Economist: A hawk (Wolfowitz) to ruffle the World Bank's feathers

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A hawk to ruffle the World Bank's feathers
Mar 17th 2005
From The Economist Global Agenda


George Bush has nominated Paul Wolfowitz, one of the main architects of the Iraq war, to run the World Bank. Though this is normally America’s prerogative, Europeans and others may object to the candidacy of so hawkish a figure



FOREIGNERS can be forgiven for not knowing what to make of George Bush in his second term. On one hand, he and his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, have made mollifying trips to Europe, trying to reassure America’s oldest allies that despite the Iraq war, it wants to remain friends. On the other hand, contrition is not one of Mr Bush’s strongest characteristics. Last week he nominated John Bolton, one of the State Department’s leading hawks and an outspoken critic of the United Nations, to be America’s ambassador to the UN. With Europeans still scratching their heads about that choice, Mr Bush has surprised them again by nominating Paul Wolfowitz, one of the chief architects of the Iraq war, to head the World Bank.

By tradition, the Europeans name the head of the International Monetary Fund, and the Americans pick the boss of the World Bank. This arrangement worked well for some time, but five years ago America blocked the Europeans’ choice to run the IMF, Caio Koch-Weser, and the job eventually went to Horst Köhler (who has since become Germany’s president).

More: http://www.economist.com/agenda/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3763922&fsrc=nwl

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