Wolfowitz gets EU blessing

If you’ve been reading this blog for some time you may have noticed that the tenor regarding international news, especially in China or Iran, can be a bit alarmist. It’s true, I look at the worst possible outcomes and like a Fox News writer I examine them in the extreme to generate interest. In the end I’m just trying to point out where things might be headed if the powers that be take a sharp turn in the wrong direction. Nobody wants war whether it be China, Iran, Russia, the EU or the US. Is it possible, of course it is. Is it desirable, good God no; only a madman would desire full-scale if there’s a way it can be averted. And that of course brings me to Paul Wolfowitz. I think his acceptance as the possible World Bank head by the European Union is a positive and visible sign that despite the rhetoric and mass protests, the leaders throughout Europe recognize the power of the US with respect to the global economic-military environment and want very much to employ a reasonable degree of civility between our sister nations. When you add this plus their quasi-commitment to keeping up the arms embargo against China, I believe it’s all a matter of the EU trying its best to reconcile its own self-interest while paying deference to the US. Here’s the story from ITV.com:

European leaders have given the green light for controversial US nominee Paul Wolfowitz to take over as head of the World Bank.

Wolfowitz, the US deputy secretary of defence and one of the main architects of the Iraq war, stressed his commitment to fighting world poverty, promising to consult Europe and ensure it had a proper say in the bank’s management.

The executive European Commission said it was happy with the commitments that Wolfowitz had given EU officials and said it expected EU governors to back him.

Commissioner Olli Rehn “was satisfied with everything he heard from Mr Wolfowitz concerning free trade and also on poverty reduction and development policy”, a spokeswoman said.

Wolfowitz, more widely associated with the unilateral use of US military power than with development policy, said he knew his neo-conservative image worried some in Europe.

“I understand that I’m to put it mildly a controversial figure,” he said. “But as people get to know me better, they will understand that I really do believe deeply in the mission of the bank.”