Head of IMF Arrested on Rape Charges

[HEAD ICE]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/05/14/2011-05-14_top_french_politician_dominique_strausskahn_dra gged_of_flight_at_jfk_accused_of_.html

A top French politician nicknamed "the great seducer" was dragged off a flight at Kennedy Airport (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/John+F.+Kennedy+International+Airport) Saturday after he was accused of sodomizing a Manhattan (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Manhattan) hotel maid, sources said.

Port Authority cops grabbed Dominique Strauss-Kahn (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Dominique+Strauss-Kahn), the head of the International Monetary Fund (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/International+Monetary+Fund) and a presidential hopeful in France (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/France), moments before his Air France (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Air+France-KLM+Group) plane took off about 4:45 p.m.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, allegedly crept up behind a maid after she entered his room and forced her to perform oral sex on him, sources said.
The woman broke free and ran out of the room. Strauss-Khan quickly headed for the airport, sources said.

Charges against Strauss-Kahn, who is married to well-known French TV journalist Anne Sinclair (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Anne+Sinclair), were pending Saturday night, sources said.
Hours before Strauss-Kahn was pulled from the flight, a close Socialist Party ally claimed he was the target of a smear campaign by French President Nicolas Sarkozy (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Nicolas+Sarkozy).

"There is now a totally structured and orchestrated campaign, which has already been announced by Mr. Sarkozy and his closest allies, to attack the character of Strauss-Kahn," Socialist politician Jean-Marie Le Guen told Europe 1 radio.

This is not the first time Strauss-Kahn has been embroiled in a sex scandal.
Three years ago, the former French finance minister was accused of having a fling with a former underling at the Davos (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Davos) international forum.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/05/14/2011-05-14_top_french_politician_dominique_strausskahn_dra gged_of_flight_at_jfk_accused_of_.html#ixzz1MNHak7 ye

[Ocean Seal]

Well now this fucking piece of capitalist scum is a fucking piece of rapist capitalist scum. Damn bastards think that they're entitled to everything. I hope he enjoys life in prison.

[Sir Comradical]

I'd like to see this one: "He has also been charged with the systematic rape of the third-world".

[agnixie]

Le Pen probably wins the next french elections if the PS can't find someone who isn't scum :/

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

Le Pen probably wins the next french elections if the PS can't find someone who isn't scum :/

It's not as if there isn't plenty of PS scum around. Besides, Strauss-Kahn didn't have much of a chance anyhow.

[L.A.P.]

So a high-ranking member of the Socialist Party of France is also leader of the International Monetary Fund? I know "socialist" means something a lot less radical in Europe and resembles more of what liberalism means in the United States but this is still pretty fucking perplexing.

[Tim Finnegan]

So a high-ranking member of the Socialist Party of France is also leader of the International Monetary Fund? I know "socialist" means something a lot less radical in Europe and resembles more of what liberalism means in the United States but this is still pretty fucking perplexing.
Not really, no, it just so happens that a few social democratic parties have retained the label from their socialist days and don't want to drop it because that'd make their utter disinterest in the working class too obvious. People just get into the habit of making a mental distinction between what we in the Anglosphere might call "small-s" and "large-S" socialism, in the same way that, for example, Britons, Irish and Australians make a mental distinction between the "small-l labour" of the labour movement and the "large-L Labour/Labor" of the party.

Of course, even with that in mind, I will admit that I was taken aback to find a social democrat quite so blatantly climbing into bed with finance capital, if only because I had previously understood that openly not giving a fuck, while depressingly common in Britain, was still considered ever so slightly distasteful among the French centre-left. Guess I stand corrected.

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

So a high-ranking member of the Socialist Party of France is also leader of the International Monetary Fund? ...This is still pretty fucking perplexing.

Eh, long story. The Socialists won the Presidency and a parliamentary majority in 1981 in alliance with the Communists, and quickly proved themselves just another brand of capitalist crooks. There is a "left" wing of the PS (meaning "Parti Socialiste" and not, at least until today, Pervers Sexuel); it's been marginalized to the point of almost being absorbed into the "Left Front."

[RadioRaheem84]

Oh god, I could just hear the right wing taking this one to the bank.

A socialist, IMF/World Bank head, rapist....

[Lenina Rosenweg]

As I understand a fair number of PS intellectuals work or have worked in the Sarkozy government, including Bernard Kouchner, founder of Medicins sans Fronterres, Eric Besson, Frederic Mitterand, a probable pedophile who was Francois Mitterand's nephew,and the guy who was Mitterand's leftist culture minister, I forget his name offhand.

EDIT: Jack Lang


Other PS leaders want to go in an even more clearly pro-capitalist direction. Strauss-Kahn suggested that the word ‘socialist’ should be abandoned. Many are speaking of a refoundation of the left that has not won any major elections since 1997. This could lead to a new party more in the centre. It also could have a temporary phase of integrating elements from the PCF and Greens on the model of the DS in Italy. On 23 June, the PCF, PS and Greens held national councils and all of them had motions calling for refoundation, dissolution, etc. The period ahead could be one of big transformations in the traditional left, with splits on the right and le


http://www.socialismtoday.org/111/france.html

[Die Neue Zeit]

If they drop the name, the Parti de Gauche should grab the "Socialist" label or revive the Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière.

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

Many are speaking of a refoundation of the left that has not won any major elections since 1997.

Actually, the Socialists and parties to their left are do very well indeed in local elections, it's the overly centralized National government that's dominated by the Right. A good deal of that has to do with the triangulation system played by the Right - it was built into the system by de Gaulle to exclude the Communists, but the hidden narrative of the upcoming 2012 presidential election is, for once triangulation is working against the Right.

More to the point, the "real" Left is far more united than the Socialists, and part of its unity is based on the emerging consensus that it will not form alliances with the Socialists, they're too tarnished. Left Socialists are more likely to desert the Socialists for the PG (Parti de Gauche) than the other way around.

PS - just checked a rad-left French blog. General disappointment about the arrest, one blogger even complaining that DSK's candidacy as a Socialist would have "opened up a highway" for the Parti de Gauche.

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

Q: What's the difference between Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and the cleaning lady at the Times Square Sofitel?

A: When Papandreou and Strauss-Kahn met privately, months before the Greek economic crisis erupted, Papandreou didn't call the cops.

The New York Times today has a cautious, whistling-past-the-graveyard analysis of the possible repercussions of Strauss-Kahn's alleged, attempted rape:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/16/business/16fund.html

The impact of this affair on French politic is bound to be relatively small in the long run: Strauss-Kahn was a "pipol" candidate, meaning his chances of winning were mostly in the eyes of the right-of-center "People" media.

The impact on the Euro zone is bound to be much more interesting. As in most "pipol" events, this just might be the symbol that tilts the works. I, for one, will be greatly interested to see where the Euro's exchange rate goes tomorrow morning.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

More on this:

NEW YORK – The leader of the International Monetary Fund, a possible candidate for president of France, was yanked from an airplane moments before it was to depart for Paris and arrested in the alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid, police said.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62, was arrested on charges of a criminal sex act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment. He had been taken off the Air France flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Saturday afternoon by police officers.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, told The Associated Press that his client will plead not guilty at his expected Sunday afternoon arraignment.

"He denies all the charges against him," Brafman said. "And that's all I can really say right now."

France woke to the news Sunday with a measure of surprise.

Strauss-Kahn was expected to be the main challenger against President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose political fortunes have been flagging, in next year's presidential elections. The arrest could shake up the race and throw the long-divided Socialists back into disarray about who they could present as Sarkozy's opponent.

"It's a cross that will be difficult for him to bear," said Dominique Paille, a political rival to Strauss-Kahn on the center right, on BFM television.

"It's totally hallucinating. If it is true, this would be a historic moment, but in the negative sense, for French political life," Paille said. Still, he urged, "I hope that everyone respects the presumption of innocence. I cannot manage to believe this affair."

It wasn't clear why Strauss-Kahn was in New York. The IMF is based in Washington, and he was due in Germany on Sunday. His attorney declined to answer questions beyond saying his client denied the charges.

Strauss-Kahn checked into the luxury Sofitel hotel not far from Manhattan's Times Square Friday afternoon, police said.

The 32-year-old maid told authorities that she entered his suite early Saturday afternoon and he attacked her, New York Police Department spokesman Paul J. Browne. She said she had been told to clean the spacious $3,000-a-night suite, which she thought was empty.

According to an account the woman provided to police, Strauss-Kahn emerged from the bathroom naked, chased her down a hallway and pulled her into a bedroom, where he began to sexually assault her. She said she fought him off, then he dragged her into the bathroom, where he forced her to perform oral sex on him and tried to remove her underwear. The woman was able to break free again and escaped the room and told hotel staff what had happened, authorities said. They called police.

When detectives arrived moments later, Strauss-Kahn had already left the hotel, leaving behind his cellphone, Browne said. "It looked like he got out of there in a hurry," Browne said.

The NYPD discovered he was at the airport and contacted officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport. Port Authority officers plucked Strauss-Kahn from first class on the Air France flight that was just about to leave the gate.

The maid was taken by police to a hospital and was being treated for minor injuries. John Sheehan, a spokesman for the hotel, said its staff was cooperating in the investigation.

In sexual assault cases, it is procedure for detectives to look for DNA and forensic evidence and signs of trauma.

The accusations come amid French media reports about Strauss-Kahn's lifestyle, including luxury cars and suits, that some have dubbed a smear campaign.

The married father of four is known as DSK in France, but media there also have dubbed him "the great seducer." His reputation as a charmer of women has not hurt his career in France, where politicians' private lives traditionally come under less scrutiny than in the United States.

In 2008, Strauss-Kahn was briefly investigated over whether he had an improper relationship with a subordinate female employee. The IMF board found that the relationship was consensual, but called his actions "regrettable" and said they "reflected a serious error of judgment."

The IMF employee left the fund and took a job with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Strauss-Kahn issued an apology, writing in an email to IMF staff that he showed poor judgment but didn't abuse his position.

Caroline Atkinson, an IMF spokeswoman, issued a statement Sunday that said the agency would have no comment on the New York case. She referred all inquiries to Strauss-Kahn's personal lawyer and said the "IMF remains fully functioning and operational."

Strauss-Kahn's offices in Paris couldn't be reached when the news broke overnight in France. One of his allies, Jean-Marie Le Guen, expressed doubt about the case.

"The facts as they've been reported today have nothing to do with the Dominique Strauss-Kahn that we know," Le Guen said on BFM television. "Dominique Strauss-Kahn has never exhibited violence toward people close to him, to anyone."

Strauss-Kahn was supposed to be meeting in Berlin on Sunday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel about aid to debt-laden Greece, and then join EU finance ministers in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday. The IMF is responsible for one-third of Greece's existing loan package, and his expected presence at these meetings underlined the gravity of the Greek crisis.

Strauss-Kahn took over as head of the IMF in November 2007. The 187-nation lending agency provides help in the form of emergency loans for countries facing severe financial problems.

He won praise for his leadership during the financial crisis of 2008 and the severe global recession that followed.

More recently, he has directed the IMF's participation in bailout efforts to keep a European debt crisis, which began in Greece from destabilizing the global economy.

Before taking the top post at the IMF, Strauss-Kahn had been a member of the French National Assembly and had also served as France's Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry from June 1997 to November 1999.

More recently, Strauss-Kahn was seen as the strongest possible challenger to Sarkozy. He has not declared his candidacy, staying vague in interviews while feeding speculation that he wants France's top job.

He sought the Socialist Party's endorsement in the last elections, in 2007, but came in second in a primary to Segolene Royal. Royal, the first woman to get so close to France's presidency, lost to Sarkozy in the runoff.

After Sarkozy won, the new president championed Strauss-Kahn as a candidate to run the IMF. Sarkozy's backers touted the move as a sign of the conservative president's campaign of openness to leftists — but political strategists saw it as a way for Sarkozy to get a potential challenger far away from the French limelight.

Royal, who continues to harbor presidential ambitions of her own, was cautious about the allegations, saying Sunday that Strauss-Kahn has the right to the presumption of innocence.

Strauss-Kahn is credited with preparing France for the adoption of the euro by taming its deficit and persuading then-Prime Minister Lionel Jospin to sign up to an EU pact of fiscal prudence.

A former economics professor, Strauss-Kahn joined the Socialist party in 1976 and was elected to parliament in 1986 from the Val-d'Oise district, north of Paris. He went on to become mayor of Sarcelles, a working-class immigrant suburb of Paris.

His first government post was industry minister under former President Francois Mitterrand.

[Demogorgon]

Le Pen probably wins the next french elections if the PS can't find someone who isn't scum :/
I doubt she has a chance in hell against anyone in a potential runoff. If she sneaks into the second round, it will be the same story as with her father. Hopefully it won't be Sarkozy that joins her in the second round in that event though.

[Leftie]

Le Pen probably wins the next french elections if the PS can't find someone who isn't scum :/

That is incredibly unlikely. The French Presidential election uses a Runoff system which ensures that parties like Le Pen's can never win. She may well get into the second round, but only to get thrashed there by Sarkozy/ the PS candidate.

[human strike]

http://www.feederz.com/sodomize.gif

[Triple A]

I might be wrong but i have the feeling he has Assange syndrome. (fake rape allegations)

Well lets see if it is true or not.

[Kamos]

I might be wrong but i have the feeling he has Assange syndrome. (fake rape allegations)

Well lets see if it is true or not.

This was my first reaction as well - why would a man of his standing risk everything for some one-off sex? The difference is that in the cutthroat capitalist world, anything may happen, and Strauss-Kahn may well have thought that due to his position/money/connections/whatever else he would be able to get away with it one way or another. Assange is quite the opposite.

[Comrade J]

I might be wrong but i have the feeling he has Assange syndrome. (fake rape allegations)

How did you come to that conclusion? Why does everybody always think a woman is lying when she claims somebody famous or wealthy raped her? This guy is the head of the IMF, do you think he is a good person?

To be honest - and I may be alone here though I doubt it - but even if I knew for certain that the allegations were false, I would still hope that he is convicted. The man is just vile in every conceivable way, and he will never be tried for his major crimes because international law considers them legal, so one would hope he at least is convicted of something.

[Triple A]

How did you come to that conclusion? Why does everybody always think a woman is lying when she claims somebody famous or wealthy raped her? This guy is the head of the IMF, do you think he is a good person?

To be honest - and I may be alone here though I doubt it - but even if I knew for certain that the allegations were false, I would still hope that he is convicted. The man is just vile in every conceivable way, and he will never be tried for his major crimes because international law considers them legal, so one would hope he at least is convicted of something.


I consider him a douchebag.
But he is important and in a position like the one he has/had there are a lot of people you can piss off. With so much to loose ...
The story doesnt seem right.

Anyway maybe he tried to raped here, when they release all the allegations I'll have a more valid opinion.

[gorillafuck]

How did you come to that conclusion? Why does everybody always think a woman is lying when she claims somebody famous or wealthy raped her? This guy is the head of the IMF, do you think he is a good person?Alright I didn't read the whole article and if this isn't the first time then he probably is a rapist but skepticism towards rape allegations that would destroy the presidents main political opponent when elections are coming up and seal the presidency for the current president is the same as thinking every woman who claims she was raped by someone wealthy is lying.

[agnixie]

Alright I didn't read the whole article and if this isn't the first time then he probably is a rapist but skepticism towards rape allegations that would destroy the presidents main political opponent when elections are coming up and seal the presidency for the current president is the same as thinking every woman who claims she was raped by someone wealthy is lying.

Aside from the fact where I think the whole "framed" thing is an annoying kneejerk reaction, he basically ran away before the cops were even there, so he was probably aware it was for him somehow.

[L.A.P.]

Oh god, I could just hear the right wing taking this one to the bank.

A socialist, IMF/World Bank head, rapist....

I doubt this will get any news coverage in the United States. It's not like American news ever bothers other bourgeois politicians that are members of "socialist" parties. Even if they do report it, they wont dwell on the fact he was a "Socialist". For example, I've never seen Glenn Beck talk about the Labour Party of Great Britain and their "socialist" agenda despite being an easy target to add to his conspiracy puzzle.

[S.Artesian]

I doubt this will get any news coverage in the United States. It's not like American news ever bothers other bourgeois politicians that are members of "socialist" parties. Even if they do report it, they wont dwell on the fact he was a "Socialist". For example, I've never seen Glenn Beck talk about the Labour Party of Great Britain and their "socialist" agenda despite being an easy target to add to his conspiracy puzzle.

Well, it's all over the news here in NYC, which despite my wishes, still counts as part of the US.

He obviously mistook the woman for an indebted country.

[L.A.P.]

Well, it's all over the news here in NYC, which despite my wishes, still counts as part of the US.

He obviously mistook the woman for an indebted country.

Are they saying "HE'S A SOCIALIST RAPIT! SEE WHAT THEY DO!"?

[agnixie]

Are they saying "HE'S A SOCIALIST RAPIT! SEE WHAT THEY DO!"?

He's head of the IMF, i think people would be pretty damn puzzled. A friend back in France and I even lamented a while back at the idea that the best hope for the PS seemed to be, according to the media, essentially, a banker with a coat of very light pink paint :p

[S.Artesian]

Are they saying "HE'S A SOCIALIST RAPIT! SEE WHAT THEY DO!"?

No, they are referring to him as head of the IMF.

As for being the best hope of the PS-- banker, rapist who could be more qualified to represent the bourgeoisie in the 21st century?

[Tim Finnegan]

I might be wrong but i have the feeling he has Assange syndrome. (fake rape allegations)
That's a funny reference to make, given that there's really no basis for comparison between the two. On the one hand,a rape charge laid against an internationally prominent figure, and on the other, two independent rape charges laid against an obscure malcontent which are initially dropped and the then later revived after said malcontent blunders his way into becoming an internationally prominent figure? Honestly not seeing what you're apparently seeing there.

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

skepticism towards rape allegations that would destroy the presidents main political opponent when elections are coming up and seal the presidency for the current president is the same as thinking every woman who claims she was raped by someone wealthy is lying.
Sure, but the skepticism would be misplaced because Sarkozy would have had no benefit in knocking DSK out of the ring before he'd been chosen as the Socialist candidate - which he had little chance of becoming anyhow. If you're going to go that way - and I'm not - then it's more likely DSK was set up by another Socialist, and that's unlikely, too, they don't have the clout or the connections. Which leaves the possibility he was set up by a competitor in the IMF, but why would they do that if he was about to leave to run for the Presidency anyhow? Face it, the clown just had to dick someone that day. He chose the wrong country, the People's Republic of Working-Class New York.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

Face it, the clown just had to dick someone that day. He chose the wrong country, the People's Republic of Working-Class New York.

That was before the NYC bankruptcy, Felix Rohatyn and Ed Koch destroyed what existed of the miniature social democratic state of NYC.. Now its the Banker's Despotic Police State of Manhatten and Its Outback Not Excluding Suffolk County.

[L.A.P.]

No, they are referring to him as head of the IMF.

As for being the best hope of the PS-- banker, rapist who could be more qualified to represent the bourgeoisie in the 21st century?

This proves my original point then.

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

It's here:
http://www.wat.tv/video/dsk-tristane-banon-ardisson-11423_2hccx_.html

A tape from a 2007 round-table discussion on a French TV chain. The journalist Tristane Banon tells of an attempted rape on the part of a politician whose name is bleeped out, but who is verified as being Strauss-Kahn.

For our gallic-challenged friends, Tristane explains that she had gone to interview said politician for a project and couldn't get much useful information out of him, so he promised to contact her later if he had anything more to add. Politician. X. contacted her shortly thereafter and asked her to come to an address which she determined was not his usual residence.

She went to this unknown apartment wearing a turtleneck sweater and immediately turned on her recorder. The place was almost totally bare. Politician X. told her he would let her interview him if she would hold his hand, which she did. He then proceeded to hold her arm, then forced her on the floor, unhooked her bra and tried to pull down her jeans. She fought back - a serious struggle - and started to use the word "rape" hoping to frighten him. Tristane notes that this didn't frighten him at all, he seemed to be used to it, and in fact none of the young women around the French Assembly wanted to be near him.

Tristane managed to escape, and contacted a lawyer, but then decided to drop the issue, not wanting to be the person who brought him down. There is a separate, recent tape in which Tristane's mother confirms that it was she who dissuaded her daughter from filing a complaint.

[punisa]

Why does everybody always think a woman is lying when she claims somebody famous or wealthy raped her?

Because it happens, a lot. Get over it.

[S.Artesian]

Because it happens, a lot. Get over it.

Yeah? How do you know? Got any evidence?

Big trial going on in NYC right now over a cop raping a woman who was intoxicated. You think she's lying? Because the cop is on tape admitting he used a condom. OK, he used a condom. That doesn't mean he raped her, does it? Sure, he used it to jerk off. Doesn't everybody?

"The woman lying" defense is based on social status, rank, power, class.

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

Now its the Banker's Despotic Police State of Manhatten.

I wonder... why is Sodominique being held over the weekend in a Harlem pen, and how will the bloods react when they find out he's there for attempted rape on a black sister? Doesn't sound too pleasant, does it?

[S.Artesian]

I wonder... why is Sodominique being held over the weekend in a Harlem pen, and how will the bloods react when they find out he's there for attempted rape on a black sister? Doesn't sound too pleasant, does it?


Last I heard he was being held in a "victims unit" not with the general prison population, not that I give a flying fuck. Hope the rat bastard has a cardiac infarction and never makes it to a bail hearing.

[Tim Finnegan]

Because it happens, a lot. Get over it.
Regardless of the veracity of this claim, it's not actually an explanation. That something happens "a lot", even in a majority of possible cases, doesn't mean that it's reasonable to simply assume it without further evidence. If you could demonstrate that full half of all rape allegations made against rich or powerful men were false, it would still be an expression of either a deep mathematical illiteracy or a shameless misogyny to casually assume falsehood over truth with no other reason than personal inclination.

[Commissar Rykov]

It is always amusing how money trails lead right to the criminal's doorstep.

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

Last I heard he was being held in a "victims unit" not with the general prison population.

According to that echt-purveyor of sleaze, the NY Post, le petit foquaire spent the night "parked on a wooden bench in an East Harlem station house." As good a place to meet up with the friendly natives as I can imagine...

[Tim Finnegan]

Apparently he's been previously accused of sexual assault, and the victim is now making a formal complaint (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/16/dominique-strauss-khan-tristane-banon).


Dominique Strauss-Kahn to face fresh sex assault complaint

A French writer who claims Dominique Strauss-Kahn (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/dominique-strauss-kahn) sexually assaulted her nine years ago is to file an official complaint, her lawyer has announced.
Tristane Banon previously described the attack, which happened when she was in her early 20s, in a television programme in 2007, when she called Strauss-Kahn, whose name was bleeped out, a "rutting chimpanzee."
She says she consulted a lawyer at the time, but was persuaded not to take action by her mother, a regional councillor in the Socialist party and friend of the Strauss-Kahn family. Banon is goddaughter to Strauss-Kahn's second wife.
Banon's lawyer, David Koubbi, said: "We are planning to make a complaint. I am working with her."
Koubbi said Banon, now 31, was "literally blown over" when she heard the claims Strauss-Kahn had attacked a hotel chambermaid in New York. "At the same time, she was certainly not surprised," he said.

[Triple A]

According to newspapers he was filmed leaving the hotel a hour before the alleged rape.
http://economico.sapo.pt/noticias/almoco-com-a-filha-pode-ser-alibi-de-strausskahn_118159.html
And a guy from the rightist party announced the arrest even before it happened:confused: in twitter. Also the rumors he would be framed with a rape started some time ago.
http://sol.sapo.pt/inicio/Internacional/Interior.aspx?content_id=19310


Sorry the links arent english but google translator was doing a terrible job.

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

The judge has just denied bail to Donnie Strauss-Kahn. Hey, the Centre Street jail's a pretty good place, if you can get some Chinese takeout delivered...


According to newspapers he was filmed leaving the hotel a hour before the alleged rape.
The time frame was misquoted by the NYPD. There are videos of the cleaning woman leaving the suite some time after 12:00 and videos of DSK rushing out of the building some time before 12:30.


And a guy from the rightist party announced the arrest even before it happened:confused: in twitter.
You're referring to a right-wing blogger who scooped the story - shock and dismay, bloggers sometimes scoop the mainstream. dudh.


Also the rumors he would be framed with a rape started some time ago.
Correct. The guy was a ticking time bomb and everybody knew it.

[Triple A]

The judge has just denied bail to Donnie Strauss-Kahn. Hey, the Centre Street jail's a pretty good place, if you can get some Chinese takeout delivered...


The time frame was misquoted by the NYPD. There are videos of the cleaning woman leaving the suite some time after 12:00 and videos of DSK rushing out of the building some time before 12:30.


You're referring to a right-wing blogger who scooped the story - shock and dismay, bloggers sometimes scoop the mainstream. dudh.


Correct. The guy was a ticking time bomb and everybody knew it.

Dunno if it is true but they say there are videos of him leaving the hotel 11:30.

It is normal for bloogers to predict the future and notice something that didnt happened, yet?

[KurtFF8]

It would take quite a bit of dishonesty to paint this guy as a Leftist, considering he's in the right-wing of an already right-wing (for a social democratic) party.

I mean he was the head of the IMF for God's sake.

It's strange to see folks on this board trying to cry conspiracy and essentially defend the head of the IMF.

[Demogorgon]

It would take quite a bit of dishonesty to paint this guy as a Leftist, considering he's in the right-wing of an already right-wing (for a social democratic) party.

I mean he was the head of the IMF for God's sake.

It's strange to see folks on this board trying to cry conspiracy and essentially defend the head of the IMF.
It should be pointed out that attempting to frame political rivals is not unknown in French politics. Clearstream springs to mind. Which is not to say that I think it happened in this case, it is just that with French politicians you always wonder.

[Sir Comradical]

Wow! That's a lot of reps for my first post. Thanks guys!

[KurtFF8]

It should be pointed out that attempting to frame political rivals is not unknown in French politics. Clearstream springs to mind. Which is not to say that I think it happened in this case, it is just that with French politicians you always wonder.

I mean even if it's the case that he's framed, should the Left really come out in defense of the IMF head?

[S.Artesian]

I mean even if it's the case that he's framed, should the Left really come out in defense of the IMF head?


Of course not. Who gives a flying f**k. The guy has the best lawyer money can buy. I'm sure OJ, Roman Polanski, Kobe Bryant, Berlusconi will testify as to what a great guy he is.

We're with the female worker.

Let this jerk rot in jail

[KurtFF8]

Of course not. Who gives a flying f**k. The guy has the best lawyer money can buy. I'm sure OJ, Roman Polanski, Kobe Bryant, Berlusconi will testify as to what a great guy he is.

We're with the female worker.

Let this jerk rot in jail

Of course (my question was rhetorical)

[Lenina Rosenweg]

Mike Whitney has a somewhat odd article in Counterpunch which seems to imply that the " bankers" are happy over DSKs downfall because he had a "road to Damascus conversion" on destroying Third World countries and wanted a kinder, gentler approach..

This doesn't really seem to make sense. Its like the JFK conspiracy buffs saying he was bumped off because "he wanted to get us out of Vietnam" .Ahistorical.

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney05162011.html

[Sasha]

Translating Ben Stein (http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/05/17/translating-ben-stein)

Posted by Lindy West (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/ArticleArchives?author=21605) on Tue, May 17, 2011 at 4:43 PM

Hello, friends! In case you're having trouble deciphering Ben Stein's extremely erudite American Spectator editorial (http://spectator.org/archives/2011/05/17/presumed-innocent-anyone) defending Dominique Strauss-Kahn, allow me to interpret his words for you:

1.) If he is such a womanizer and violent guy with women, why didn't he ever get charged until now? If he has a long history of sexual abuse, how can it have remained no more than gossip this long? France is a nation of vicious political rivalries. Why didn't his opponents get him years ago?
"He never got caught before! That means he is definitely innocent. Real criminals always get caught for crimes at least once before the first time they are caught for a crime. It's logic! I went to college."

2.) In life, events tend to follow patterns. People who commit crimes tend to be criminals, for example. Can anyone tell me any economists who have been convicted of violent sex crimes? Can anyone tell me of any heads of nonprofit international economic entities who have ever been charged and convicted of violent sexual crimes? Is it likely that just by chance this hotel maid found the only one in this category? Maybe Mr. Strauss-Kahn is guilty but if so, he is one of a kind, and criminals are not usually one of a kind.
"But...but he's a rich white man! We can't start putting THOSE in prison—where would we keep all the blacks? Think, people. Think of the blacks."

3.) The prosecutors say that Mr. Strauss-Kahn "forced" the complainant to have oral and other sex with him. How? Did he have a gun? Did he have a knife? He's a short fat old man. They were in a hotel with people passing by the room constantly, if it's anything like the many hotels I am in. How did he intimidate her in that situation? And if he was so intimidating, why did she immediately feel un-intimidated enough to alert the authorities as to her story?
"Now, I wasn't there in that hotel room, but I know from experience that every time I try to rape a woman, she immediately overpowers me and runs off like a rascally barn cat. Curse these flabby, withered chicken wings of mine!"

4.) Did the prosecutors really convince a judge that he was a flight risk when he was getting on a flight he had booked long beforehand? What kind of high-pressure escape plan is that? How is it a sudden flight move to get on a flight booked maybe months ago?
"So you expect me to believe that this guy booked this flight maybe months ago, then with laser precision executed his alleged rape, then made it to said flight with plenty of time to stow his baggage in the overhead compartment!? Hoookay! Whatever you say, prosecutors! But that would be like the Ocean's 11 of raping. Maybe he faked the moon landing too!"

5.) Mr. Strauss-Kahn had surrendered his passport. He had offered to stay in New York City. He is one of the most recognizable people on the planet. Did he really have to be put in Riker's Island? Couldn't he have been given home detention with a guard? This is a man with a lifetime of public service, on a distinguished level, to put it mildly. Was Riker's Island really the place to put him on the allegations of one human being? Hadn't he earned slightly better treatment than that? Any why compare him with a certain pedophile from France long ago? That man had confessed to his crime. Mr. Strauss-Kahn has not confessed to anything.
"Some people are whiter richer better than other people! You should not put these people in bad places like prison. Prison is for shitty people. Like dirty, dishonest women who run away when upstanding white economists are just trying to masturbate into their purse."

6.) People accuse other people of crimes all of the time. What do we know about the complainant besides that she is a hotel maid? I love and admire hotel maids. They have incredibly hard jobs and they do them uncomplainingly. I am sure she is a fine woman. On the other hand, I have had hotel maids that were complete lunatics, stealing airline tickets from me, stealing money from me, throwing away important papers, stealing medications from me. How do we know that this woman's word was good enough to put Mr. Strauss-Kahn straight into a horrific jail? Putting a man in Riker's is serious business. Maybe more than a few minutes of investigation is merited before it's done.
"All you Mexicans who clean up after me have been on top for too long (except for you, Inez, you're one of the good ones)! I'm so sick and tired of minorities keeping rich, white international diplomats and businessmen down and imprisoning them unjustly. Except for you, Inez. (Inez lets me masturbate wherever!)"

7.) In this country, we have the presumption of innocence for the accused. Yet there's my old pal from the Ron Ziegler/ Richard Nixon days, Diane Sawyer, anchor of the ABC Nightly News, assuming that Mr. Strauss-Kahn is guilty. Right off the bat she leads the Monday news by saying that Mr. Strauss-Kahn is in Riker's... "because one woman stood her ground..." That assumes she's telling the truth and he's guilty. No such thing has been proved and it's unfortunate for ABC to simply assume that an accusation is the same as a conviction. Maybe he's in jail because one person didn't tell the truth. I don't know one way or the other, but I sure know that there has been no conviction yet.
"I am one million years old."

8.) In what possible way is the price of the hotel room relevant except in every way: this is a case about the hatred of the have-nots for the haves, and that's what it's all about. A man pays $3,000 a night for a hotel room? He's got to be guilty of something. Bring out the guillotine.
"Fuck the poor."




Permalink (http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/05/17/translating-ben-stein)


:blink:

[Tabarnack]

It seems Dominique Strauss-Kahn may have wanted to reform the IMF and the EU, favouring poorer nations over those who systematically have trade surpluses.

There is an article on this in MRZine monthly review, being a newbie I cannot post the link.

[Kiev Communard]

It seems Dominique Strauss-Kahn may have wanted to reform the IMF and the EU, favouring poorer nations over those who systematically have trade surpluses.

There is an article on this in MRZine monthly review, being a newbie I cannot post the link.

I strongly doubt that, as it seems to be a narrative concocted by his supporters to somehow justify his behavior. I think that an individual who may allow himself to live in $3,000-worth suite, paid from loan payments extracted from poor nations (including the people of Ukraine who are bled dry by IMF-dictated "structural adjustment") is a criminal already. His rape of hotel maid was a concrete expression of unseen and unreported financial rape of Third World that IMF engages in with impunity.

[S.Artesian]

I strongly doubt that, as it seems to be a narrative concocted by his supporters to somehow justify his behavior. I think that an individual who may allow himself to live in $3,000-worth suite, paid from loan payments extracted from poor nations (including the people of Ukraine who are bled dry by IMF-dictated "structural adjustment") is a criminal already. His rape of hotel maid was a concrete expression of unseen and unreported financial rape of Third World that IMF engages in with impunity.

All this conspiracy-mongering is just the same "blame the victim" defense that argues, at various times, "she asked for it," "she dressed provocatively," "she's a 'loose' woman," "she's feeling guilty and wants to blame others."

The same crap has been used to excuse Polanski, Kobe Bryant, Berlusconi, and everybody's favorite, Zuma.

This woman is a worker, raising a child. She is an immigrant from West Africa, doing the work immigrants usually do in advanced countries... cleaning up after the more powerful. This is no different than the lord of the manor thinking he's entitle to deflower the daughters of his serfs.

Point of information, Strauss Kahn was not in NYC on IMF business, and was paying for the hotel suite with personal funds. However, given his exalted status as the real MF in IMF, he was given a steep discount on the rate.

Of course, his current digs are a bit less posh.

I hope this bastard aspirates his own vomit and drops dead.