The World Bank putsch, and today's items

Wolfowitz 'broke World Bank laws', claims the Beeb; the WaPo says the committe found that Wolfowitz undermined the integrity of the institution.

Clarice Feldman explains The Attempted Putsch at the World Bank

This suggested, of course, that Wolfowitz would be allowed to directly comment to the Board on their testimony before the Ad Hoc Committee issued its final report but apparently he will not be, the Board having received an updated version of the Ad Hoc Report without Wolfowitz having been given an opportunity to address his rebuttal directly to the Board ahead of that transmittal. Certainly, he was given no opportunity to cross examine these witnesses himself, and as the discrepancy on the record of outgoing vice president for human resources Xavier Coll shows, there is plenty of reason to question the veracity of the chief witnesses against him.

Confidential proceedings of this group and the Board are regularly being leaked to friends in the press and to outside organizations critical of Wolfowitz, while he and Riza have been gagged and precluded from responding quickly by releasing internal documents supportive of their defense. In this way, it seems clear the Ad Hoc Committee is trying to force recalcitrant Board members to cede to their recommendations, thereby precluding independent judgment by the larger 24 board of Executive Directors. Indeed, although the media has been rushing to print every word of Board members and staffers opposed to Wolfowitz, the report takes issue with his deigning to defend himself against these baseless and overblown charges of improper dealing.

(h/t Larwyn)

World Bank Jobbery
More evidence the Wolfowitz accusers chose to ignore.

All of this is further evidence that what Mr. Wolfowitz is facing here is a kangaroo court. The Europeans and bank staff thought they could get him to leave quietly if they smeared him and Ms. Riza enough in the press. But now that he has fought back to clear his name, the Europeans led by Dutch politician Herman Wijffels have decided to ignore evidence to justify their one-sided conclusions. They also largely ignore Ms. Riza's own statements to the committee while condemning her for objecting to a process that all but ended her career at the bank.

Claudia Rosett writes on World Bokum.

Meanwhile, George Soros sets his sights.
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Call It the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Dictatorships
Business as usual as Zimbabwe takes a seat. This is exactly how the UN is meant to work.
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Sarkozy soap opera grips Paris
Amazing how the press is spilling the beans on Sarko but kept silent everybody else's soaps - starting with Chirac and his Japanese mistress.

Update: Via Maria, No rest for Citizen Chirac as he relinquishes the throne

"Jacques Chirac has deep convictions," he told Le Monde. "A locomotive like Chirac will get things moving."

As vans shuttled the Chiracs' belongings across the Seine, staff at the Elysée Palace spent the day shredding documents. Orders were given to destroy or take home all personal documents and notes. Tapes of meetings and press conferences were also destroyed and deposited in rubbish skips that were parked around the palace.

Don't expect any new developments to shed light on Chirac's mysterious millions any time soon.

Or ever.
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Getting past prestige names when searching for a college

Strategically, students have a better chance at capturing merit money if they look for schools where they will be among the top 25 percent of incoming students in grades and SAT scores. You can find out how your child stacks up by looking at the CollegeBoard.com and examining the range of SAT scores.

Being in the top tier of kids, however, won't get you any money if the school doesn't award any. So it's important to know which schools do. This will be especially important if you do not expect to receive any need-based financial aid. Some Ivy League schools and other prominent East Coast schools don't award merit money.