STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Ok, it was upsetting enough to anyone with respect for the international community and concern about our foreign policy that Bush's nomination as Ambassador to the U.N. was that Bolton dude, the same guy who said that if the UN lost 10 stories (of the UN building in NYC) it would make no difference in its effectiveness.  He has zero respect or support for international law or the international criminal court (which would punish,say, people responsible for genocides and other atrocities) and has made that clear.  If you're unfamiliar with that travesty, read this excellent commentary by Samantha Power, the completely brilliant & pulitzer-prize winning author of "A Problem from Hell:America and the Age of Genocide":

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/index.ssf?050321ta_talk_power

Jesus - stop appointing people who have completel disdain for the rest of the world! This is not helping our global PR. Alas, more nose-thumbing at the global community...

THIS shit is just too much (article follows).  Let me preface this by saying that my Dad worked for the world bank and also for an agency of the UN (IFAD), so I have a certain degree of personal attachment to this situation, but I also know the Bank well.  WOLFOWITZ?!  What the hell message are we sending to the world?  Hopefully he will not actually be appointed.  This is just a nomination (ditto the above... if the Foreign Relations Committee has any balls at all, they will not let the Bolton thing fly). 

Bush Recommends Wolfowitz to Head World Bank
By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, March 16, 2005; 11:47 AM

President Bush said today he is nominating Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz to be the next president of the World Bank, tapping one of his administration's most controversial figures as the U.S. choice to head the 184-nation institution.

Bush confirmed the recommendation of Wolfowitz at a news conference this morning after a senior administration official had disclosed that the president was putting the name forward. The official said Wolfowitz wants the job and that no one has yet been chosen to replace him at the Pentagon.

Bush revealed his choice in response to a question at the press conference, an unusual way for a president to first make public such a nomination.

The choice of Wolfowitz is seen as likely to stir controversy because of his roles in advocating the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and in formulating Bush's policy of preemptive military action. Known as one of the administration's leading hawks, Wolfowitz has earned a reputation as a forceful promoter of U.S. military operations abroad.

After a reporter asked Bush what signal it sent to the world to nominate the chief architect of a widely unpopular war, the president said he has been making phone calls to world leaders to promote Wolfowitz's candidacy.

He said he thinks Wolfowitz "will be a strong president of the World Bank" and hailed him as an experienced manager of a large organization, a reference to the Pentagon. Bush called Wolfowitz "a skilled diplomat," noting that he has held high positions at the State Department and served as ambassador to Indonesia during the Reagan administration.

"And Paul is committed to development," Bush said. "He is a compassionate and decent man who will do a fine job at the World Bank."

Word that Bush was considering the Pentagon's No. 2 man for the World Bank post had circulated in Washington in recent days, but the administration had previously shot down the rumors.

Wolfowitz, 61, would replace James D. Wolfensohn, the outgoing World Bank president, who announced that he would not seek a new term and who apparently did not have Bush administration support for an extension. Wolfensohn, who has headed the World Bank since June 1995, is stepping down June 1 at the end of his second five-year term.

Bush said Wolfensohn, an Australian-born former Wall Street investment banker, "has done a fine job in leading the World Bank." He said he appreciated comments Wolfensohn made today in support of Wolfowitz's candidacy.

In an interview today, Bloomberg news service reported, Wolfensohn called Wolfowitz "someone of high intellect, broad experience in and out of government and he has many of the qualifications needed to lead the bank."

The United States traditionally nominates a candidate to head the World Bank, while European nations customarily choose the head of the International Monetary Fund.

Wolfowitz has served as deputy defense secretary since March 2001. He previously was undersecretary of defense for policy from 1989 to 1993.

Wolfowitz has also held top posts in the State Department, serving for three and a half years as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs in the 1980s before becoming ambassador to Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation.

Staff writer Ann Scott Tyson contributed to this report.