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May 15, 2011
The Strauss-Kahn Character Assassination

To me this seems to be related to this and smells of entrapment.

From the second link, published a week ago in the Irish Times, on the Irish gunshot "bailout" in the financial crisis:

Ireland’s Last Stand began less shambolically than you might expect. The IMF, which believes that lenders should pay for their stupidity before it has to reach into its pocket, presented the Irish with a plan to haircut €30 billion of unguaranteed bonds by two-thirds on average. [Minister for Finance] Lenihan was overjoyed, according to a source who was there, telling the IMF team: “You are Ireland’s salvation.”

The deal was torpedoed from an unexpected direction. At a conference call with the G7 finance ministers, the haircut was vetoed by US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner who, as his payment of $13 billion from government-owned AIG to Goldman Sachs showed, believes that bankers take priority over taxpayers.

Now from the first link published on the first page of today's New York Time:

The managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was taken off an Air France plane at Kennedy International Airport minutes before it was to take off for Paris on Saturday and arrested in connection with the sexual attack of a maid at a Midtown Manhattan hotel, the authorities said.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn, 62, who was widely expected to become the Socialist candidate for the French presidency, was apprehended by detectives of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in the first class section of the jetliner, and immediately turned over to detectives from the Midtown South Precinct, officials said.

Now it may of course well be that Mr. Strauss-Kahn didn't behave like a gentleman. But does anybody believe that some other high up, for example the CEO of Goldman Sachs, would have been shamed like this over such an issue without the usual official cover up attempt?

I don't think so. The ultimate crime Mr. Strauss-Kahn committed was to suggest to let the bankers bleed instead of small tax payers. He is lucky that his assassination by the U.S. administration is limited to his character.

Posted by b on May 15, 2011 at 04:05 UTC | Permalink
Comments

The SOPHISTER® brand Occam’s Razor, the one with TWO dull edges, has yet another application! Not only can it be used as a truncheon, as well as a pruning device to eliminate data that don’t fit one’s pet hypothesis, it can be used to carve a black swan event.

Posted by: rjj | May 23 2011 11:46 utc | 101

It IS a source from 1997, Morocco Bama. That much can be said for it. But does it support any kind of claim that New York police officers, confronted by a distressed woman offering a very credible account of a serious assault, would elect to ‘not deal with it according to established procedures ?
I find it increasingly difficult to understand why people are looking for smoke around an incident where a priapic old pervert, acting completely in character, yet again made forceful overtures to a female, on this occasion leading to a complaint, which the woman is morally and legally entitled to make.
The HIV angle being offered here is also erroneous. Apart from the fact that (on the surface) the building where the woman lives is ‘known’ as a property given over to accommodating HIV/AIDs sufferers, thus an address that flags up, rather than conceals, the possibility that she is maybe so afflicted, it is also the case that the building is not exclusively for HIV/AIDS sufferers, as a comment from a resident indicates: « Tous les occupants de cet immeuble ne sont pas des malades du sida! Ici sont placés des gens bénéficiant de l’aide sociale au logement, d’anciens toxicomanes ou des femmes comme moi, victimes de violences conjugales » (Source : http://www.leparisien.fr/dsk-la-chute/nafissatou-diallo-tout-son-quartier-la-soutient-19-05-2011-1456668.php) – in other words, people on low incomes in receipt of social assistance, ex-drug addicts and women victims of domestic violence are also residents there.
Is it really being suggested that the ‘right’ or ‘ordinary’ thing to do when a serial molestor of women is reported to police the first reaction should be to check out his ‘status’ and if he is ‘important’ to arrange a cover-up ?
I am not American but I assume that when American police officers are presented with a serious allegation by a credible witness they have to follow certain procedures, for kings or commoners. I find all attempts to suggest that this rutting beast has been somehow entrapped, or is somehow a ‘victim’, to be an added layer of shameful abuse on top of that which the poor woman has already endured.

Posted by: Ménage de printemps | May 23 2011 12:47 utc | 102

It IS a source from 1997, Morocco Bama. That much can be said for it. But does it support any kind of claim that New York police officers, confronted by a distressed woman offering a very credible account of a serious assault, would elect to ‘not deal with it according to established procedures ?
I find it increasingly difficult to understand why people are looking for smoke around an incident where a priapic old pervert, acting completely in character, yet again made forceful overtures to a female, on this occasion leading to a complaint, which the woman is morally and legally entitled to make.
The HIV angle being offered here is also erroneous. Apart from the fact that (on the surface) the building where the woman lives is ‘known’ as a property given over to accommodating HIV/AIDs sufferers, thus an address that flags up, rather than conceals, the possibility that she is maybe so afflicted, it is also the case that the building is not exclusively for HIV/AIDS sufferers, as a comment from a resident indicates: « Tous les occupants de cet immeuble ne sont pas des malades du sida! Ici sont placés des gens bénéficiant de l’aide sociale au logement, d’anciens toxicomanes ou des femmes comme moi, victimes de violences conjugales » (Source : http://www.leparisien.fr/dsk-la-chute/nafissatou-diallo-tout-son-quartier-la-soutient-19-05-2011-1456668.php) – in other words, people on low incomes in receipt of social assistance, ex-drug addicts and women victims of domestic violence are also residents there.
Is it really being suggested that the ‘right’ or ‘ordinary’ thing to do when a serial molestor of women is reported to police the first reaction should be to check out his ‘status’ and if he is ‘important’ to arrange a cover-up ?
I am not American but I assume that when American police officers are presented with a serious allegation by a credible witness they have to follow certain procedures, for kings or commoners. I find all attempts to suggest that this rutting beast has been somehow entrapped, or is somehow a ‘victim’, to be an added layer of shameful abuse on top of that which the poor woman has already endured.

Posted by: Ménage de printemps | May 23 2011 12:47 utc | 103

Strauss-Kahn screws Africa http://www.gregpalast.com/strauss-kahn-screws-africa/
Does this piece of merde really have any kind of ‘character’ to assassinate ?

Posted by: Ménage de printemps | May 23 2011 12:55 utc | 104

Is it really being suggested that the ‘right’ or ‘ordinary’ thing to do when a serial molestor of women is reported to police the first reaction should be to check out his ‘status’ and if he is ‘important’ to arrange a cover-up ?
Assuming what you imply here to be true, how would they know he was a serial molester? Also, if you think that someone’s status has no bearing in police work, it’s the end of my conversation with you, because you are being ridiculously naive to the point of absurdity.
Do you really believe that this is anomalous behavior that happens once in a Blue Moon with Plutocratic VIPs? Seriously, are you this naive and so full of exceptionalism that you are asserting this? It happens more frequently than anyone would care to imagine, and the reason we don’t hear about it more often is because it is overlooked and brushed under the carpet….but not this time, with DSK, so, once again, the question is why?
1997 is irrelevant. What is relevant is that the NYPD was corrupt in the 1960’s when Serpico worked for it. it was corrupt before he worked for it, and it’s corrupt now…..or do you believe the NYPD miraculously cleaned up its act and are now a bunch of Alter Boys?
And, don’t try to paint me into that corner as though I’m defending this scum. I’m not, but it’s not an either/or proposition. The NYPD are scum, and this guy’s a scum….they’re both two heads of the same Beast.
In regards to the AIDS thing, I never gave it any credence, and therefore never mentioned it. It’s a distraction…..most likely disinfo. by the same shit bags that set DSK up, if this is indeed a quasi-conspiracy, as I speculated.

Posted by: Morocco Bama | May 23 2011 13:42 utc | 105

Does this piece of merde really have any kind of ‘character’ to assassinate ?
Another Strawman on your part. You’re full of them. If this was a set-up, it wasn’t a character assassination for the very reasons you state. It was to neutralize him and make an example of him…….to even punish him…..a punishment well-deserved, but, unfortunately, a punishment leveled by punishers who should also be brought to Justice and punished.

Posted by: Morocco Bama | May 23 2011 13:46 utc | 106

You seem to have a tendency to become aggressive with people that you do not know, while at the same time going to elaborate lengths to explore the possibility of a ‘set-up’ for someone else you don’t know, but who has, like some kind of slug, left a trail of assault allegations in his wake, for years. This latest incident is no aberration on Strauss-Kahn’s part, it is what he does and it is how he is. Consider the proposed claim of ‘consensual sex’ which it has been suggested the defence may offer. A practicing, mosque-attending Muslima, for whom anal sex is ‘haram’, suddenly abandons HER character to perform a forbidden act with a total stranger. (It is on the charge sheet) Who is the more likely aberrant candidate in such a situation ? Or do elderly, rich perverts have that certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ that all women find totally irresistible ? Only an elderly rich pervert would think so, which is why a ‘rapist’s defence’ is the obvious for one for Strauss-Kahn to clutch onto.
How about “It looks like he did it, so charge him and put him on trial” as all the motivation that the police needed ? Assuming that the serving officers of the 1960s are no longer in place, that is. There has been a stampede to look for ‘set-ups’ and conspiracies which ignores a fundamental truth – molesting women is totally ‘in character’ for Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Assuming that ‘status’ is a consideration, do you think that it is ‘unfair’ that Strauss-Kahn has been charged, even if other offenders haven’t ? Surely even one prosecution is better than another ‘hush up’ ? “Not fair ! Prince X raped five maids and nobody prosecuted him!” isn’t really any kind of moral argument, is it ?

Posted by: Ménage de printemps | May 23 2011 14:30 utc | 107

The questions are epistemological, not moral.

Posted by: rjj | May 23 2011 14:51 utc | 108

The seemy as opposed to the seamy side.

Posted by: rjj | May 23 2011 14:52 utc | 109

All NYPD cops in the 1960s were corrupt – except Serpico.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn had the misfortune to be arrested by the one cop in the NYPD in 2011 who was like Serpico.
There, that takes care of the ‘mystery’, eh ?
OR:
The maid was doing what she had to do – until forced to do something else
Strauss-Kahn did what he ‘had to do’
The police did what they had to do
How fitting that Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s last words as a free man were ‘Quel beau cul!’, drooled at a female flight attendant. Global asset stripper and serial molester of women, it would make a fine epitaph for the creep.

Posted by: Ménage de printemps | May 23 2011 15:18 utc | 110

‘Quel beau cul!’
at worst, bad manners.

Posted by: rjj | May 23 2011 15:38 utc | 111

Ménage de printemps, it’s clear now that I can’t have a proper debate with you since you are resorting to every dirty debate tactic in the book. No sweat off my back. I’ve stated my views, so to malinger on this any longer is just a waste of time. It’s already old news and I doubt anything I say will make you see it any differently. It’s your prerogative to believe in the jolly old man in the red velvet suit with the long white beard. Far be it from me to deprive you of that dubious privilege.

Posted by: Morocco Bama | May 23 2011 15:53 utc | 112

@100, I think you misunderstood me, or perhaps I misunderstood you. I’m no expert on the NYPD, although I know the Serpico story, and I’m aware of the endemic corruption in its rank and file.
But corruption doesn’t preclude their investigation of a sexual crime in a “sensitive, caring, and sympathetic way”.
I would have expected them to do this as standard operating procedure. You’re saying that this is not how they behave in such cases, and I was wondering what you based this on. I’m not arguing that you are incorrect, I’m asking for more details. And I’m certainly not here to defend the NYPD.

Posted by: bokonon | May 23 2011 16:07 utc | 113

You not debated with me, Morroco Bama. You have called names, offered a 1997 link (admittedly to someone else) that deals with an episode from the 1960s, in some kind of effort to indicate that it has any kind of relevance to the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case, which it clearly has not. Perhaps you could try to off Strauss-Kahn’s defence team your “Serpico said!” link, but I doubt that they would consider for a nano-second using it. I have added links with reported facts and allegations to this thread, you’re ignoring those in favour of recounting some 1960s incident which you seem to believe sets all human character among personnel in the New York Police Department in stone, for all time.
I can understand why you wouldn’t want to say a lot more. If I only had irrelevances to offer, I’d perhaps feel the same way.
But then, ‘conspiracy theorists’ aren’t always so keen on dealing with the blindingly obvious, are they ? Why waste time looking at facts when we can wallow in 1960s nostalgia and pretend that there’s a bunch of guys in a room somewhere who control everything that ever happens, who never grow old and die, and who are on hand 24/7 to intervene in any and every incident that ever happens in the world.
Incidentally, I am not a Christian and have no interest whatsoever in Christian mythology. But you couldn’t possibly know that, as your culturally-hidebound insults evidently prevent you engaging with others on any terms but those within your own rather limited and skewed world view. “Serpico (once) said” might be good enough for you, but the world turns and people have other analytical tools to bring to bear on developments.

Posted by: Ménage de printemps | May 23 2011 16:11 utc | 114

@ bokonon
A brief interpretation, from a law firm, of NYPD procedures in cases of allegations of sexual assault: http://www.nycsexcrimeslawyer.com/nypdprocedure.html

Posted by: Ménage de printemps | May 23 2011 16:33 utc | 115

@113, one doesn’t have to be an expert when it comes to police departments, especially those in major metropolitan areas. It’s a corrupt System from the get go, there to maintain the Social Order, meaning keeping everybody in their place within the conventional hierarchy. Being a hierarchical System, orders are handed down, and being that it is there to Serve & Protect the lives and property of the Plutocrats, it’s against its mission to arrest and prosecute, especially with enthusiasm, Plutocratic VIPs…unless orders from above say otherwise.
If you believe otherwise, fine, that’s your opinion and your belief, and we can’t proceed any further. Arguing with people who have a default faith in Institutions, especially in this day and age, is like arguing with Christian Fundamentalists, meaning it’s not worth it.
So, I will state what I think once again.
It may be a quasi-conspiracy, “may” being the operative word.
If it was, I believe it was for the reasons I have speculated above, and the maid was unwitting bait.
The Red Flag for me still is the zealous response of the NYPD. It’s out of character, and contrary to its unofficial, but true purpose, meaning orders came from above to nail this shit bird.
Finally, as I said above, it’s quickly becoming water under the bridge. Empire marches onward towards the abyss as the sheep await Santa’s return.

Posted by: Morocco Bama | May 23 2011 16:37 utc | 116

@ bokonon
A list of the Ten Commandments, from which we can deduce that Christians do not kill, since it’s contrary to procedure.
http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/476180/2/istockphoto_476180-ten-commandments-kjv.jpg

Posted by: Morocco Bama | May 23 2011 17:29 utc | 117

Here’s some literature about those noble altruists in blue.
http://www.freedman-chicago.com/4yrp/law/?p=210

Brotherhood of Corruption: A Cop Breaks the Silence on Police Abuse, Brutality, and Racial Profiling
By Juan Antonio Juarez
Chicago Review Press 2004, 320 pages
$18.21 hardcover, $9.99 Kindle
Juarez, a Chicago cop for seven years, offers a harrowing inside look at the corrupt practices used by police in enforcing drug laws and the blue wall of silence that insulates them. No angel as a youth, Juarez jumped at the chance to become a cop, like his father, and the opportunity for stability, job security, and maybe a chance to correct some social ills. As a member of an elite narcotics unit, what he found instead were glaring inequities–repeated busts of street-corner dealers but a blind eye toward the dealing and use of drugs in more rarefied circles. He witnessed police abuse of power, beatings of suspects, sexual abuse of female suspects, and repeated use of racial profiling in arrests and prosecutions in the war on drugs. He succumbed to temptation and joined his colleagues in abuse and corruption. Disillusionment and his own personal demons eventually led to his downfall. This is a starkly revealing look at how urban policing oversteps the bounds of the law in the so-called war on drugs.

Posted by: Morocco Bama | May 23 2011 17:46 utc | 118

A sloppy deduction, considering that Christians regard their ‘Ten Commandments’ as rules, not ‘procedure’, (the clue is their title), and that breaches of said rules incur sanctions. And given copious amounts of evidence that Christians have killed and continue to do so, there is no ‘deduction’, just a non sequitur. But it is indeed a truth that employees can incur sanctions for not adhering to procedures. The ancient logic chopping of the Stoics doesn’t wear any better with the passage of time, does it ?

Posted by: Ménage de printemps | May 23 2011 17:53 utc | 119

A sloppy deduction
Of course it was. Are you dense? That was the point. Good grief, must I take you by the hand on every little matter?

Posted by: Morocco Bama | May 23 2011 18:05 utc | 120

But if it was a ‘point’ it missed completely the no less valid point made by a -clearly no fan of the NYPD – law firm that alleges that NYPD policy is apparently to ‘make arrests as a matter of routine’. Which, if true, diminishes the likelihood of any counter-routine ‘let off a rich old pervert’ clause that you may imagine to exist.

Posted by: Ménage de printemps | May 23 2011 18:13 utc | 121

@113 Yeah let’s leave it at that then. Thanks for the discussion anyway, it’s an incredible story.

Posted by: bokonon | May 23 2011 18:17 utc | 122

The point didn’t miss, you just don’t get it…and it was your point that was the focus of the ridicule. You linked to that in order to “prove” that there was Official Police Procedure to conduct allegations of rape and the implication is that since those Official Procedures are in place and codified, so to speak, then of course, they are followed with impunity to the letter of the law. Your implication does not follow, regardless of the source posting it. Rules, procedure, guidelines are meant to be broken, and are broken, routinely. Just look at the whole Fukushima debacle. One thing that any conscious person can deduce from that is that rules and procedures are routinely not being followed even though they are firmly in place.
All that being said, I’m not buying that once they learned the status of DSK, and it would stand to reason they learned that status early on prior to the Port Authority arresting him, they didn’t made the appropriate calls “upstairs” and the green light was given to take him down. The initial grunts may have done their job per “procedure,” but the haste with which the rest unfolded considering his status and the fact the NYPD by this time knew his status, is anything but procedure when it comes to Plutocratic VIPs….otherwise, we would have prisons full of Plutocratic VIPs….or maybe one prison….a Home For Incurable Tyrants.

Posted by: Morocco Bama | May 23 2011 19:05 utc | 123

No Morocco Bama, you’re just being obtuse.
Priapic old pervert who routinely molests women, perpetrates an assault in a jurisdiction where local law enforcement routinely arrest such characters – an accusation being sufficient to trigger an arrest.
As some time elapsed before the police were even called in to the Hotel Sofitel, and as the hotel’s own security was involved, there was hardly time to summon a meeting of the Pointy-hatted Illuminati in the Bat Cave to debate which way the dice should fall with regard to the fate of Strauss-Kahn – even if the top secret button that all those guys have embedded in their skulls went off at the earliest moment.
It’s down to an allegation, a response, an awareness that an alleged perpetrator was about to leave the jurisdiction (courtesy of a call from the man himself), an arrest and an impending trial. Which looks fairly ordinary. Which is just as it should be.
What would you be saying about the cops if the flight had taken off with Strauss-Kahn on it, and the allegations had surfaced afterwards?

Posted by: Ménage de printemps | May 23 2011 20:17 utc | 124

@124, since you’re so fond of the Men In Blue, here’s a link to show your gratitude.
http://www.nycpba.org/index-flash.html
What would you be saying about the cops if the flight had taken off with Strauss-Kahn on it, and the allegations had surfaced afterwards?
I would say they were doing their job, just as they’ve done their job here, conspiracy, or no conspiracy. They’re just tools, afterall.
You still fail to understand anything I’m saying, and at this point I believe that is purposeful, and you are disingenuous and have an agenda, so believe what you want to believe and I will continue to be suspicious and speculate. The difference between yourself and me, well, one of the many differences, is that I don’t believe….rather, I consider, and remain ready to alter my considerations when more information presents itself.
Your assertion is absurd….and that assertion is that DSK is just as any other and is treated, and was treated, juts as any other, because that’s just the way it is, and that’s the way it was here. The Santa analogy fits, so I will stick with that. Feel free to replace Santa with your favorite jolly, gift-bearing fictional character that makes you feel all warm, fuzzy, safe and secure.

Posted by: Morocco Bama | May 23 2011 21:07 utc | 125

I see that you’re not too bright, so never mind. It is not I who has to embrace a conspiracy theory when a disgusting old pervert falls into a mess of his own making. It is not I who thinks that it always takes ‘higher powers’ to orchestrate the downfall of a repulsive old creep.
I think he managed quite well on his own.
While in the past he has allegedly sought the company of women supplied by escort agencies, or played ‘power games’ with young women in the world of education, IMF employment and journalism, on this occasion he selected an innocent ‘civilian’ with no ranking in his personal power grid, and with colleagues and employers with more integrity and humanity than you seem to think people are capable of having, and now he must face the consequences.
As far as your own sliding scale of belief goes, if you had spent a little less time on conspiracy theories and more time on examining the track record of Dominique Strauss Kahn and available details on the case for which he finds himself facing trial you could have understood that he is sleazeball who was only ever one grope away from an eventual arrest. And so it has come to pass.
And be assured, there is no question at all that I don’t understand what you’re saying. If you want to imagine a world where an ageing loathsome lothario is somehow a helpless observer to his own disgusting behaviour and it takes a committee, not his own vile actions, to bring about his fall from grace, then go right ahead. Remove all personal responsibility and the consequences of cause and effect from all human activity and paint as many mega-rich sex beasts as ‘accidental victims’ ‘sacrificial victims’ or ‘political casualties’ as you like.
One doesn’t have to be ‘pro-NYPD’ to be anti-rapist. But it takes a messed-up head to bring personal animosity against the NYPD into a discussion about the ‘good character’ or otherwise of a notorious abuser of women and attempt to argue that that has a weight over and above the alleged actions for which he must face trial.

Posted by: Ménage de printemps | May 23 2011 21:48 utc | 126

I see that you are a veiled racist. Talk your sycophantic trash about cops being on the up and up on the other side of the tracks and see how welcome it is. I think they will tell you another story about your glorified cops, but no, you would rather ignore what corrupt police forces the country over have done to keep the desperately poor, poor. The abuses they have inflicted on those communities, while turning blind eyes to the crimes of the Upper Middle Class and Plutocracy. You have insulted all of the people without means by claiming that the police are just an impartial group of Good Samaritans helping to bring Justice to the desperate and dispossessed up to and including arresting foreign dignitaries for raping Senegalese immigrants.
And I’ll tell you another thing. If you’re part of that intelligence clan that may have put something like this together, I would spit in your face if you were in my presence because the indecent and sadistic cynicism required to sacrifice the dignity of the unwitting maid is unforgivable, just as the act of raping her is unforgivable, should those allegations prove true.
I’m done with you. You’re an imposter, IMO. You couldn’t be otherwise. Your stance is too satirically absurd to take seriously any longer.

Posted by: Morocco Bama | May 23 2011 22:06 utc | 127

as a militant anti-conspiracist, I can assert the following:
claiming that before arresting a VVIP any good sensed cop anywhere in the world will make a call to his superior, which will search cover from someone higher, in itself is not conspiratorial
it wouldn’t even be a case of police corruption, just a healthy practice of covering one’s behind; the VVIP’s powerful lawyers will obtain, in 99% of the cases, a retraction of the accuses, or destroy somehow the credibility of the victim and witnesses, and those who daringly arrested him will be left alone to explain how dumb they could be believing the supposed victim’s version against that of a VVIP

Posted by: claudio | May 23 2011 22:17 utc | 128

I haven’t claimed anything, on the part of the NYPD. I have said nothing racist. Nor am I part of any grand conspiracy, you poor unwell creature.
Get a grip on yourself as you are hysterical, and you’ve lost the plot.
Why can’t you get into your tortured mind that the repulsive piece of crap Strauss-Kahn is not a victim, he did not need to be ‘set up’, he is a serial abuser of women, his own actions have led to his present predicment and that it is no bad thing that he has been arrested.
You sicken me in that in all your wriggling and insane conspiracy theorizing you have not one word of compassion for the real victim of this incident. Not one word. You burst blood vessels to try to fantasize some non-existent great power plot and in doing so try to airbrush the actual victim out of sight or consideration.
Your evident inability to discuss this issue without your – bizarre to me – pathological hatred of the police into play as being of more relevance than anything else renders you something of a burnt out match swirling around in whatever drain your imagination takes you to.
Seriously, you are clearly unwell and you need to take time out to calm yourself down. Your ridiculous allegations and unwarranted abuse are not the marks of a rational mind – which may explain a lot.

Posted by: Ménage de printemps | May 23 2011 22:26 utc | 129

@ claudio
I have zero doubt that before any arrest was made cops spoke to cops and were asked whether the witness seemed credible, whether there was any possibility of retrieving supporting evidence, whether there were any supporting statements from other witnesses, etc. That is standard procedure. And just as any police officer would want to ‘cover his back’ before making the arrest, doubtless there would have been some discussion about the consequences of NOT making the arrest.
None of that takes a shadowy all powerful behind-the-scenes cabal, nor does it conjure into existence the facts of what Strauss-Kahn did, or any accompanying witness statements, material evidence, DNA evidence etc. The trigger is Strauss-Kahn, it remains to be seen what consequences shooting himself in the foot will bring about.

Posted by: Ménage de printemps | May 23 2011 22:37 utc | 130

@Ménage de printemps
as I already said, I’m generally not for conspiracies; but a set up would be a routine operation, which in DSK’s case would be so much more easy to prepare due to his well known habits; why rule it out?
the spectacular arrest on the airplane smacks so much of Hollywood … but can’t rule out the possibility the police decided entirely on its own, either
there are also intermediate possibilities – for example, DSK getting in trouble on his own, the police routinely alerting the Treasury Dept. that it’s on the FMI’s chief tracks, and receiving an enthusiastic green light, plus the suggestion of making an example of him

Posted by: claudio | May 24 2011 0:34 utc | 131

Ah, it’s refreshing to know that there are some other sane people out there. Thanks, Naomi.
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2011/05/23/a-tale-of-two-rape-charges/

With the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, then Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, New York City has abruptly become the scene of two very different official approaches to investigating sex-crime cases, one traditional and one new. The new approach so far appears to be reserved for Strauss-Kahn alone.
Consider the first case: the ongoing trial of two police officers, Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata, charged in the rape of a 27-year-old Manhattan woman. She was drunk, and, after helping her to enter her apartment, Moreno and Mata allegedly made a false emergency call so that they could return to her. At that point, the woman says, she woke periodically out of her intoxicated state to find herself being raped, face down, by Moreno, as Mata stood guard.
The alleged rape of a citizen by a police officer — and the alleged collusion of another officer — is surely a serious matter. But the charges and trial have followed an often-seen pattern: the men’s supporters have vociferously defended their innocence (the presumption of which has been scrupulously upheld in the press); the victim’s pink bra has been the subject of salacious speculation, and her intoxication has been used to undermine her credibility. As the wheels of justice grind unglamorously forward, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made no public statement supporting the victim’s side.
Moreover, Moreno and Mata have not been asked to strip naked for “evidence” photos, were not initially denied bail, and were not held in solitary confinement, and are not being strip-searched daily. Their entire case has followed the usual timetable of many months, as evidence was gathered, testimony compiled and arguments made.
Then there is the Strauss-Kahn approach. After a chambermaid reportedly told her supervisor at the elegant Sofitel hotel that she had been sexually assaulted, the suspect was immediately tracked down, escorted off a plane just before its departure, and arrested. High-ranking detectives, not lowly officers, were dispatched to the crime scene. The DNA evidence was sequenced within hours, not the normal eight or nine days. By the end of the day’s news cycle, New York City police spokespeople had made uncharacteristic and shockingly premature statements supporting the credibility of the victim’s narrative — before an investigation was complete.
The accused was handcuffed and escorted before television cameras — a New York tradition known as a “perp walk.” The suspect was photographed naked, which is also unusual, initially denied bail and held in solitary confinement. The Police Commissioner has boasted to the press that Strauss-Kahn is strip-searched now multiple times a day — also unheard-of.
By the end of the second day’s news cycle, senior public officials had weakened the presumption of innocence, a cornerstone of any civilized society’s justice system. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was calling for Strauss-Kahn’s resignation from the IMF, and Bloomberg remarked, in response to objections to Straus-Kahn’s perp walk, “don’t do the crime.” Whatever happened in that hotel room, Strauss-Kahn’s career, and his presumption of innocence, was effectively over — before any legal process had even begun.
If Strauss-Kahn turns out, after a fair trial, to be a violent sex criminal, may his sentence be harsh indeed. But the way in which this case is being processed is profoundly worrisome. In 23 years of covering sex crime — and in a city where domestic workers are raped by the score every month, often by powerful men — I have never seen the New York Police Department snap into action like this on any victim’s behalf.

Posted by: Morocco Bama | May 24 2011 11:49 utc | 132

People won’t process that argument when they are in a pornographically induced frenzy of outrage wanking.

Posted by: rjj | May 24 2011 12:27 utc | 133

Interesting reporting discrepancy here. Shouldn’t The Guardian wait for the police to confirm such reports?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/24/dominique-strauss-kahn-dna-claim

DNA taken from Dominique Strauss-Kahn matches material on the uniform of a hotel maid who says he sexually assaulted her, according to reports from Associated Press and elsewhere.

http://www.france24.com/en/20110524-new-york-police-deny-strauss-kahn-dna-report

New York police on Tuesday denied reports of finding DNA traces from ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on the clothes of a hotel maid, saying investigators had so far given “no result and no information” about the test results.

Posted by: Morocco Bama | May 24 2011 15:07 utc | 134

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