Posted on 09/18/2011 1:39:06 PM PDT by Cincinna
Dominique Strauss-Kahn admitted a “moral fault” and expressed regret to his family and the French people but continued to strongly protest his innocence against accusations that he sexually assaulted a chambermaid in a New York hotel in May, in his first interview since the case was dropped last month. The former head of the International Monetary Fund definitively ruled out running as a candidate in the French presidential election next year as a result of the scandal. “I wanted to be a candidate, but that is behind me. I am not a candidate for anything. I will take time to reflect,” the leading Socialist party figure told France’s TF1 television channel on Sunday night. However, he did not rule out a role either in domestic politics or on the international stage in the future. “All my life has been dedicated to being useful to the public,” he said as he called on European leaders to “act now” to avoid deepening the economic crisis. Although Mr Strauss-Kahn offered what amounted to an apology for his conduct, he vigorously denied that the incident in New York involved any violence. He made no attempt to disguise his bitterness towards Nafissatou Diallo, his accuser. He repeatedly cited the New York prosecutor’s report which dropped the charges against him, and which he said found no trace of violence or injury and found that Ms Diallo had repeatedly lied. However, he said his behaviour had been “more than” inappropriate. “[It’s] a fault. A moral fault. I am not proud. I will always regret it,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
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The French don’t want him either!
Before his arrest four months ago, he was considered the French left’s strongest presidential contender for the 2012 election.
The interview came as the party prepares for a primary contest next month which will decide who is to run on the Socialist ticket.
French voters appear divided about how they want Mr Strauss-Kahn to act, with 53 % saying they wanted him to announce his retirement from political life according to a poll conducted by Ifop and published ahead of the television interview by French weekly the Journal du Dimanche.
In the same poll 64 % said they wanted him to give his opinion of the current economic crisis and propose solutions.
Step One towards a re-make of his image.
The French don’t want him either!
Before his arrest four months ago, he was considered the French left’s strongest presidential contender for the 2012 election.
The interview came as the party prepares for a primary contest next month which will decide who is to run on the Socialist ticket.
French voters appear divided about how they want Mr Strauss-Kahn to act, with 53 % saying they wanted him to announce his retirement from political life according to a poll conducted by Ifop and published ahead of the television interview by French weekly the Journal du Dimanche.
In the same poll 64 % said they wanted him to give his opinion of the current economic crisis and propose solutions.
Step One towards a re-make of his image.
Well, if it wasn’t rape, sexual assault, perjury, or the intimidation of witnesses in a legal trial, it’s a personal matter.
Rape is a whole different ball game.
Neither one of these women were raped.
And Banon...pretty stupid to meet him in an out of the way hotel. And then of course, there's the other little item: Banon's mother had slept with him. I'm not defending his bad behavior.
DSK could have become President of France.
We had our Presidential ".....". Bubba, JFK....
Apparently, using the Whitehouse as a sleezy motel is not a big deal. SHAME ON US!!!
Like they remade Bubba’s image before the election?? What a farce that was.
Like they remade Bubba’s image before the election?? What a farce that was.
We have posted elsewhere about the interesting turn of events which place top Chicago labor/antitrust lawyer Christine Lagarde at the head of the IMF, after the curious turn of events which rendered that office vacant. We gathered by her resume that she was a fellow traveller with the "Chicago School" -- not the Friedrich Hayek - Milton Friedman "Chicago School," sillies, but the Marx - Daley - Ayers - Emanuel - Wright one -- she was, after all a Chicago labor/antitrust lawyer. Her declaration at Jackson Hole that the US and ECB must "abandon austerity" -- which can only mean, "forget balancing your budgets and cutting your deficits" -- and employ "stimulus" -- which can only mean, "print more money (for the 'weaker nations,' presumably)" -- we have dubbed The Lagarde Dictum, for its sheer presumption of authority. Now comes word from Bloomberg about an even deeper "Chicago School" (read, "Obama administration") tie to Miss Lagarde, the International Monetary Fund and The Lagarde Dictum. We take the liberty of emphasizing the points key to this series of posts.David Lipton, a former adviser to Obama, spent five weeks as a special adviser to Christine Lagarde, the new IMF managing director, before starting as her first deputy this month.
Lipton played a substantial role in drafting a speech Lagarde gave at the Federal Reserve’s annual forum in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, according to three IMF officials who declined to be named because the information isn’t public.
Lagarde said in the speech that European banks should be [urgently] forced to build up their capital to prevent the continent’s debt crisis from infecting more countries.
Lipton held various positions in the 1990s at the Treasury, where he worked with Geithner in the international affairs division.
“The way the U.S. handled the financial crisis and the lessons learned from that could become a much more important part of the IMF message to Europe,” said Eswar Prasad, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington and a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
“Lipton has been very much a part of what’s been happening in terms of the financial system and broader recovery effects,” Prasad, a former head of the IMF’s financial studies division, said in an interview yesterday. “Almost certainly those lessons are going to be much more incorporated into the senior management’s thinking.”
The IMF and World Bank meet Sept. 23-25 in Washington.
The IMF is looking more and more like an International Fed, or at least an agency of the United States Treasury, every day. And if those agencies' handling of the US financial meltdown are "going to become much more incorporated into [IMF] senior management's thinking," is that a good thing? We have pointed out elsewhere why The Lagarde Dictum is a disastrous idea both in its prescriptions and in its brazen presumption of authority, and why forcing banks to build additional (Basel III) capital reserves in the midst of a global capital drought could be the final nail in the coffin of the European market economy. Now the situation in the European financial sector is measurably worse. Of Geithner's recent visit to Europe,The visit “underlines the nervousness of the administration in the U.S. about what’s happening in Europe” and the effect the region’s debt crisis is having on U.S. financial markets, Julian Jessop, chief global economist at Capital Economics Ltd. in London, said in an interviewIf Geithner believes that what's bad for Europe's banks is bad for America, why is his team promoting the very policies that will kill their capital markets? If France and/or Germany elect to resist the pressure to bail out the "weaker nations," will they find themselves at odds with the IMF? Will they find friends in China? Russia? Or will they "see the light" of Lipton's and Geithner's gospel and submit to The Lagarde Dictum? Aren't they already bailing out the weaker Euro nations, by bailing out their own banks that have loaned to said nations? If that's the case, then all the talk is a formality -- the bailouts are underway. As recently as last week, we believed that the markets are pricing in "Eurobonds." And just who is David Lipton, and why is he shaping global financial policy?
she was a professional.
With his long, well known history of sexual violence, harassment, & inappropriate behavior with women, DSK is a serial sexual predator.
For a man in such high public office, head of the IMF, his behavior is not his private life, it puts national security at risk.
IMHO France dodged a bullet by DSK getting caught in NY. Imagine him continuing his orgies and high risk behavior if he were elected President.
I kind of agree with him in that he’s had more than a few moral lapses (assuming he had any morals to begin with) but in this case, it’s not unlikely that it was a false charge.
Sarkozy may not be an angel or politically perfect from a US perspective, but he’s the best we’ve seen in quite some time, and any present alternative would be bad for us. (nearly as bad as our own present head of state!) So I DO hope he’s re-elected.
Interesting & amusing, as all conspiracy theories are.
The idea there was a complot & DSK was set up in NY is ludicrous.
Everyone is lying? Diallo? Banon? The women from the IMF? Air France as well?
His true regret, it would seem, is losing his chance to replace Sarkozy.
A "complot?" Sorry, I don't imbibe whatever sort stimulus imparted that non-word to you.
I won't interrupt this useless gossip thread with any more facts.
But it is my responsibility as a good citizen to point out that the easiest person in the world to frame is one who is known to commit the crime.
But I have a feeling you're engaged in "police denial," too.
Adieu -- I am now leaving for the real universe.
Thanks Cincinna.
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An added hope for the election is Carla. A very 8 months pregnant Carla joined her husband yesterday at the Élysée Palace, the French White House, greeting the general public on the National open house day. Some pictures below.
“complot” is French for “conspiracy”
In the beginning, France was big on the complot theory, now that all the facts about DSK and his lifestyle, and history with women is out in the open, not so much.
Very true. Hoist by his own petard, with a lot of help from his billionaire enabler/wife
a word only Peter Sellers could love.
Mais oui! Inspecteur Clouseau
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