French IMF chief D. Strauss-Kahn arrested

[Jérôme Frenchise]

It's getting hot in Europe these days... After erotomaniac Italian Berlusconi, French IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is having major trouble over his mores - and it's a huge scandal here in Frogland!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/imf-chief-dominique-strauss-kahns-arrest-likely-to-disrupt-frances-political-landscape/2011/05/15/AFHi073G_story.html

Strauss-Kahn had been the most likely winner in the 2012 presidential elections so far, but this case might put an end to his career (he mainly was the Minister for Industry (1991–1993)
and the Minister for Economics, Finances, and Industry (1997–1999).

All polls had been in his favor for months. Now that a NYC chambermaid is accusing him of illegally confining her and attempting to rape her, it may well be over for him...

His candidature, which still to be confirmed, would have been supported by the main party on the left (which would have been weird, as Strauss-Kahn doesn't have much to do with them), is now more than compromised. Personally, I find it good political news, because I don't think I could have voted for him and would rather see another candidate for president against "gangster" Sarkozy; yet, it's a bargain for the latter, who will more or less take advantage from Strauss-Kahn's case.
BTW, Strauss-Kahn was already rumored to be a harasser a few years ago, when he had an important post in the EEC.

He (and even his wife) denies what the 32-year-old chambermaid accuses him of, but he is in serious trouble for sure.

[SunisinuS]

Just hang in for the montreux jazz festival....grab and spike some Evian water with a little KY bourbon.....and hang in the chateau de chinon.


What I thought started Europe into the slide was the Garbage Situation in Italy. Hope this bombing of Libya gets it out of the Europe's system.....because Europe was and will always be....a potential Powder Keg.

[Nitro Express]

The International Monetary Fund has been raping the third world for years. What they do is they come into a country and convince the leadership they need loans to improve the country. They issue the loans knowning darn well the country will default and then when the county defaults, the IMF says well we will take that diamond mine, that gold mine, those banana plantations, those oil fields. If the country refuses there usually is military action to drive the point home they aren't going to get away with it. Right now Guatemala is telling the IMF to fuck itself and is refusing to pay on is defaults. We will see if there is a special military operation to Guatemala soon claiming a war on drugs or terror.

In other words the IMF issues paper and gets real assets in the end and it is tied with all these multinational corporations.

When I hear the IMF has solutions to the Federal Reserve's problems with the US dollar I just cringe.

The IMF rapes nations so why shouldn't it's leader be a rapist?

[sadaist]

mmmmmmm.....chambermaid.

[Nitro Express]

mmmmmmm.....chambermaid.

Eddie Torres liked to chase them.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Just hang in for the montreux jazz festival....grab and spike some Evian water with a little KY bourbon.....and hang in the chateau de chinon.

I can see you know what goes on around Lake Geneva a little - I dig Kentucky bourbon, but I won't ever put Evian water in it (I'd rather drop a couple of ice cubes).

There's another big music fest at the other end of the lake, between Geneva and Lausanne: the Paleo Festival, in Nyon, that's pretty cool too, though a bit too much of a patchwork -
saw Iggy & the Stooges w/ James Williamson and Motorhead there last summer.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

The International Monetary Fund has been raping the third world for years. What they do is they come into a country and convince the leadership they need loans to improve the country. They issue the loans knowning darn well the country will default and then when the county defaults, the IMF says well we will take that diamond mine, that gold mine, those banana plantations, those oil fields. If the country refuses there usually is military action to drive the point home they aren't going to get away with it. Right now Guatemala is telling the IMF to fuck itself and is refusing to pay on is defaults. We will see if there is a special military operation to Guatemala soon claiming a war on drugs or terror.

In other words the IMF issues paper and gets real assets in the end and it is tied with all these multinational corporations.

When I hear the IMF has solutions to the Federal Reserve's problems with the US dollar I just cringe.

The IMF rapes nations so why shouldn't it's leader be a rapist?

As you point it out, the IMF seem to be an official worldwide plundering organisation. Strauss-Kahn was chosen as their chief a couple of years ago, owing to his prestige as a top range economic expert.
It reimforces my opinion about him, whose overwhelming wealth had been emphasized by the press no later than last week. His probable race for president had been questioned, given his standard of living (a 300 m2 house in Washington, several big appartments in Paris, a Porssche, etc) which doesn't fit with a "socialist" (French style, that is "Labour" British style, before Blair) candidate.

Anyway, today the media are talking about a very possible plot, either from inside the IMF or the French right...

[Jérôme Frenchise]

mmmmmmm.....chambermaid.

That's old-school fantasy!

In 2007, 31-year-old writer Tristane Baron, revealed that she was nearly raped by Strauss-Kahn in 2002 - she talks about the story in the youtube link below
but back then his name was beeped because she hadn't lodged a complaint about it - when he appointed her in an empty Parisian appartment to answer
her questions of failure, a topic she was writing a book about.
She tells that he could only answer if he could hold her hand, then he started holding her arm, and she decided ti stop the interview.
Then, she says they wound up fighting on the floor, he took his bra off and tried to take her jeans off. He was "a chimp in a rut"
She says she pronounced the word "rape" to scare him off, which was uneffective. Then she could run away, as she says.

http://youtu.be/XhdfICMaOOs

True or false? I really don't know, but what's for sure is Strauss-Kahn is a sex maniac.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Tristane Banon:


She says that she did not sue Strauss-Kahn because her mother, who is a politician in
the same party as S-K, asked her not to...
And she didn't want to be the chick who'd nearly been raped by him...

Anyway, this will get her tens of thousand more copies of her books sold.

[chefcraig]

This is such a bizarre story. According to my local paper (sunsentinel.com), Strauss-Kahn jumped out of the bathroom naked, attacked the woman, tried to lock her in the room and then split for the airport, leaving his possessions behind. So much for becoming the next President of France. Then again...

[Jérôme Frenchise]

This is such a bizarre story. According to my local paper (sunsentinel.com), Strauss-Kahn jumped out of the bathroom naked, attacked the woman, tried to lock her in the room and then split for the airport, leaving his possessions behind. So much for becoming the next President of France. Then again...

Exactly, Chef... it just doesn't make sense. Either the gal mistook Strauss-Kahn for a lookalike, or he is the victim of a dreadful plot.
But his reputation of being keen on patting buns under secretaries' skirts makes many people suspicious...
It's very hard to believe, though.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Immediate trial is a really fine principle; in France, it could have been months, if not years, before would take place.

I feel no particular sympathy for the man, but the more I think about it, the more I believe it is either a mistake or a plot.

That said, the chambermaid confirmed the facts, and her employers claimed she entered the hotel room at about noon,
while Strauss-Kahn checked out a few minutes after half past noon.

The immediate trial is taking place, between a few petty criminals' cases.

[chefcraig]

The immediate trial is taking place, between a few petty criminals' cases.

No, what is taking place is the arraignment, where formal charges are brought. The actual trila could take place weeks, if not months from now. Here is the latest from the LA Times.

IMF chief to be arraigned in alleged sexual assault


Dominique Strauss-Kahn is in court to face charges that he assaulted a maid at a New York hotel. The arrest Saturday has shocked France, but President Obama and the financial world have expressed confidence in the International Monetary Fund.


By Nathaniel Popper, Kim Willsher, Michael Muskal, Los Angeles Times

9:14 AM PDT, May 16, 2011

Reporting from New York, Paris and Los Angeles - As the financial world expressed its continuing confidence in the International Monetary Fund, the financial agency's beleaguered chief was scheduled to be arraigned in New York on charges that he sexually assaulted a maid.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who has been in custody since Saturday, was scheduled to make his first court appearance to face charges of a criminal sex act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment. He is accused of assaulting a maid who went into his suite in his hotel near Times Square.

The arrest shocked France, where Strauss-Kahn was considered a strong potential presidential candidate, but the immediate effect was on the rest of Europe, where he was considered a key player in helping the continent work its way through the debt crisis involving the so-called peripheral countries, such as Greece, Portugal and Spain. As head of the IMF, Strauss-Kahn was scheduled to be in Brussels to attend a meeting of European finance ministers.

European stocks fell Monday amid debt worries.

The Obama administration said it expected the IMF would be able to deal with the debt issue despite the arrest.

"We note that the IMF has said that they have appointed an acting director, and the IMF remains fully functional," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters on Air Force One, en route to Tennessee. "We remain confident in the institution of the IMF and its ability to execute its mission effectively."

Carney said he would not comment directly on the arrest.

A member of France's Socialist party, Strauss-Kahn was widely considered the strongest potential challenger next year to President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose political fortunes have ebbed.

The arrest shocked the country, and allies began to wage a strong defense.

Lawyers told RMC radio that Strauss-Kahn had left his hotel and was having lunch with his daughter, a student at Columbia University, at the time when authorities said the attack took place. After lunch, he went to the airport, realized that he had forgotten a cellphone and called the hotel to find the instrument. It was that call that allowed police to find him and arrest him at the airport.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, was taken from his first-class seat on an Air France flight to Paris that was about to depart from JFK International Airport.

According to authorities, Strauss-Kahn checked into the Sofitel hotel on Friday afternoon.

A maid, 32, said that when she entered his suite early Saturday afternoon, she thought it was unoccupied. Instead, Strauss-Kahn emerged from the bathroom naked, chased her down a hallway and pulled her into a bedroom, where he sexually assaulted her, according to New York City police.

The maid was taken by police to a hospital and was treated for minor injuries.

In a prepared statement, Strauss-Kahn's wife, Anne Sinclair, told the French news agency AFP: "I do not believe for one second the accusations brought against my husband," said Sinclair, a New York-born journalist. "I have no doubt his innocence will be established."

In 2008, Strauss-Kahn was investigated over whether he had had an improper relationship with an employee. The IMF board found his actions "reflected a serious error of judgment" yet decided the relationship was consensual.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

No, what is taking place is the arraignment, where formal charges are brought. The actual trila could take place weeks, if not months from now. Here is the latest from the LA Times.
[/I]

Cheers! This is different.

The case raised a hell of a scandal here in France... I just hope pdt Sarkozy won't take advantage of the situation - his policy has been an awful nuisance since 2007,
and he HAS to go IMO.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

I've just learnt something interesting from a French site: American law considers as criminal sex unwanted vaginal penetration and forced fellatio, whereas French law does not include the latter.