Is it something to do with the time of year- spring turning into summer? Sex seems to be in the air and rocking the thrones of power- from Washington DC where the ongoing saga of Paul Wolfowitz’ role in the redeployment of his partner/girlfriend/lover/fiancée (there doesn’t seem to be consensus on what the precise relationship is) to London where the diminutive but powerful head of BP, Lord Browne yesterday resigned having lied to the court about how he had met his erstwhile male lover/partner and back to Washington where Condoleezza Rice’s No 2, Randall Tobias resigned following allegations that he had used an escort service whose madam is currently on trial and waving a dossier of clients that has all Washington apparently shivering in its boots. Does all this stuff really matter? It’s amazing to think that the fate of millions of people potentially rests on who is sleeping/slept with/had a massage with whom. But I suppose it was ever thus, throughout human history, all over the world, powerful men (they have been mostly men) have been laid low by love/lust/loneliness/a desire for massage- call it what you will….
Nigeria’s own Mr EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu joins the fray on Mr Wolfowitz’ side from Abuja in this New York Times article
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/01/opinion/01ribadu.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Doesn't he have a wee conflict of interest seeing as Wolfowitz just appointed his pal Obi as Vice President?
Shouldn’t he perhaps also be just as interested in the travels of Dr Iyabo-Obasanjo-Bello, our Senate President in the making
http://www.saharareporters.com/www/photonews/detail/?id=42
or is he keeping his powder dry?
Speaking of powder dry, I understand that a downpour of rain dampened the ardour of would be protesters at the May Day rally in Lagos yesterday. My mother says that they all have now entered the position of “real siddon look”, the phrase immortalized by the late lamented Bola Ige, Obasanjo’s attorney general who was murdered in gruesome circumstances in 2001 and whose killers have still not been found- a little task for Obasanjo in his retirement maybe?
Speaking of retirement, May sees the departure of Tony Blair and Obasanjo, thankfully. My report card on both is similar- fair but could have done so much better – we’ll see what their successors will come up with. Both parties have strung out their adieus for as long as they can; and Blair’s hoping that by finally announcing that he will make a major announcement next week (talk about stringing it out) that he will take the sting out of the local elections this week. Fat chance. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of support the Scottish Nationalist party with their independence for Scotland agenda will get…
I’m just finishing Human Cargo, by Caroline Moorhead- an account of her travels, interviewing refugees all over the world. It’s a harrowing read but highly recommended in this our “globalized” world…
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13 comments:
Hmmmmmm, recently saw a book of photographs called "love and war", pictures of refugees and their families living in Norway, their stories.......the pictures.....could not sleep afterwards. It is heart wrenching, but necessary to keep one's head at the right place. I'll look for "human cargo".
power and corruption.. Paul Wolfowitz and the like abuse it when they use thier power,to produce unfair results. how dare his girlfriend. be making more than the secretary state of the U.S.A..
er..sorry is iyabo obasanjo sentae president in d making
Wow. News in brief. Great! Usually after being saturated all day with news, I come on blog world hoping to chill but this was good.
Paul Wolfowitz - leadership and judgement are questionable. It would have applied if he did the same for his male relative, he was imposed on the WB, Staff are on a mini mutiny, one of the architects of the Iraq war plus he is Neo con (bad jibe) etc… its not about sex
Randall (Randy) Tobias – Envoy to the Global Aids programme . Hypocrite, preaching ‘Abstinence only’ to developing countries. I know what he did is his private life, but if he cannot practice what he preaches….
Lord Browne’s only crime was perjury. Private life did not interfere with work. People who kiss and tell are the lowest form of life.
so only one is about sex
….and Tony Blair – almost smoked a joint in 1997 when he came to power. Now 5 out of 10 times I press the mute button when he’s on TV.
I agree with Vanilla. The Wolfowitz issue is as much about settling scores with the neo-con flank as anything else; Lord Browne was silly enough to misrepresent the detail of his relationship with his boyfriend under oath; as for Randy Tobias...the less said, the better.
If one's personal conduct has no direct bearing upon the execution of one's public office, then it ought to remain out of bounds to the prurient press. Of course, it is not always easy to establish this distinction. A cigar and a Gap dress come to mind, for instance...
Thanks for the Ribadu link!
"But the board should consider how important his error really was, especially considering that the bank’s internal documents suggest that Mr. Wolfowitz tried to follow the rules from the beginning."
I wonder if Nuhu displays such empathy when dealing with people on OBJ's hitlist!
I also wonder what the NY Times thought when they received an article, 75% of which was centred on the glory of the EFCC.
I agree that the Wolfowitz issue is more or less a smackdown for his neo-con views. But that does not necessarily make it such a horrible thing, in my opinion. He was content to ride that horse without (seemingly) offering the olive branch to World Bank staffers and others...abi why else are they screaming "off with his head!" Honestly, I would be more ambivalent about this if not for the rumours that Okonjo-Iweala is being tipped as his replacement. In which case, bye bye Paul, hello Ngozi :)
-oo-
Abeg abeg abeg.
Why r ppl making a big deal about Wolfowitz. I am actually proud of the guy. He did what he was supposed to do.
Check this out.
Why would you go out with a man that looks like that (let's not even add age now) without some benefits, ehn? The girl's name sounded indian or middle eastern or whatever therefore, I am assuming she is fine to look at.
oga see am, oga like am. She sef she see oga, she size am. oga no too fine but oga get money and connection.
she service oga once or twice. it had been a while for the guy and in gratitude, im take raise and ambition give am. By all aristos code books, he has fufilled his duties. All the haters who either cannot score an indian or an oga start shouting. Dosgbes.
Instead of them to be asking how they too can get in on the deal.
As far as the others mentioned. let me go and research my news and get back to u
How can you possibly say 'What does it matter?' with regard to Wolfowitz. And how can Catwalq say what she says... and assume that all women of middle eastern and indian origin attractive...?? Bloody Hell. It matters because it smells of corruption. And while most of our leaders may be corrupt, when it is obvious, it is only right to object. 'The haters'?? Catwalq, does life in America not even try to be moral? As a teacher, I cannot teach my kids to do the right thing when all of our leaders are constantly doing the right thing and when 'the people' don't seem bothered by it! Come on guys!
I agree with Vanilla. These cases are seldom just about sex. It's all politics. I'm sure there are a lot of indiscretionary activities of this sort taking place in washington but we don't get to hear about all of them. I am not implying that Wolfowitz should be let off the hook though. He should pay for his actions but I worry if removing him from the presidency seat is a little too harsh.
On the subject of Ribadu, what concern 'im? He definitely sounds like a man with a lot to lose if Wolfowitz is removed from office.
politics and sex will always be entwined. As for Messr. Ribadu's partisanship, I can't figure that out.
@waffarian- well worth a read
@ijeoma-no comment
@pink-satin- that's the plan
@idemili- you're welcome
@vanilla- the argument is that Wolfowitz has been preaching anticorruption and so shd be whiter than white (pardon the pun)
@firsttimefather- how do you dtermine direct bearing though? What about the potential for blackmail?
@bitchy- na so we see am o
@oo- Ehh, is that the plan?
@catwalq- spoken like a true Naija!
@snuffleupagus- it's a question of where to draw the line and I believe catwalq was speaking tongue in cheek
@candysprinkles-politics will tell
@laspapi- I guess you could say sex and life, not just politics...
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