Zoellick deal stitched up.

Amidst the stack of mindless articles carrying verbatim the Bank’s press release on Zoellick’s coronation, Steven Weisman’s piece for the New York Times stands out.  He highlights one of the thorny issues that Zoellick will have to deal with – deciding whether Suzanne Rich Folsom, head of the department of institutional integrity, is doing a good job scaring bad corrupt Bank staff, or was doing a bad job of advancing the interests of the Wolfowitz coterie. Continue reading

Coronation timeline.

Yesterday the board posted this on the timeline for Zoellick’s coronation:  “The Executive Directors have decided to invite the nominee to an informal meeting on June 20, to discuss key issues of interest to the World Bank Group. … Following this meeting, and follow-up interactions and consultations with their respective authorities, the Executive Directors intend to meet again on June 25, 2007 to decide on the Presidency of the Bank. They expect that all the required processes will be completed by June 30, 2007.”

Handcuffs Off: Zoellick Attacks

As soon as the June 15th deadline for alternative nominations for the World Bank presidency passed, Robert Zoellick, the presumptive nominee, let loose with an attack on Hugo Chavez and Venezuela. Is it a coincidence that Chavez is the Bush Administration’s favorite enemy of the moment? No prizes for guessing whose water Zoellick will be carrying at the World Bank.