World Bank President: Wild Speculation Thread

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Wild Speculation Thread So the first day of this week has been interesting. Use the comments section below to guess at what comes next. My own play at Nostradamus below the fold:

1) Tonight and tomorrow, there won't be so much leaks as floods regarding the report of the Board's special panel on Wolfowitz's dealings with Riza.

2) Robin Cleveland will announce her resignation by Wednesday, due to her role in the cover up and her close association with Wolf the second.

3) Pleading ignorance, Marwan Muasher, who's also implicated in the cover up, will not resign. At least not this week.

4) Wolfowitz himself will stay on till the bitter end. On Thursday, the Board will be forced to take the unusual step of calling a press conference to release some of the findings of the special panel. Any recommendations will be pretty wimpy, but by this point, Wolf2 will have no choice but to see the writing on the wall. His allies in the White House will also have read the report by then, and be shaking their heads in that "Sorry man, we can't get you out of this one" kinda way. (They'll be way too busy with Alberto "Fredo" Gonzales by that point anyway.) Resignation Friday. Calls for massive governance overhaul of the Bank next week.

Ok, that was fun. What do you think?

Sameer Dossani ~ May 08, 2007

Comments

any ideas on what happens to Shaha Riza, Ana Palacio, Susan Folsom, and Daboub?

wb8000 ~ May 08, 2007, 02:25 AM

I can only speculate that today's little atrium cocktail reception must have rocked out a bit like this.

Any special shots of the shindig floating around?

mcworld ~ May 08, 2007, 03:00 AM

I don't know Marwan Muasher, but I don't think he should be penalized or maligned in any of this. As news accounts have pointed out, he was still very new to his post at the time he worked with RC on that statement. It strikes me as unlikely that he would have been fully in the know about the full history of the SR affair -- he probably relied on (and trusted) RC for that information. I'm prepared to presume his innocence in all this until and unless we hear a LOT more than the sketchy account we have so far. Unless there's solid evidence that he knew what was really going on, I'd vote for leaving him alone.

Robin Cleveland is a different story. Given that she is the one who signed off on some of the process of setting up SR's secondment, it seems reasonable to assume that she may have been at least partly aware of the apparent inaccuracy of the statement. (Though it is hard to judge without full access to all the documentation and testimony that the Board has been hearing in this case.) And there is that odd "draft" email that has been discussed here and here, which doesn't look good either.

Yet Another Anonymous WB Staffer ~ May 08, 2007, 03:06 AM

I also don't know Mr. Muasher but the problem is one of judgment. If he does not know all the facts, and he is till new , why on earth would he be willing to go along with this plot of trying to plant such a story portending to be an anonymous source? . Not a sign of great judgment , is it?

another WB staffer ~ May 08, 2007, 03:12 AM

As a retired staff Bank manager, I have known Marwan Mausher for many years. He is an extremely competent and honorable man. He is probably the best choice Wolfowitz made. I very much hope that he stays in his job. I am sure he was an innocent bystander and probably duped by some of PW's advisors.

Inder Sud ~ May 08, 2007, 03:49 AM

On: Marwan Muasher's appointment--from someone in the know.

Ms. Riza in January 2007 had strongly recommended Marwan to Wolfowitz and that too for his appointment at the unprecedented "senior" level Vice President. Notwithstanding Marwan's credentials for just a VP for external affairs, his appointment was very much an extension of Wolfowitz's political agenda (as in the case of Palacio and Daboub) and considered a reward for making Jordan join the "coalition of the willing" for the war effort in Iraq.

Washingtonian ~ May 08, 2007, 05:00 AM

Wolfowitz will never resign. If the Board votes to dismiss him, he will fight that, too, perhaps appealing to the Administrative Tribunal. His objective is to make sure that Riza gets to keep all the money he ordered the Bank to pay her. The benefit he gave her, paid out of the Bank budget, is worth $2.7 million over 10 years (excluding promotions to I and J). The Bank should sue Wolfowitz to return this money to the Bank.

realist ~ May 08, 2007, 06:18 AM

Now that the ad hoc committee have found Wolfowitz guilty, it is time to come up with "win-win" solutions.

Instead of boring solutions like having him resign, face a vote of no confidence, or fire him, or have Riza fire him, or do nothing, there is a even better way!!!

How about if the Board were to place both Wolfowitz and Riza on permanent paid leave on these terms:

- Wolfowitz and Riza have to be married within a week!!!!!!!

- they cannot get out of the marriage for 30 years or until both cease to collect payments from the Bank.

- the couple will not be permitted to live apart and must be in the same bed for at least 350 nights a year.

Picture how hen pecked Wolfie will be after just 2 months of this!

He will get so desperate that he will renounce all claims to anything from the Bank.

The Bank can hire the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency to come up with a contract verification solution to make sure that PW and SR complies with the terms of the deal.

None ~ May 08, 2007, 12:41 PM

Wolfowitz has until tomorrow to respond to the 300-page report, a copy of which was delivered to him on Sunday evening. He has asked for a week to review the report but the Board has extended the response time by only 24 hours (3 days in lieu of 2 days).
We can assume that by Friday, we will see a conclusion to the whole saga.

In the mean time, the White House is still backing him but, since the report is not in the public eyes yet, we wonder for how long. Any way, there are some think-tanks which will be willing to accommodate him once he is unemployed.

Yul ~ May 08, 2007, 04:05 PM

Yul, there appears to be a spelling or typo error in your post.

Did you mean to say think or fink tanks?

I can't think of a think tank that would want PW right now, unless they want to "tank".

Just think, he will have so much time to spend with his friends Shaha, Robin, Suzanne, and Ana.

None ~ May 08, 2007, 05:02 PM

No I meant what I wrote. Just have to check his "antecedents" to know where he may land. I want to be PC since I am only a guest on this blog and knowing what he has been doing in his career (non-academic one) it is easy to find a locale for him.
Where are Perle and Scotty Libby these days?

Yul ~ May 08, 2007, 05:19 PM

Hmmmmm I am not sure that a reputable academic organization (at least the ones high up in the food chain like Johns Hopkins or Yale), can take a disgraced President if the World Bank.

Perhaps, one that is less demanding? AIPAC? Foundation for the future? Kinsley Institute?

There is, of course, the perch that Scooter Libby is going to end up in? Federal Pen.

None ~ May 08, 2007, 06:19 PM

One remark about Muasher.
If he is so "GREEN" in his current post, then why is he all praise towards the SpinMeister KK:
Marwan Muasher, senior vice president of external affairs and former Jordanian deputy prime minister, said Kellems made the bank's communications strategy stronger and "helped mobilize support for the multilateral debt relief initiative and worked to underscore the development stakes in international trade."

Ugh!!!

Yul ~ May 08, 2007, 06:34 PM

PW is clearly "deadmeat", "history". What's playing out now is like being forced to watch an old zebra down on his hind legs as the lions take turns dashing in for a bite.

But what of the future of Ms. Riza?

Has she in effect secured herself a sinecure for life, right where she is in her non-secondment, non-job, doing nothing for the Bank but spending her time with her celebrity lawyer whinging about her victimhood?

(And like OJ, another victim (of the racist LAPD), a book deal is rumored to be in the offing, co-authored by -- dah-dah -- Robin Cleveland? And Larry King Live is asking her to star....)

Seriously, can she not be got off the payroll?

Just wondering.....

The Mahdi ~ May 09, 2007, 04:02 AM

Yul: I hear Stalin gave his show trial victims 72 hours to respond as well to 300 page reports.

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