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Washington Post: Criticizing Leaders is Wrong 127

Posted by CmdrTaco from the watergate-was-a-long-time-ago dept.
Dazan writes: "The Washington Post has an interesting op-ed piece on its website today, Mr. Wolfowitz and the Bank. The Post, a popular liberal paper, says that now that Paul Wolfowitz is heading the World Bank, 'People... should think carefully before they damage [the Bank] by attacking its new boss,' and that bringing up Wolfowitz's record is unhealthy. Of course it doesn't hurt for us all to watch what we say, expecially our newspapers. What does the Slashdot community think?"
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Washington Post: Criticizing Leaders is Wrong More

Washington Post: Criticizing Leaders is Wrong

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  • What does the Slashdot community think? (Score:5, Funny)

    by GillBates0 ( 664202 ) on Friday April 01, 2005 @06:35PM (#12116829) Homepage Journal
    Short Answer: No.

    Long Answer: Yes.

    • Is the slashdot community paying attention to this particular thread after all the jokes today?

      Therefore there isn't really a short or a long answer, there's just a, "Is this a real story?"
    • As I am reading TFA now, I cannot conceive of how any rightly thinking person could possibly believe the sheer amount of tripe that this poor excuse for a newspaper provides. Do people actually pay for the dead tree version of this? I'm completely shocked as to how this can possibly be called journalism. That article is so wrong on so many levels that I just don't know where to begin.

      The article says that the World will approved a highly controversial dam in Laos, noting that this dam will endanger the en

  • Warmonger Wolfowitz could show some of the humility and courage John Paul II has, change the world through dialogue, rather than engineering tragic events so conveniently you may exert your will by force upon an unpopular adversary.

    The Cold War is over, one hero lies dying, one monster is elevated to a position to restrict the flow of aid to countries which don't fall into line. Call a Spade a Spade. That's what the 1st Amendment is really for.

    Be near me when my light is low,
    When the blood creeps, and

    • Re:A Wolf In Wolf's Clothing (Score:4, Informative)

      by EnronHaliburton2004 ( 815366 ) on Friday April 01, 2005 @06:43PM (#12116977) Homepage Journal
      What's even more frightening is that the US got the EU to go along with the deal, despite Wolfowitz's horrible record.

      Big deals being made for some of those top posts...

      • Re:A Wolf In Wolf's Clothing (Score:4, Funny)

        by WillAffleck ( 42386 ) on Friday April 01, 2005 @07:24PM (#12117476)
        What's even more frightening is that the US got the EU to go along with the deal, despite Wolfowitz's horrible record.

        Gotcha! April Fools! We only pretended to approve Wolfie!

        signed, the EU

        p.s. we still won't help with Iraq, at least until you stop exporting WMD ...

      • Re:A Wolf In Wolf's Clothing - (Score:1, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward
        >one monster is elevated to a position to restrict the flow of aid to countries which
        >don't fall into line. Call a Spade a Spade. That's what the 1st Amendment is really for.

        The spade includes the world leaders that take out 'loans' from the World Bank without ever ever planning to repay them.

        The countries that fund the world bank through taxes are under no obligation to build infrastructure in other countries.

        What's so wrong with insisting that the World Bank acts like a bank?

        The World Bank is li
    • Warmonger Wolfowitz could show some of the humility and courage John Paul II has, change the world through dialogue, rather than engineering tragic events so conveniently you may exert your will by force upon an unpopular adversary.

      So Wolfowitz should start doing things like saying that condoms help spread AIDS and allow rampant pedophilia to go unchecked?
      • Talking Bullshit is better than waging war.
      • Your comment is stupid and misleading.
      • The position of Vatican was not that the condoms directly spread AIDS, but that they do not stop it as effectively as its advocates say, and encourage dangerous behaviour by giving a false sense of security. While debatable, it is not equivalent to what you said. With regards to pedophilia, the Roman Catholic Church acknowledged its mistakes and made a lot of changes in its laws and procedures. Be so kind and compare this "we have erred, we are very sorry and we are correcting out attitude" to the "we are
        • By saying that condoms are permeable to the AIDS virus, and therefore ineffective in stopping it, isn't that implying that they help spread AIDS? You're splitting some pretty fine hairs to counter my statement. Now, had I said that the Church came out and said that the condoms themselves were responsible for AIDS, but I didn't. They came out with an opinion based on absolutely nothing just to fit their agenda.

          With regards to the pedophilia thing, do you really think that changing "laws and procedures" s
          • condoms help spread AIDS

            That's what you said. If something help spread AIDS, it's responsible for it, right? Who's splitting hairs here? Now, what I said the Church is saying, is that the condoms encourage promiscuous behaviour, and this behaviour help spread AIDS. Church is simply saying "condoms may or may not save you, but being faithful to each other in marriage certainly will". I'm not defending this doctrine, I think the Bible does not say anything about condoms. What it says that married people sh
            • Why do you feel you have to ask this question?

              Because bias is important. Our personal biases also speak to the fact that we're probably not going to convince one another either way on any of this. I could waste time with a lengthy response to your lengthy response and so forth, but it's highly unlikely to change either my clearly anti-Church bias or your pro-Church bias.
      • Regarding AIDS, I believe that condoms do help to spread AIDS. The current estimated rate of condom ineffectiveness in first world countries due to human error (note that this says nothing at all about how good the condoms are) is about 15-20 percent. So, how do you combat AIDS in the third world countries where education is much lower (so ineffectiveness due to human error goes up) and promiscuity is higher? Well, Ugands cut their rate of infection of AIDS to a third over 10 years by heavily promoting chas
    • hmm.. to the victor goes the spoils?

      EER. History is writen by the winners..

      err. i know there is some catchy phrase that would explain all this. I cannot put my finger on the right one though. Somethign must be wrong when my book of catch phrazes lets me down.

    • How is the parent post anymore flaimbate than the article. The poster was not violating slashdot TOS or even posting off-topic.

      When I get mod points, I don't f*****g mod people's posts down because I don't agree with them.
  • Censorship? Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Well, clearly that's B.S.... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Jooly Rodney ( 100912 ) on Friday April 01, 2005 @06:37PM (#12116851)
    ...but "liberal" newspapers often have conservative stuff show up on their op-ed page -- witness David Brooks @ NYT.

  • Why should Wolfowitz be World Bank Prez? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I mean, come on, why the hell would a Pentagon official, the very guy who started the Iraq War, be a good person to help 3rd world countries? Does this suggest something? Am I thinking what you're thinking?
    • I mean, come on, why the hell would a Pentagon official, the very guy who started the Iraq War, be a good person to help 3rd world countries?

      More people may get to vote for their rulers? This is, of course, assuming the World Bank keeps a military force with which they can invade said 3rd world countries.

      Which it doesn't. Besides, just because you disagree with his foreign policy decisions doesn't mean he's a bad banker.

      Oh, and don't forget: the World Bank is for us, too (speaking as a Westerner).

      • Re:Why should Wolfowitz be World Bank Prez? (Score:4, Funny)

        by FriedTurkey ( 761642 ) on Friday April 01, 2005 @07:01PM (#12117274)
        Oh, and don't forget: the World Bank is for us, too (speaking as a Westerner).

        Dude, the World Bank isn't like a bank that nations use to keep a checking account and get free pens.

        The World Bank [wikipedia.org] is for fighting poverty in third world nations.
        • Dammit! Stop confusing the issue with the facts! You know I don't click the links.

        • Re:Why should Wolfowitz be World Bank Prez? (Score:1, Insightful)

          by Anonymous Coward
          "The World Bank is for fighting poverty in third world nations."

          I think you mean "The World Bank is fighting for poverty in third world nations," according to Greg Palast's [gregpalast.com] investigative journalism.
        • "Fighting Poverty" -- yeah, by lending money to governments whose officials then waste it/parcel it out to cronies/squirrel it away in offshore accounts, and then future generations of those nations' poor can be enslaved as these debtor nations go grovelling back to the World Bank to get more loans just to pay the INTEREST on what they got before. That's fighting poverty, all right!
          • umm.. all that should be taken care of. When clinton [bannerofliberty.com] sent an onvoy to convince opec that they could manipulate the production of oil to raise the prices [washingtoninstitute.org] and thereby increasing the amount of money availible to pay back the debt the third world countries encounter.

            The tird world debt is realy a conclusion made because forgiving it was a top conversation list at the time and the trip to riase oil prices seemed to ocme after congress lost anyt hope of passing somethign that would forgive third world debt that
    • you must be thinking of a different world bank. The World Bank always has been an instrument of US Power Projection and nothing more. It has worked well to suck what remaining economic life remains from developing nations. Only developing countries who rejected the World bank's Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) have prospered at all. Those who followed the SAPs got right royally fucked in the ass; just as they were supposed to. Wofi is the natural best choice for the world bank and is sure to ad
    • I think the answer can be found by reading the Wolfowitz Report written in 1992.

      In it Wolfowitz advocates for direct US invasions of certain countries if they gain enough power to challenge the United States. The plan is to insure that no power shall overcome the power of the United States (an idea reiterated by W. Bush in September of 2000).

      I believe that the World Bank was designed as a tool to maintain the current power of western states and most notably the US. Paul Wolfowitz will insure that th

  • You don't care what we think. This is all part of your sinister plot to get people to add more comments to the plethora of April Fool's day articles by asking us our opionions in a politics thread. Since this appears to maybe not be a joke thread, I fear CmdrTaco that ye may know not what ye have unleashed.

  • The Slashdot community (Score:3, Insightful)

    by As Seen On TV ( 857673 ) <asseen@gmail.com> on Friday April 01, 2005 @06:37PM (#12116862)
    The Slashdot community really, really wishes that the Slashdot management would stop posting flamebait stories to drive up page views.
  • Well, it's an editorial so that's close enough.

  • Well... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by cy_a253 ( 713262 )
    "What does the Slashdot community think?"

    Well, at the speed new stories are being posted, this one will scroll off the main page before anyon...
  • I was hoping this was an April Fool's joke...
  • Screw Pope
    Screw RMS
    Screw Blair
    Screw Putin
    Screw April
    Screw May
    Screw that nice looking chick across the street
    aah, screw it.

  • > What does the Slashdot community think?

    I think we should get CmdrTaco the STFU and GBT-oh, wait, this is his job.

    Never mind.

  • In related news (Score:3, Funny)

    by mboverload ( 657893 ) on Friday April 01, 2005 @06:38PM (#12116885) Journal
    In related news the FBI has baned spotlights because they can blind pilots.

    Car dealerships are appealing the decision.

  • Paul Wolfowitz, the guy who messed up Iraq, becoming the head of the World Bank? Good thing this is a April Fools joke.

    ....Oh crap...

  • April fools joke? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by cioxx ( 456323 ) on Friday April 01, 2005 @06:41PM (#12116933) Homepage
    The Post, a popular liberal paper,

    It has to be.
  • April 2, 2005
    Washington Post Headline:
    "April Fools! Bush Sucks!"
  • This is barely news. This is not even close to "being news for nerds, stuff that matters". .......and I have 5 moderator points I can use. At first I wasn't sure if slashdot was playing a prank on me or not. I'll just pretend I don't have points to use up until tomorrow, just to be safe.

    Shouldn't be too long now before slashdot returns to normal.
    • Shouldn't be too long now before slashdot returns to normal.

      Slashdot was ever normal? When did this happen and how many seconds did it last?
      • Slashdot was ever normal? When did this happen and how many seconds did it last?

        Normal is a subjective term and I meant normal for slashdot. As in returning to how it was a week ago, how it was a month ago, etc.

        Running a story about how optimizing the idle loop for example can hardly be considered a joke, and even then, it's a pretty bad one.

        Processors have have had for a very long time a HALT instruction that essentially disengages the cpu clock from the internals to conserve power, and since the co
  • Leaders criticised is doubleplusungood Minitruth doubleplusgood 2+2=5 Apple Computer + Sledgehammer = Bad

  • Quite the misrepresentation... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by David Ziegler ( 5030 ) <david AT ziegler DOT ws> on Friday April 01, 2005 @06:44PM (#12116990) Homepage

    The submitter seemed to read what seemed to fit his view. The quote with context:

    People who care about this institution and its mission -- as many of Mr. Wolfowitz's detractors do -- should think carefully before they damage it by attacking its new boss. Criticism of Mr. Wolfowitz's agenda for the bank may be healthy once that agenda emerges. But preemptive condemnation because of the Iraq war is not.

    To be more precise, the article (for those of you who haven't read it) says that Wolfowitz should not be prematurely criticized because of his role in the Iraq war.

    Mr. Wolfowitz's critics, domestic as well as international, should now get beyond their dislike of his role in the Iraq war and give him a chance to succeed at one of the world's hardest jobs.

    All the Washington Post's editors are saying is that we should criticize him for the work he does at the World Bank, not for past deeds.

    • Darn it, I was all set to post something snarky and sarcastic, and you go and point out that the article actually makes sense!
    • I agree. Way to take a comment out of context. Even bad people deserve a second chance - Darth Vader anyone?
      • Umm, we don't always give people a pass. For convicted child molestors and rapists, the US generally has registries. Thing here is to decide if Wolfie warrents a pass or not. Since he played a very big role in starting a war that has killed 100,000s, I think not.

    • I disagree (Score:5, Insightful)

      by No Such Agency ( 136681 ) <abmackay@@@gmail...com> on Friday April 01, 2005 @07:02PM (#12117286)
      So if the guy's a dangerous, unprincipled hack, with a history of putting corporate profit ahead of human rights and life, we should just ignore all the past evidence of that and wait and see what happens when he runs the freaking World Bank?!

    • Re:Quite the misrepresentation... (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Excuse me? If massive failure in your last job, failure that paves the way for 150,000+ deaths and creates an ongoing disaster that practically can't be stopped shouldn't disqualify you from working anywhere but a retail toy store, WHAT DOES?

      And if we continue that logic out, we had better do away with sex offender registration, criminal records in general, and credit reporting too.

      Also worth noting is that this article doesn't have anything to do with criticizing the descison, and those responsible for i

    • All the Washington Post's editors are saying is that we should criticize him for the work he does at the World Bank, not for past deeds.

      Riiiiiiiiight. So if, for example, your local school board hires a convicted rapist as a principle, don't criticize him for past deeds - that might damage the school; wait and see how he does in his new job.

      Sorry, no. Rapsits, murders, and war mongerers are off this list of civilized human beings. Until and unless it is demonstrated that they have reformed, any move

    • All the Washington Post's editors are saying is that we should criticize him for the work he does at the World Bank, not for past deeds.

      And let's remember that it's not only the Post that's saying that. Liberals and right-wingers alike are saying similar things.

      But let's remember the reality here. Wolfowitz has been cheerleading an attack on Iraq since the 1990s. Wolfowitz was a key advocate on the US invasion of Iraq which was planned from the first days of Bush taking power.

      There's no debating thos

  • Oh, Gee, Just another April Fools joke... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by StevenMaurer ( 115071 ) on Friday April 01, 2005 @06:44PM (#12116992) Homepage
    ... wait a minute ... it isn't

    Two thoughts:

    #1 What a sublime joke from the Slashdot editors, slipping in a real news article among the obvious jokes. A NASA paper airplane is far more believable than thinking the Washington Post editoralizing like Pravda. I was suitably misled.

    #2 Be afraid for our nation. Be very afraid.

    • CmdrTaco is our leader and can do no wrong. I love April Fools Day.


      neener neener neener

      batman

      oops leader

      leader
    • With all due respect, nuts to your nation. The reelection of Bush lost any sympathy the US might have had in the world community. The sad thing is that there are about 150 million Americans who don't support him, and many of them are intelligent reasonable people, who are getting painted with the brush of "Citizens of Bush's America."

      I fully expect to see the US become a has-been world power before I die, and I'm sad to say that they've dug their own grave. What really scares me though, is the collateral d

  • Can the Title be any more Misleading? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by popo ( 107611 ) on Friday April 01, 2005 @06:45PM (#12117004) Homepage

    The article doesn't suggest that criticising leaders is wrong in any way. What it does suggest is that perhaps Europeans were somewhat hypocritical in their objections to Wolfowitz.

    Once again we're forced to recognise that 'there are no good guys' in government -- either American or European.

    Yes it is wrong for the Europeans to be *more* critical of Wolfowitz than any other European candidate (as European selection processes and motivations are no more or less egalitarian than America's). But what we should (and by 'we' I mean Europeans and Americans) all be doing is being more critical of leadership in general.
  • I'm officially sick of april fool's day.
  • I don't believe that skeleton autopsies will matter much considering the menagerie we currently have at the UN from all countries.

    Dialog at this point is best limited to the following:

    o What is your agenda in solving this problem with ...?
    o What mistakes will you try to avoid in your new role?
    o How will you build consensus with other world players?
    o How will make the results of your department visible to the world and insure that all transactions are on the up-and-up?
    o To what special interests

  • Unimpressed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Movint ( 862539 ) on Friday April 01, 2005 @06:56PM (#12117183)
    Personally, I think its quite shoddy journalism.

    "Most people agree that the World Bank is necessary."

    I'm sure most people are unaware of what exactly the World Bank does, and i think a fair number would be unaware of its existence. People might approve of it in the general context of the status quo, but this does not amount to the same thing.

    The article is rather presumptive and un-critical. It mentions dam building and $20 billion but, for an opinion piece, it seems rather short on opinion. There's no analysis of the methods the bank uses, or how the money is spent. It seems to be arguing that, if the money's there don't knock it. Deciding to hold fire on spending money on ecological destructive constructions is not the same as "running away from hard projects".

    Personally, I do not support the work of the World Bank. It seems so driven by advancing the cause of world capitalism, that it is blind to the plight of the people that it is ostensibly supposed to benifit. I am not much of a fan of Mr. Wolfowitz either, and it seems likely that someone so deeply tied to the politics of the Bush administration is going to have something of a biased agenda in performing his duty.
    • Really? Nothing beyond the cause of World Capitalism?

      Silly me. I thought that the World Bank works on project such as an urgently needed sewage treatment plant in Gaza, [worldbank.org]
      post-secondary education funding in Ethiopia, [worldbank.org]

      and rural electrification in Cambodia. [worldbank.org]

      The World Bank's proper name is "the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)". It's called that because, well, that's what it does - and it's done that ever since it was started following World War 2 to assist in the rebuilding of
      • This is bitter economic medicine, though mostly necessary in the long run

        Not necessarly. When Argentina defaulted on its loans and refused the IMFs auterity measures, economists predicted impending disaster. Instead Argintina's economy underwent an immediate recovery. It seems that by taking the money it had been putting towards paying off interest and investing it in infrastructure, they were more than able to compensate for the loss of foreign capital. Just one case, but very interesting.
        • Agreed, certainly. That's why I mentioned the World Bank is moving away from "one-size-fits-all" macroeconomic adjustment programs. But the general rule does seem to be that free trade and reduction in government spending is the way to go. One reason for this is probably that while some states - like Argentina - may use government spending to improve infrastructure, and thus create a better climate for investment (as well as aiding human development), others tend to blow it on bullshit. Corruption, infrastr
    • either. Defense of the institution seems to be heavily qualified [nationalreview.com] at best. They do some incredibly stupid [nationalreview.com] things.

      Traditionally, the World Bank has been run by European socialists pretending to be capitalists. Bush pulled rank this time (since we're the largest funder of the thing) to put Wolfowitz in charge. I suppose it was easier to try to reform it than to kill it, from a political perspective. Personally I'd have zero-funded it (and quite a few other things; I laugh at people who think Bush is an

  • My 10p worth (Score:4, Funny)

    by TractorBarry ( 788340 ) on Friday April 01, 2005 @06:59PM (#12117222) Homepage
    > What does the Slashdot community think?

    Well I can't claim to speak for the Slashdot community as most of them are currently busy in their basment fortresses constructing weapons of mass destruction to aim at the editors for todays piss poor "April Fools" edition. So I guess I'll have to speak for myself.

    "Fuck off Wolfowitz you cunt"

    After all you're an old man and Thoth will shortly be weighing your heart against a certain feather. It will be found wanting.
    • I couldn't have said it better. Wolfowitz and his fellow cowards should rot in hell. W/R/T to the Post, I don't know how 'liberal' they are anymore. For instance, the other day we have this hatchet job http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A575 5-2005Mar27.html/ [washingtonpost.com] Which is basically a propaganda piece direct off the presses from Wolfowitz and his old buddies at the Whitehouse. Most notably, Diehl accuses Chavez of 'destroying' the economy of Venezuela. According to Economist, the Venezuelean econom

  • Date? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    No one noticed that this editorial is from _yesterday_? "Thursday, March 31, 2005"
  • If they can't take criticism, they don't deserve to lead.
  • You suppress those you might as well head for the hills. Bring a gun.

  • Interesting development (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ArrayIndexOutOfBound ( 694797 ) on Friday April 01, 2005 @11:48PM (#12118481)
    We will obviously see what all this is about in the coming years.

    At this point is smacks of the war on Doha Accord. US believes they will benefit more from bilateral and multilateral trade agreements as oposed to one global same-for-all agreement. The main benefit is, of course, the power that comes from selective trade agreements - there is allways a third side that is at a loss from a bilateral agreement. Take recent US-Chile agreement which has hit Brazil hard. These agreements are controversial because they often divert trade as opposed to creating new trade (some regional agreements excluded).

    US has maintained control over the world bank from the very beggining, but there is not much to argue about there - US based investors are the large majority.

    Washington Post fails to ask the right questions.

    Mr. Wolfowitz's critics, domestic as well as international, should now get beyond their dislike of his role in the Iraq war and give him a chance to succeed at one of the world's hardest jobs.

    Why should he be given the chance? Are there no real professionals who can run this enterprise without controversy?

    In fact, the real question is why Wolfowitz? One must immediatelly note the amount of work and political credits that have been put into this appointment. It is not only the 'old' Europe who were appaled by the choice. Mr Wolfowitz has travelled the world and among others, spoke to Bono from U2, apparently getting his blessing. Why? Why does he want to do this job so much?

    My answer is that Wolfowitz is the best candidate to establish control over increasingly important part of the world trade and delay the Doha accord as far as possible. As a master of spin he has already excelled in convincing US and satellites into a perpetual bloody war. All while it is universally obvious that those resources could be put to a better use for dealing with real problems we are facing - environment and poverty. You can expect to see many ex-world bank employees and many new ones as well...

    sosumi

  • this isn't an accident (Score:5, Insightful)

    by idlake ( 850372 ) on Saturday April 02, 2005 @12:57AM (#12118664)
    Bush may be a moron, but his administration isn't stupid. When they appoint people like Wolfowitz or Bolton to participate in international organizations, they know full well what the consequences are inevitably going to be.

    If people acquiesce like the WP suggests, then you just let these people get away with murder. If you speak up and expose these people for what they are, then you do indeed risk of damaging those organizations, but if people like those can come to power in those organizations, then maybe there is something fundamentally wrong with the way those organizations are set up, and maybe those organizations should be replaced.
  • Just in time for ANWR: "US president George W. Bush, in a speech to Congress today said, "Now that the situation in Iraq is under control, and after we've overthrown the governments of North Korea, Cuba, New Zealand, Iran and Madagascar, I'll be asking you for a further $50 billion toward my administration's efforts to help liberate Alaska, and give freedom to the Alaski people."

    The Alaskan governor, Frank H. Murkowski has long been a thorn in the side of the federal government by frustrating their plans

  • Let me get this straight... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Pre-emptive war is ok, but pre-emptive criticism is bad?!
  • this is plane and simple. illuminati trying to gain total control. its not as crazy as it seems. things are really out of control with this administration....wow
  • so now that he is the new boss of world bank we should forget about his old records, and start a new beginning?....i would love to do that but it is not Real Life, and yes people will judge him based on his past, whether he likes it or the world bank likes it or not.

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