'JAKARTA, Indonesia - The controversy surrounding World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz spotlights a lack of ethics that was apparent two decades ago when he was U.S. ambassador to Indonesia.
Jeffrey Winters, a professor of political economy at Northwestern University, said that Wolfowitz's past career already showed he was ill fit to run the World Bank.
'"From the very beginning, I felt this was the wrong person for the job," said Winters. He pointed to the radical deregulation of Indonesia's banking sector in 1988, promoted by Wolfowitz's economic team and international lenders. It "opened the floodgates for local crony conglomerates to set up private banks and take in deposits from a trusting public."
'With no rule of law, there was no oversight and no supervision, he said.
"The foxes were running wild in the financial chicken coop and no one, including Wolfowitz, pressured the Indonesians to design safeguards to protect the public's deposits," he said. One result was the 1997-98 financial crisis "that plunged tens of millions into abject poverty."
'Wolfowitz has been arguing that corruption is crippling the world's poorest nations. But that was "the very thing he closed his eyes to" when he served as ambassador from 1986 to 1989 during the regime of the dictator Suharto, said pro-democracy activist Binny Buchori.
'"He's a hypocrite," she said. "He should quit."'
8 comments:
It amazes me that people like Wolfie can blunder their way from top job to top job despite their complete incompetence and dubious character.
A searching look at his face is enough. That he has a girlfriend suggests she must be blind. Cheers.
Daniel, if you accept my opinions about the advantages of "tribal" loyalties, it isn't so suprising that people like Wolfowitz can stay in top jobs no matter how often they mess things up. In that context his face is an asset. My Jewish (former) wife told me that it really irritated her that when she met Jewish strangers they would struggle to determine whether she was "a member of the tribe" before deciding how to treat her. In Wolfie's case, no struggle is required.
Good comment about the girlfriend being blind. They say that power is an aphrodesiac, but this is ridiculous!
:)
Peope in Iran thought I was crazy to be cheering Wolfowitz "exposure"!
In facs, Iranians were wondering why I am so anti-american! :)) Irony, huh?
Naj, it's good to have to back! We were worried. I will now go read your latest blog posts.
Why in the world would Iranians be surprised that you are anti-Wolfowitz? Why would they expect you to be pro-American when the U.S. is destroying Iraq and threatening Iran?
Amazing.
Amazing in deed!
(Un)fortunately, many Iranians have the illusion that Americans really know them well and like them very much and that the Americans are very capable of distinguishing between the Iranian regime and the people!
They also are convinced that the American threats are just fluff!
And they are somehow more focused on their own internal problems, such as inflation, hardliner's new push for changing women's dress code, housing facilitations promised by the government, newly introduced system of gas usage, the republication of a banned paper, and things like that!
Naj, as you know, Americans know almost nothing about Iran or the Iranian people. I can understand that Iranians are, like everyone else in the world, focused on their internal and personal problems and interests, and see their country as the center of the planet, but it's hard to see how they got the idea that Americans know and like them. They need to understand that in the U.S. Iran is a completely unreal propaganda fantasy. That's one reason your blog is so valuable.
My attitude towards Americans is very straight forward.
I thank them for winning WW2, without which I'd probably be speaking Japanese today and have to learn German as my second language.
I believe the masses have no taste in music as evident by Melinda Dolittle's ouster from American Idol.
And I abosolutely loath the current Bush administration for what it has done to good governance in the USA. (I guess I am a Democrat at heart...)
But I do not loath America. I believe it has the right system in place, and is still a great society despite its imperfections.
And I will not slam it at every opportunity like my country's ex-PM used to do just because he doesn't like Caucasians much. My country is not doing any better.
It is the dickheads that screw it up all the time.
And now Wolfie is Going, Going, GONE!
A very good slap in Bush's face.
GodBless America.
Wombat, thanks for that very interesting comment. In expressing my feelings about what's wrong with the U.S. I do go to extremes sometimes. I'm very fond of many things about this country, and I realize that in spite of the greedy politicians, the Zionists, and the ever-lowering standards of culture and education, in many ways America retains some of its advantages over some other places in the world. I'm afraid, however, that it's riding on momentum from its past.
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