Reaction in France to the IMF arrest

[roguevalley]

John at americablog.com who is loves and goes to France all the time posted this:

Last Sunday France awoke to the news that Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund and leading light of the Socialist party, had been arrested on board a plane and charged with sexually assaulting and attempting to rape a chambermaid in his room at a Sofitel in New York. He denied the allegations "with the greatest of firmness". For the world, it was shocking enough; for much of Paris, it was insupportable – especially after pictures emerged of Strauss-Kahn, unshaven and forlorn, handcuffed in court.

In the hours and days that followed the arrest, a string of friends and Socialist allies stepped forward to defend a man they insisted could not have done such a thing. Jean-François Kahn, a well-known journalist, said he was "practically certain" that what had taken place had not been an attempted rape, but "an imprudence… the skirt-lifting of a domestic". Jack Lang, a former Socialist culture minister, wondered why, when "no man had died", Strauss-Kahn had not been released on bail immediately. Philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, meanwhile, raged against a legal system that had treated DSK like "any other person". "Everybody," declared the philosopher, "is not everybody!"
The general population has also supported DSK with many claiming that "it was just a blowjob." On the other side though, there are quite a few people - women especially - who are not surprised by the reaction of the political class. It's an issue that has not made much progress in decades and many are fed up with it.

Also interesting has been the response by many that they are glad the DSK event took place in the US rather than in France, where it surely would have been swept under the rug. Even with as many problems as the US justice system has, people do have hope that the truth stands a better chance of emerging in the US than in France where political connections run deep.

The reason I posted this is a number of people have replied in threads that to mention this is bullshit and anti-French. No, its the way it is. France needs to clean its house from top to bottom on this issue. These fuckers quoted speak for a lot of people who have the power to fix this and don't even see a problem.

SNIP!

RV, who loves France and plans to go next year. All things being equal of course.

[Me.]

1. Impudence Indeed!

+1

[Odin2005]

2. "an imprudence… the skirt-lifting of a domestic" Is that what they call RAPE in France?

:puke:

[mopinko]

5. well she was a domestic after all.

:sarcasm: :puke:

[customerserviceguy]

6. What I find amazing about this

is that the person who uttered this calls himself a Socialist. I guess they make them differently than they used to over there in France...

[Odin2005]

8. Back in the 60s in the US a left-wing activist was reported as saying...

...something on the order of "the little girls need to stay home", referring to women activists.

[Fla_Democrat]

3. I Love that line

"Everybody," declared the philosopher, "is not everybody!"


it reminds me of..

“only the little people pay taxes.”

and

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."





Oh well, I guess it's not the what, it's the who.

:smoke:

[lunatica]

4. France isn't the only place this sexist misogyny is rampant. The US is filled with it too

Even DU has people who think the maid should just suck it up because she isn't important enough to stand up to this heavyweight world influencing rich man.

[seabeyond]

7. +1. shame. nt

[roguevalley]

9. true enough. but I remember someone going off when an article

about this was cited by someone on a thread, that to merely talk about their attitude was 'anti french'.

[cyclezealot]

10. We are Democrats living abroad.. France.

Many her suspect conspiracy. Sarko has some pretty gangster friendly associates.. Not within the realm of possibility.. Watching the photos of Strass Kahn and US Justice a question arises among many.. we hear of one is assumed innocent until proven guilty. Really.?

[Cali_Democrat]

11. They think Sarko and his associates might have some connection to the incident with the maid?

What kind of conspiracy are they talking about?

[Hannah Bell]

12. not just gangsters: us intelligence.

sarkozy's half-brother's mother has been married to frank wisner jr. since sarko was a teenager.

wisner is cia, and his father was the head of oss & head of the cia's covert ops section. in this capacity he was responsible for operation mockingbird, the cia's program of media infiltration & cooption. then he became head of the cia's directorate of plans, where he managed the overthrow of mossadegh in iran & arbenez in guatemala.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Wisner


frank wisner jr:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Wisner

- obama's envoy to egypt in the recent egyptian uprising
- enron board member beginning 1997 (he reportedly was helping enron get business prior to this in his role as ambassador to the philippines and india as well)
- vice-chairman AIG until 2009 (AIG has historic ties to OSS/CIA)
- intelligence/state department
- rockefeller brothers foundation trustee

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Frank_Wisner
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

sarko's half-brother oliver = carlyle group.

carlyle group was ranked "in 2007 as the largest private equity firm in the world...the firm moved down to second largest as of May 2010."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlyle_Group

cia connections:

Frank Carlucci, chairman of the Carlyle Group from 1992–2003, and chairman emeritus until 2005.

Carlucci...graduated from...Princeton University in 1952, where he roomed with Donald Rumsfeld, and attended Harvard Business School for an MBA in 1954-55. He was a Naval officer from 1952-54. He joined the Foreign Service, working for the State Department from 1956 until 1969. In 1961 he participated in a CIA mission to Congo, in which he helped to rescue US citizens from mobs.

Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of independent Congo, was assassinated in January 1961 during The Congo Crisis. During that time, Carlucci was the second secretary at the US embassy in the Congo and, covertly, a CIA agent. His participation in Lumumba's assassination is implied with the release of US government documents revealing that President Dwight Eisenhower ordered the CIA to murder Lumumba. Minutes of an August 1960 National Security Council meeting confirm that Eisenhower told CIA chief Allen Dulles to "eliminate" the Congolese leader. The official note taker, Robert H. Johnson, testified to this before the Senate Intelligence Committee in 1975.<3><4>

Carlucci = Deputy Director of the CIA 1978-81, Dep. secretary of defense 1981-83, assist to the president for national security affairs 1986-87, secretary of defense 1987-89.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_C._Carlucci

[cyclezealot]

16. Great work there Hanna Bell.

Thanks..

[sufrommich]

18. Which has what to do with the maid in the New York hotel? nt

[lunatica]

14. Assumed innocent is strictly a court and legal proceeding thing

The media and the public aren't bound by such concepts.

[Hannah Bell]

19. gosh, the media used to be. that used to be the dividing line between real journalism

& yellow journalism.

it's all yellow journalism these days, i.e. it's all worthless manipulative crap.

[cyclezealot]

15. Just bar room conversations..

Speculation that Sarko has some crooked friends who might bribe someone to entrap Straus Kahn.

[seabeyond]

17. the hypocrisy. NO ONE discuss or think or conclude he is guilty based on evidence

bad bad

everyones responsibility to keep opinion to self, or better yet not have opinion

as you and yours create a totally out of the air defense for the man in terms of conspiracy

hypocrisy at its best

[davidpdx]

13. Long time no see RV

How's life in Oregon???? I'm headed there in a few months for a visit. I can't wait. Two years away from clean air and beautiful scenery is too long.