | 9
Will a British divorcee cost ‘Wolfie’ his job?
“His womanising has come home to roost,” a Washington insider said. “Paul was a foreign policy hawk long before he met Shaha but it doesn’t look good to be accused of being under the thumb of your mistress.”
One of his opponents at the bank said: “Unless Riza gives up her job, this will be an impossible conflict of interest.”
…
Wolfowitz married Clare Selgin in 1968. But they have lived separately since 2001, after allegations of an affair with an employee at the School of Advanced International Studies where he was dean for seven years.
…
She also refused to confirm her marital status – reports of his appointment repeatedly describe Wolfowitz as divorced but The Mail on Sunday has been unable to find any records. Asked if she is separated or divorced, Clare replied: “That’s my business.”
Amazing that this kind of stuff might cost him his job and not being responsible for the killing of thousands of people.
Posted by: Fran | Mar 26 2005 6:46 utc | 10
Well, it was Monica who cost Bill C his job, not his craven capitulation to the corporate ruling class, his bombing of Sudan, etc.
The Amis are endlessly stuck in a re-make of Peyton Place, it seems.
i couldn’t give a shit about whether or not the people running the world bank are nice or not. the important thing is that the world bank is causing as much death and horror as any other terrorist group the world has ever seen. corporate wealth on the backs of the poorest people on the planet.
Posted by: lenin’s ghost | Mar 27 2005 4:47 utc | 12