Wolfowitz Nomination a Shock for Europe

I don’t know why I love to see headlines like the one above, taken from the Financial Times, but it always makes me smile. With Bono’s endorsement of Colin Powell last week and speculation that even Bono himself might be appointed to the World Bank, many Europeans felt that Bush would appoint another diplomatic bureaucrat. Instead, Bush appointed Paul Wolfowitz, a smart, hard-charging, no-nonsense guy who cares more about results than offense, much like John Bolton at the UN.

The louder the protests, the more I know that Bush made the right choice. Judging by the following reactions, I think he is the right man for the job:

“The enthusiasm in old Europe is not exactly overwhelming.”
- Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, German Development Minister

“It is a disaster to put the World Bank, which should be delivering sustainable development, into the hands of a man who clearly will put US and oil-industry interests first.”
- Greenpeace

“It makes you wonder whether all the administration's words about mending fences with our allies are just lip service.”
- John Kerry, 2004 Democratic presidential candidate

“A truly terrifying appointment. You can't have a situation where rich countries lecture developing countries about democracy and then aren't prepared to exercise democracy in this kind of appointment.”
- Dave Timms, World Development Movement

“The appointment is another provocation from the US administration and the neo-conservatives to the Third World, especially the Arabs and Muslims.”
- Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of Arabic newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi

Now if we can only get some changes at the IMF, these international organizations might not be such a joke.