with regard to saving Wolfowitz’s job at World Bank: NYT
European leaders have told the Bush administration that Paul D. Wolfowitz must resign as president of the World Bank in order to avoid a vote next week by the bank’s board declaring that he no longer has its confidence to function as the bank’s leader, European officials said Thursday.
The officials said the board was drafting a resolution reflecting its view that the relationship between Mr. Wolfowitz and the governing body of the bank had “broken beyond repair.” They noted that, if he remained in office, some European countries were planning to reduce contributions to the World Bank that would aid poor countries and instead would channel the money to European agencies and other groups for distribution.
“The administration has been told that its battle to save Wolfowitz cannot be won,” said a European official, who like others who discussed the matter spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter is confidential. “His relationship with the board is not only damaged. It is broken.”
But don’t worry, Wolfowitz’s attorney said that Mr. Wolfowitz would be submitting “a powerful presentation that shows without doubt that there is no bad faith on his part, no conflict of interest on his part” and that a premature judgment raised doubts about the bank’s credibility.
Leaders from European states have told the Bush administration that Paul Wolfowitz must resign from the World Bank in order to avoid a vote of no confidence, it was reported today.
The beleagured Mr Wolfowitz is due to respond formally today to charges that he broke bank rules by ordering a promotion and pay rise for his companion, the bank’s Middle East expert, Shaha Riza.
(snip)
The Bush administration is also coming under Democratic pressure in Congress to dump Mr Wolfowitz rather than confront the Europeans in a no-confidence vote.
“We do not believe the bank’s mission or US interests would be advanced by such a vote,” said a letter signed by the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, and other top Democrats.
An Irish court has ruled in favour of a teenage girl seeking legal permission to travel to England to abort her terminally ill foetus.
The 17-year-old, who is four months’ pregnant, opted for an abortion after discovering that the foetus suffered from a brain condition which meant that it could live for at most three days after birth.
But health authorities where the girl is in care moved to prevent her travelling to England. Abortion is strictly curtailed in the Republic, though every year thousands of Irish women go to England for the procedure.
Following expedited hearings in which the authorities appointed a council to represent the unborn child, Mr Justice Liam McKechnie ruled in the Dublin High Court that there was no legal barrier to the girl, referred to as Miss D, travelling abroad for an abortion.
The judge said he “firmly and unequivocally” concluded there was no statutory or constitutional impediment preventing her from travelling for the purposes of terminating her pregnancy. He said that the case was not about abortion but was about the right to travel.
Mr Justice McKechnie complimented the teenager’s “courage, integrity and maturity” in refusing to claim she was suicidal, a circumstance which in Ireland can provide grounds for an abortion.
Seems like this might be a preview of what’s to come for women in the US…
US-led forces in Afghanistan have conceded that a major battle in the south of the country caused some civilian casualties, but refused to confirm local reports that up to 40 people had died.
The statement came as US and Afghan forces waged further battles against suspected Taliban fighters in the Sangin region of Helmand province, as part of a major late-spring offensive also involving thousands of British troops.
A statement from international forces officials said a 16-hour battle between US troops and militants wounded at least 20 Afghan civilians, among them a child who later died of its wounds.
Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, yesterday posted its worst monthly sales figures since its records began in 1980.
The company said same store sales fell 3.5% in April on the same month a year ago. Same store sales measure the performance of stores that have been open for at least 12 months.
But Wal-Mart was not the only US retailer turning in a poor performance in April, triggering fears that the US housing slump might be spilling over into consumer spending and that the economy might be taking a turn for the worse.
QUESTION: You are portrayed by your opponents and some in the media as this sinister figure, as this cold-blooded warmonger who doesn’t care about the number of body bags going back. I know you read the casualty reports every day. I know you and Mrs. Cheney visit wounded troops privately. And I saw you in Iraq with troops in Iraq. But how do you feel about the cost of this war in blood and treasure four years later? And I guess the question most Americans have is how much is enough.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, obviously, any casualty is to be regretted. Nobody likes to be in the position where they have to make those kinds of decisions. Obviously, the President bears the major part of the burden. He’s the man with the authority to commit the force.
“Ehud Olmert, the embattled Israeli leader, was placed under further pressure today after it was revealed that he told an inquiry into last summer’s Lebanon War that his Army had “seriously let itself down” but that he made the “correct” decision to enter the conflict.
The Prime Minister, who has faced numerous demands that he resign amid low public approval ratings, was accused of deflecting responsibility away from himself during his statement to a panel investigating the war, the details of which were released for the first time today.[.]”
Is what we’re seeing slowly unravel really the end of the BushCo™ cabal…or just wishful thinking?
the view from across the pond, as well as mr. blair’s pending exit, would indicate that, at least, we’re not alone.
This perfect storm will finally destroy the neocon project
Americans are sick of the unrepentant arrogance of this elite. But the realisation has come at a very heavy cost
Geoffrey Wheatcroft
[…]
And yet to visit the US at present, as I have done, is to experience an overwhelming sensation of drastic impending change. It’s not merely that President Bush, to whom Blair so disastrously tethered himself, is “in office but not in power”. Most Americans can’t wait for him to go, Congress is beyond his control, and the Senate majority leader, Senator Harry Reid, has told him that the war in Iraq is lost – for which statement of the obvious Reid was accused of “defeatism” by the vice-president, Dick Cheney.
Besides that the portents range from Paul Wolfowitz’s travails at the World Bank to the Senate interrogation of Alberto Gonzales, the attorney general, and the trial of Conrad Black. This might sound like the “succession of small disasters, oh trifling in themselves”…yet there really is an observable pattern.
Along with the collapse of Bush’s authority, all these episodes are connected to the great disaster in Iraq. And all illustrate the hubristic, impenitent arrogance of the people who have been guiding America’s destiny – as well as ours, alas – for the past six years. What one senses so acutely are the conditions building for a political perfect storm, which will engulf and destroy the whole neoconservative project.
responds to the McCain campaign’s characterization of PP as “one of the most radical pro-abortion groups in the country”, in spite of the fact that 97% of PP’s services are focused on preventing unintended pregnancies and providing cancer screening and routine gynecologic care…Go read it here.
And what does Team McCain call the Christian terrorists who bomb clinics?
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – Western powers were Friday to introduce a draft resolution in the Security Council backing Kosovo’s independence from Serbia despite stiff opposition from veto-wielding Russia.
US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad, the president of the 15-member body this month, told reporters that the text “will be circulated this afternoon.”
The draft is sponsored by the United States and its European allies, including Germany which is not a council member but currently chairs the European Union, the US envoy said.
In Zagreb, visiting US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns meanwhile said that he expected the Western resolution “to lead to the independence of Kosovo by the end of this month.”
with regard to saving Wolfowitz’s job at World Bank: NYT
But don’t worry, Wolfowitz’s attorney said that Mr. Wolfowitz would be submitting “a powerful presentation that shows without doubt that there is no bad faith on his part, no conflict of interest on his part” and that a premature judgment raised doubts about the bank’s credibility.
Riiight…it’s all the World Bank’s fault.
Europe calls for Wolfowitz to quit
Watch today’s post news cycle dump: (H/T Steve Clemons)
Wolfowitz Getting Out of Town? He’s off to give an ‘anti-corruption’ essay competition prize.
Take a hint Wolfy…this saga has legs.
for an abortion: UK Independent
Seems like this might be a preview of what’s to come for women in the US…
US-led forces admit civilian casualties in Afghan fighting
Wal-Mart posts worst sales ever as US retail figures slump
From the Pathetic File:
Abu Gonzales, the decoy and brain dead
“On habeaus corpus?,,I hadn’t really thought about that.”
(H/T: Laura Rozen, Talkleft)
Cheney fingers Bush
Ehud Olmert: My army ‘let itself down’ in Lebanon
“Ehud Olmert, the embattled Israeli leader, was placed under further pressure today after it was revealed that he told an inquiry into last summer’s Lebanon War that his Army had “seriously let itself down” but that he made the “correct” decision to enter the conflict.
The Prime Minister, who has faced numerous demands that he resign amid low public approval ratings, was accused of deflecting responsibility away from himself during his statement to a panel investigating the war, the details of which were released for the first time today.[.]”
Is what we’re seeing slowly unravel really the end of the BushCo™ cabal…or just wishful thinking?
the view from across the pond, as well as mr. blair’s pending exit, would indicate that, at least, we’re not alone.
lTMF’sA
responds to the McCain campaign’s characterization of PP as “one of the most radical pro-abortion groups in the country”, in spite of the fact that 97% of PP’s services are focused on preventing unintended pregnancies and providing cancer screening and routine gynecologic care…Go read it here.
And what does Team McCain call the Christian terrorists who bomb clinics?
Oh, right…their base.
West to introduce Kosovo independence draft at UN