The blogosphere is abuzz with the news that yesterday afternoon, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund a and leading candidate for the French Presidency, was arrested in New York on charges of sexual assault and attempted rape.
What are the implications for Europe and the world?
1. First, this may be the end of western control over the IMF. By convention, the head of the Fund is a European, while his deputy is American. Until recently, it was assumed that Dominique Strauss-Kahn would be succeeded by Gordon Brown, but the latter’s candidacy was torpedoed last month by his successor David Cameron. A number of qualified replacements are at hand, including Kemal Dervis, the former Turkish finance minister, and Mohammed El-Erian, the chief executive of Pimco.
In order to retain their own influence, the Americans may still support a European successor. If it goes to Brown this would be very ironic, given accusations that he violently mistreats his staff. If it goes to Dervis, his Turkish nationality will add an interesting flavour to Greece-IMF negotiations.
2. Second, things are about to get a lot more awkward for Greece, Germany, and the European banking system. Strauss-Kahn was due to meet today in Germany with Angela Merkel in order to discuss reform of Greece’s bailout package. While the day-to-day matters can continue without Strauss-Kahn, the big issues – alterations to interest rates, the structure of any default, the involvement of the Fund in the current Portuguese package and contingency plans for Spain – all require intense high-level negotiation. Strauss-Kahn was intimately involved in all of these areas. Moreover, were he to become President of France, he would have become the leading statesman in Europe at the time when key eurozone reforms were to be implemented in 2013.
3. Finally, on both the French and the international stage, “DSK” was a big beast. It is difficult to imagine that, in a time when the financial system is tottering and der Spiegel alleges secret plans to break up the eurozone, he would have been piffering around by trying to reintroduce border controls. The next president of France seems likely to be either one of political pygmies from within the PS, or the one who currently resides in the Elysée. The prospect of inspired internationalism in Europe just took a great step backwards.
A second question is: what explains this surreal story? If it is true, why would an esteemed politician engage in such reckless behaviour, and if it not true then what exactly did occur?
1. Some are dismissing the the story as an exaggeration, but if so, an exaggeration of what? If any one of the minor details that have made it into the press thus far are true, then this remains a major scandal. It seems unlikely his political career will survive these events.
2. One theory I have heard, is that if the accounts are indeed true (and the facts remain very unclear at this point) then Strauss-Kahn may have falsely believed that he possessed diplomatic immunity. As members of the UN system, IMF staff do indeed have immunity from prosecution, but this exemption has not yet been recognised by four countries – North Korea, Iran, Russia and the United States. Things might have ended differently were the events to have occurred in Brazil or Canada. Meanwhile, of course, were Strauss-Kahn still in his old job as French Finance Minister, then he would indeed have immunity while in New York as his status would be that of a diplomatic visitor. He might have still been held for questioning, but the case would have been resolved politically… and possibly quietly.
3. Another theory doing the rounds – especially in the French media – is that the operation was some kind of bizarre ‘sting’ by his political opponents, with the long knives of M. Sarkozy somehow implicated. Much suspicion surrounds the fact that an activist in Sarkozy’s UMP tweeted the news 10 minutes before the arrest in fact occurred, and that this was then retweeted by Sarkozy’s former internet campaign manager before the press had even broken the story. Yet this would imply that the entire allegation were made up, and if that were the case, we would have seen a much more forceful counteroffensive on the behalf of the defendant by now. The first rule of smear campaigns is to kill the story immediately. By contrast, the silence is growing very loud.
#1 by Alan MacDonald on May 15, 2011 - 7:50 pm
What’s the betting that Strauss-Kahn got “Assanged”?
Who would want to remove a potentially global socialist figure from likely prominence in a pivotal up-coming election?
Does the “maid” have any history as a CIA ass(et)?
Wasn’t there an allegation that Strauss-Kahn was also pulling babies off incubators in his hotel room, and that he had just taken his bath with Yellow Cake that he bought from Africa?
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
Liberty & democracy over violent empire –
#2 by Andrew Oplas on May 15, 2011 - 8:33 pm
Cool down with the conspiracy theories. DSK is a serial womanizer, a fact well-known in Parisian political circles. What does it say about the DC international institutions that the $500K compensated, $3,000/ night suite-popping, first-class Air France on demand seat-enjoying champagne Socialist (!) with a penchant for roughing up young women – leads the organization that supposedly assists indebted countries on the global taxpayers’ payroll? I work at the World Bank – there are DSKs and DSK wannabes along every corridor. It’s a disgrace. Good riddance – rid us of the Euro. elites!
#3 by Marcel on May 15, 2011 - 8:58 pm
So apparently DSK raped a woman. His organization, the IMF, has been raping African countries for decades. The IMF, like the World Bank is a criminal organization that is one of the main reasons of Africa’s enduring poverty.
Anyone who works for either should be arrested and charged with crimes against humanity. And EU types should be arrested for conspiring to destroy national parliamentary democracy.
And as for DSK, it isn’t exactly the first time that things like this have surfaced, only this time he cannot arrange a neat payoff.
People like DSK are elitists who hate democracy and love elitist rule and love appointed politicians given the powers of elected national parliaments. As he is clearly an enemy of democracy and a friend of the bankers this is great news indeed. Lets hope the US judge won’t be bullied and actually convicts him. Who is with me to file charges against him for criminal conspiracy to keep African countries poor? The more things he is charged with the better.
#4 by Marcel on May 15, 2011 - 9:00 pm
And of course, anything that is bad for the undemocratic EU or the wealth-destroying Euro is good news for the peoples of Europe. We must reclaim our national parliamentary democracies from the clutches of the elites and their banker friends.
#5 by Adam on May 15, 2011 - 10:49 pm
Interesting to read the comments. People react almost violently to these issues with the firm resolution of a conspiracy or the complete absence of one. The author of this post was asking pertinent questions. A man with a history that might presuppose this arrest also has significant political influence. His absence has obvious and not so obvious implications that impact a lot of people with a great deal of money and influence. Wether the IMF is a criminal organization or a just another bureaucracy it is important and affects many people’s lives (including those in Africa). Wouldn’t it be prudent to ask questions and force an honest and ethical investigation here? Is this something that should be quietly swept under the rug with the indictment?
#6 by Freeborn Manuella on May 16, 2011 - 2:13 pm
Solidarity with Strauss-Kahn’s wife and the violated maid.
#7 by Betterworld on May 16, 2011 - 3:00 pm
No one is above the law, except in the USA where the concept of justice has a very long way to go.
In a civilised society an accused person is simply that: accused. It is up to the state to assemble the evidence sufficient to secure a conviction in an independent court of law. Whilst under investigation that person should be free to go about his/her normal business, unless he/she poses a significant threat to the public.
The US concept of justice runs somewhat differently.
There they parade you in handcuffs in front of the media, bang you up in a cell, tell you what their suspicions are about you and offer you a plea bargain. They have little intention of investigating the crime or assembling the evidence against you as the US courts are so corrupt that you’ll be found guilty of something. Anyway, they have already ensured a conviction by parading you on TV and spinning the story through their government pay rolled journalists.
Your only choice is, of course, to agree to plead guilty to something and save the FBI all the bother.
False accusations and corrupt courts are bedfellows. Between the pillars of each grinds out what passes for justice in the good ‘ol US of A.
The only defense is money; lots of money buys you an escape route from us “justice”, even if you are guilty.
Prepare to watch the concept of justice shredded … again.
Innocent until proven guilty? Don’t make me laugh.
#8 by Marcel on May 16, 2011 - 11:17 pm
What I love is that the anti-democracy elites are aghast that some judge dares to not give special treatment to one of their own. How dare this judge treat a progressive elitist as a common man?
These are the same folks who are aghast when the people say ‘NO’ to political integration or immigration or whenever the ordinary peoples don’t vote for what the elites want.
#9 by Joe on May 17, 2011 - 4:01 pm
Betterworld –
Spare us the obfuscations. The French are up in arms, and the usual morons are ginning up the usual passive-aggressive obfuscations on the presumption of somethign they’re entirely certain of: that all are subject to the application of law in the US, and in large parts of Europe, includign France, your position, particularly if you’re a socialist, will get your aristocratic violations dusted under the rug.
It’s the same sad display of venality we find over and over. Bellowing the old-reliable anti-Americanism doesn’t alter the fact that a senior figure at the IMF, inept in the execution of his job, attempted to rape a woman.
Put that in your lectures of humanism and transparency, if they really mean anything to you other than as a useful cudgel for emotional blackmail.
I remember the Soviet era clearly: your loud obfuscation is precisely how the eastern governments operated. Be loud, accusitory, and try to change the subject, was the cookbook MO. It won’t compensate for your moral vacuity, and the vivid lack of importance humanism has to people prone to lecture others with their “rayonnement”.
This is not about Americans, it is about an attempted rape. Get a grip. The quicker this guy and the rest of you filty pederasts like Fredo Mitterand is off humanity’s radar, the BETTER it is for Europe.
#10 by Enchaine on May 17, 2011 - 4:22 pm
$3,000 for a room and the maid wasn’t included? Now, that is the real scandal!
#11 by RC Saumarez on May 18, 2011 - 12:45 am
This strikes me as behaviour from the continental “elite”. They believe that they can do what they like to anyone whom they think doesn’t matter and cannot respond to their disgusting behaviour.
The treatment of DSK in a democracy with some standards of decency in their constitution brings the standards of the euro-elite into perspective.
#12 by Betterworld on May 18, 2011 - 12:30 pm
Joe,
I could easily accuse you of having raped me, dial 112 and show the police some suspicious bruises. When the FBI parade you in front of the cameras, lock you up, offer you a plea bargain and threaten you with a rigged US jury primed to convict … maybe then, you will understand the principal of innocence.
Until then, your concept of justice extends no further than the edge of your own inflated ego. As for Universal Rights, to you they are clearly an alien concept.
Anyone can make an allegation. Anyone, for any reason. At anytime.
There is ample reasons why the US government, his political opponents in Europe or any number of client states of the IMF might wish to discredit this particular man. There will be any number of people willing to take obscene amounts of money to make false accusations behind a cloak of “plausible deniability” and foreign bank accounts.
Call me a sceptic, but until I see him recieve a fair trial, I remain resolutely and in defiantly unconvinced of his guilt, as do all those who understand the concept of justice. For those of us who hunger for justice, it is a matter of principal.
You have convicted him on the basis of hearsay, at best.
#13 by Aff on May 18, 2011 - 2:29 pm
Circumstantial evidence as well as the testimony for the DSK case is pretty easy to stage.
I also wonder what kind of hotel would send a maid to the presidential suite while the guest was still there AND in the shower to boot. And I wonder why the maid did not leave as she realised she was intruding upon a guest?
I suppose there is a tape of security camera from the suite’s corridor. Until that shows DSK chasing the teenage-mother “maid” down the hall as alleged, I won’t be convinced.
Of course a guy could go off his rocker, but normally the alleged behaviour would be pretty hard to rationalise.
Having said that, apparently the Governator regularly had sex with his definitely-not-pretty maid.
#14 by Joe on May 18, 2011 - 8:29 pm
“I” have convicted no-one, and you clearly aren’t paying attention, because the FBI isn’t involved.
The making public of suspects is information that the public is entitled to for the simple reason that to not do so is to do the European thing, and enable “the dissapearing” of people into the legal system. I’m sure you would prefer that for the sake of convenience today.
It is also not “my” concept of justice, but rather one that has stood the test of time.
As to what reason anyone would believe that one should target the IMF director, I’ll leave up to your polluted immagination. If that is the case, it would have nothing to do with the US. The IMF, apart from having involved itself briefly in Thailand, Indonesia, Argentina, and Mexico, has almost exclusively been propping up Europes’ economies since its’ inception.
Of course you WANT to believe that someone with a handlbar moustache and top hat in the US is rubbing his hands with glee about whatever “Bettewrwrold Now” is disturbed by this week, it’s irrelevant to Americans and irrelevant to America. Don’t let your reflexes, or your conditioned outlook “convict” facts that are as plain as day.
This is not about the US. It is not about your convenient rationalizations, it’s about a man accused of sexual assault and nothing else.
What mental contortion would you go through if a rape took place and it WAS kept quiet for the sake of the personal dignity of the French populace by the NYPD? I have no illusions that you’d find a way to gasbag about an “opaque unjust America” for however long it would take before some other thing takes place that you can be selectively horrified by.
#15 by Joe on May 18, 2011 - 8:36 pm
No, but rather that which he was accused of doing, not any loud obfuscation you’re droning on about.
Are you going to try to imply that DSK is incapable of rape due to his nationality? Or his party affiliation? Or something else?
Do you REALLY think th NYPD and NYC government want the strange attention this would attract? Is your idea of “Liberty over violent empire” the protection of a morally repugnant elite from civil law simply because they’re politically appealign to you? Grow up.
#16 by Joe on May 19, 2011 - 5:28 pm
The first passive-aggrssive “intellectual” that makes an “uncovered meat” argument in defense of DSK wins the boobie prize (so to speak).
I remember quite vividly having a couple of drinks with a France 24 reporter (a good one that I respect), who in DSK’s run-in with the glistening light of public attention to his personal choices. He insisted without hesitation and concession of any sort that the man’s personal life, even if most of it was taking place in his public position and showed him to be a sexual predator, had no bearing on his fitness for the position, or that it did any damage to the instiution, or was a wasteful distraction in any way.
The fact that he really isn’t an economist, apart from some nebulous fragment of his CV in econ decades ago, didn’t seem to matter to him either. The fact is that these things are taken to be a slight on the people and the state, true or not. In fact it IS. It’s a stellar opportunity to show that they refuse to let the public that has paid him a generous salary for a good part of his life, and copuntenanced a government that permitted him to become a big wheel abide by this distraction and obvious moral failure.
If you want to know just what it is that slights the European reputation in teh world about this, it’s the notions put forth by those that defend the actions of a political crossdresser like Strauss-Kahn, or display a selective non-chalance based on his nationality or politics.
#17 by Betterworld on May 20, 2011 - 2:22 am
I think you’ll find that it is an alleged attempted rape, not attempted rape. It only becomes attempted rape on conviction. Or perhaps it is different in the USA?
#18 by Aff on May 20, 2011 - 5:13 pm
I have known for long time that in US, police brutality is norm rather than exception. And that a public prosecutor would do everything to win, not to establish the truth. Everything demonstrated again in DSK case.
Funny that the bail package included stepping down as IMF boss… of course not explicitly, but after this move, suddenly he was bailable although nothing else had changed.
#19 by Joe on May 20, 2011 - 7:58 pm
The word used is alleged, yes. But I’m not a cop or a lawyer, and I’m not alleding anything, nor is there such a thing as a mind police.
However, it pales in comparison to the permanent state of your search for something to be indignant about, not to mention the self-importance of thinking that people’s opinions are “a conviction”, or are you just trying to cow people into never holding a world view that you disagree with?
One need only count the days before DSK’s incarceration is parentheically comapered with some sort of “fingernail pulling and impalement” a la fake constructed image of Gitmo.
and AFF: how “have you known” or is this another one of those “because everybody know it” things.
A bad European cop is no better than a bad American cop. If you think nationality comes with a sainthood, you’re out of your mind. Individual morailty comes from the individual.
So implying a connection between “you know I heard…” and how you think DSK should be handled by a court jurisdiction is lunacy, and some sort of sad pretense that the only louts in the world are the ones you find useful to point out.
Want to make a plausible generalization? Here’s one I can confirm by personal knowledge and aqcuaintace: the “international” institutions are fetid cesspools as far as personal behovour is concerned: http://www.cnbc.com/id/43106893
They act like the priveledged class in a third world autocracy.
#20 by Francis on May 21, 2011 - 12:46 am
Mr Strauss-Kahn is probably a womenizer but this does not make him a rapist. This still needs to be proven. Maybe he is keen on money but who is not, and it is not a crime to earn money, especially not in New York unless you put half of Wall Street in jail.
Surely there is a conspiracy but not by Sarko. I suspect the US were not happy with Mr DSK’s plans about global financial governance. This guy has maybe a poor academic CV but he is a big political lion. Indeed he was bailed after he resigned … good point, it proves what the US was aiming at.
Why was he not protected by security during his private vist to NY ? A IMF big boss is never on private visit given the threats against this guy (simply read the comments …)
I completely agree about the poor protection of defendants in USA. This is not in accordance with European standards. The killing of bin Laden is another example of poor policy by the US. Not that he did not deserve it, but to feed his body to the fish is against all odds.
About imunity and UN/IMF immunity : you forgot to mention Israel who does recognise any diplomatic immunity to anybody.
I would like to congratulate EUObserver : good news site, good web site. Please go on.
Best wishes
#21 by Steve on May 23, 2011 - 2:21 am
I think it might have something to do with islamist movement in a way or another!
They might have been used or they use the multiple alibis that you develop in your article.
Steve
#22 by Emma Lozano on May 23, 2011 - 1:26 pm
I fill all this is a trick, First of all, what was doing the maid/servant, meanwhile the guess was still in the room of a very first class hotel. This is totally out of use.
#23 by Arthur Borges in Zhengzhou on May 23, 2011 - 2:13 pm
Hotel staff do not use their pass keys until they have confirmed the room is unoccupied — particularly in a five-star hotel. This looks like a frame-up.
See: Dominique Strauss Kahn criticizes US Treasury Secretary, Paulson, Bernanke & Bank CEO’s
Catherine and News & Commentary,
May 19, 2011 at 5:05 pm
At: http://solari.com/blog/?p=11328
#24 by Arthur Borges in Zhengzhou on May 23, 2011 - 2:26 pm
Anne Sinclair (Mrs. Strauss-Kahn) is on the record for being proud of her husband’s charm, adding their marriage was fine so long as he still found her attractive.
Fortunately, money is no problem for DSK: Anne’s father was a patron of Picasso when the artist was still a broke, unknown and irascible dabbler.
#25 by Pedro on May 23, 2011 - 8:43 pm
DSK should’ve done his own housework…..
#26 by Pedro on May 23, 2011 - 8:44 pm
Same goes for Arnie…..
#27 by Joe on May 26, 2011 - 7:34 pm
Do you hear yourself?
Are you comparing rape with having an affair?
#28 by Joe on May 26, 2011 - 7:50 pm
Why? Because of where it happened? Or is it the nationalities of those involved? How 2 dimensional and servile can you be?
Is your search for “a coincidence” the only and first thought that came into your head when a crime that personal is alledged?
The other hilarious thing is that people are saying that there must have been some kind of Sarkosyste plot, or CIA plot (as if they were allowed to do that kind of thing, and as if the US has anything to gain by having the French circus of self-pity and accusation show up again), while ignoring the universal nature of man. His nationality isn’t some sort of moral or ethical definition of his actions. He is as prone to do right or wrong as anyone else on earth.
This frenzy to want it to be something else immediately and above all else is almost a mental pathology.
Otherwise, where do people get this idea that Strauss-Kahn was some sort of shoe-in for the Elysee? To the Trots he would have been seen as a “bankster”, to the social activists, he would be seen as someone with too much priveledge, to the neuf-trois he would would have been denegrated simply for being a Jew. To the investor community, he would be feared as a Crony Capitalist.
Imagine for a moment it WAS some sort of dastardly plot by men in top hats twiddlign their handlebar moustaches and huffing through their mouthes…. if they had it in for the PS, they definately picked the wrong guy.
#29 by Pedro on May 27, 2011 - 6:39 am
Arnie didn’t rape a member of his staff? I don’t know whether or not he did. Do you know Arnie, or his staff?
I don’t know if Dominique Strauss-Kahn raped someone. I know it is alleged that he did. Do you know Dominique Strauss Kahn, or his accuser?
I do know that if both did their own housework, both would be better of than they are today.
You have a great day now, ‘ya hear…..
#30 by Joe on June 1, 2011 - 4:22 pm
Arnie had an affair with someone on his staff. Would you be so eager to try to banalize rape and try to form some sort of connection that’s comforting to you if DSK were not a European?
I think not.
I think the comparison you use is telling: in the plastic-wrapped, veneer-thin world of the kind and quality of information most European news outlets offer, the comparison is made because these are the only two things you can see in some relation to one another.
And keep the “‘ya hear” nonsense to yourself. Even if you think you’re mocking someone (again, with the one thing that you happen to know), you’re actually getting it wrong.
#31 by Pedro on June 3, 2011 - 6:29 am
“You think not, therefore you are not?”
Y’all come back now ‘ya hear?
#32 by Joe on June 6, 2011 - 7:48 pm
If by “think” you mean “imagining things” like Schwatzenegger’s affair actually being a rape?
As to the phrase “Y’all come back now ‘ya hear?”, I suppose this is meant to be some sort of insult because of some notion you have of country folk or southerners. I have a hard time believing that anyone could be as predictable and linear as you are.
#33 by Pedro on June 8, 2011 - 9:43 am
Y’all come back again real soon now ‘ya hear?
#34 by Marcel on June 13, 2011 - 3:34 pm
Youth unemployment in Spain still 45% I hear? And in other news: EU still undemocratic and conspiring to seize more powers at the expense of the remaining democracy, and conspiring to deliver the peoples wealth to their corporate/banker friends.
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