Javascript isn't threaded, so a "wait" would freeze the entire page (and probably cause the browser to stop running the script entirely).
To specifically address your problem, you should remove the brackets after donothing in your setTimeout call, and make waitsecs a number not a string:
console.log('before');
setTimeout(donothing,500); // run donothing after 0.5 seconds
console.log('after');
But that won't stop execution; "after" will be logged before your function runs.
To wait properly, you can use anonymous functions:
console.log('before');
setTimeout(function(){
console.log('after');
},500);
All your variables will still be there in the "after" section. You shouldn't chain these - if you find yourself needing to, you need to look at how you're structuring the program. Also you may want to use setInterval / clearInterval if it needs to loop.