{"id":1938,"date":"2007-04-13T11:52:43","date_gmt":"2007-04-13T15:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/wordpress\/?p=1938"},"modified":"2007-04-13T11:52:43","modified_gmt":"2007-04-13T15:52:43","slug":"wolfowitz-mixing-imperial-business-with-personal-pleasure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/?p=1938","title":{"rendered":"Wolfowitz: Mixing imperial business with personal pleasure"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the 1960s, when the U.S. was waging a war of choice against Vietnam, Paul Wolfowitz was choosing to avoid the draft using student deferments. He met future wife, Clare Selgin, at Cornell University where they both earned undergraduate degrees. An anthropologist and linguist whose specialty is Indonesia, Selgin Wolfowitz’s resume is not a Google search away. At some point after 1990 (when the IRIS Center at the University of Maryland<\/a> was founded with a grant from USAID) she was employed by IRIS; at least in 2001-2. Barry O’Connell is the source<\/a> for two dead links to her IRIS bio and a news item dated 2001. She worked in the “Governance Institutions Group, primarily on its projects in Indonesia and with the Programs and Policy Coordination office of USAID.” IRIS neither lists her as a staff member nor archives her work. <\/p>\n

Paul and Clare separated in 2001, allegedly after a scandal erupted over an affair he’d had with a woman at Johns Hopkins University where he was dean of International Relations at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) from 1993 to 2001. Since O’Connell first reported<\/a> that Selgin Wolfowitz had sent a letter to the White House “concerning the Security Implications of her husband’s womanizing,” the letter has been reported as a fact by several journalists but it’s not clear if O’Connell ever clarified when it was sent, the letter’s content, or his source. In 2005<\/a>, the Daily Mail<\/em> reported the letter had been sent to then president-elect George Bush, which Selgin Wolfowitz would neither confirm nor deny. She also refused to confirm that the couple were divorced. <\/p>\n

In 2001, Wolfowitz was being stimulated at least intellectually by Shaha Riza, a British citizen and World Bank economist who specialises in his vision to ‘democratise’ the Middle East by bombing countries into the stone age then securing IMF loans for U.S.-supported despots to rebuild in ways that generate profits for the bank’s shareholders. The World Bank “forbids couples to work on the staff if one reports directly to the other<\/a>,” so the affair became a problem for Wolfowitz when he was tapped to become the next World Bank president in 2004.<\/p>\n

After assuming the role<\/a> of World Bank president in 2005, Wolfowitz negotiated the terms of Riza’s promotion to the State Dept. where she reportedly work(s)ed*<\/strong> with Dick Cheney’s daughter Elizabeth Cheney, “operating what amounts to a slush fund at State’s Middle East bureau<\/a>.” According to Murray Waas<\/a>, “her salary was still to be paid by the World Bank,” and raises – two since Riza was detailed to the State Dept. – have “made her the single highest paid State Department official.” A memo that was circulated on 3 April by the World Bank Group Association regarding internal debate over the situation was leaked to Waas and other journalists.<\/p>\n

And as to any internal probe taking place at the World Bank of any of this, no-one at the bank is expecting anything to happen anytime soon. The person who would conduct any such investigation, Suzanne Rich Folsom, is a Republican party activist<\/a> and long-time friend of Wolfowitz’s. In appointing Folsom to the position, Wolfowitz had disregarded the recommendations of an executive-search firm which after considerable expense and time recommended no less than nine qualified candidates for the position to Wolfowitz.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

World Bank officials say Wolfowitz breached ethics when he intervened on her behalf. <\/p>\n

World Bank board says will decide soon on Wolfowitz
\nBy Lesley Wroughton, Reuters<\/em>, 13 April 2007<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The World Bank’s board of directors adjourned a meeting on Friday over the promotion by bank President Paul Wolfowitz of his girlfriend, Shaha Riza, saying it would move quickly to decide how to proceed.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the board said it found that Wolfowitz signed off on Riza’s promotion and salary increase without a review by an ethics committee nor the board’s chairman. The promotion came shortly after he joined the institution in 2005.<\/p>\n

“The executive directors will move expeditiously to reach a conclusion on possible actions to take,” the board said.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

The board said Wolfowitz had revealed his relationship with Riza while he was negotiating his own job contract and, at the directors’ request, sought guidance from the board’s ethics committee.<\/p>\n

“The guidance given on an informal basis was that the employee should be relocated to a position beyond potential supervising influence,” the board said.<\/p>\n

[Read the report | View Wolfowitz says ‘I’m sorry’ video<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Still stepping out<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

World Bank prez Paul Wolfowitz and Shaha Riza, the Middle East expert he’s been quietly dating for years (and who moved from the bank to the State Department, with a nice raise<\/a>, when Wolfowitz took over), made a rare public appearance as a couple at a VIP-laden dinner and recital by tenor Salvatore Licitra at the Japanese ambassador’s residence Friday night.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Still making out<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

Wolfowitz and Shaha Riza were spotted making out the Japanese ambassador?s house last Friday. While the cynical would say they?re merely keeping up appearances, making a rare public appearance so soon after rumors of their break-up, we know Paul Wolfowitz would never, ever, ever deceive anyone about anything.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

*Updated 16 April<\/strong>: Elizabeth Cheney left her post at the State Dept. in spring 2006<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the 1960s, when the U.S. was waging a war of choice against Vietnam, Paul Wolfowitz was choosing to avoid the draft using student deferments. He met future wife, Clare Selgin, at Cornell University where they both earned undergraduate degrees. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdXTf-vg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1938\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/karmalised.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}