Strauss-Kahn and the Diallo violin orchestra.
The global economy has been described as a ‘world family’. Let us stick with that analogy for a moment.
The family owes more than it is earning, in fact owes mores more than the total amount of money that exists.
At the moment, Uncle Fred is lending money to Cousin Paul to that he can repay Cousin Peter, who owes money to Auntie Maud, who, in turn, is in debt to Uncle Fred.
No matter how you compute the figures, no matter how many complicated articles you write as to the advisability of young Timothy putting some of his pocket money towards giving Cousin Peter a break if he promises to behave himself in the future, at the end of the day, one of them is going to end up with an empty wallet.
Maud or Fred?
Dollar or Euro?
US or Europe?
It is against this background that Dominic Strauss-Kahn was arrested for alleged rape. Dominic happened to be head of the IMF, the organisation most eager to ensure that it is not the Euro which goes bust. He was staying in a high class hotel in the US, the country most eager to ensure that it is not the dollar which goes bust.
Anybody swanning round the world at the level of Strauss-Kahn expects his every whim to be obeyed – no doubt why Gordon Brown was so keen on the job.
Air France give him an automatic first class seat if he simply turns up and asks for one – if necessary some member of the lower orders simply gets thrown off the plane.
If he is hungry he picks up the phone and a soothing voice asks him what he would like to eat and ensures that it is delivered piping hot a few minutes later – no matter how exotic.
If he doesn’t feel like putting his own toothpaste on his toothbrush, a silkily sycophantic man will arrive at his bathroom door minutes later to do it for him.
If his wife is the other side of the world when he wakes with an early morning erection, then he picks up the phone, and a beautiful young woman arrives minutes later to take care of the matter for him…what did you think concierges did for a living? Just book theatre tickets?
Who knows what requests he had made to the concierge that morning? I very much doubt that when he emerged from his bathroom to find a young woman in a maid’s costume waiting outside the door that it even occurred to him to check who she was.
I certainly don’t think he thought ‘hang on, I’ll just rape this lowly maid and then escape from this God forsaken hole and no one will ever catch me’.
Not when he could have just picked up the phone and obtained an obliging young woman on his IMF funded expense sheet.
This morning, a number of strange details have emerged.
Not only is the innocent maid – so innocent and blameless that she has not been named by any of the US papers – in contrast to Strauss-Kahn who has been humiliated and made to walk the infamous ‘perps walk’ , an event compounded by the Mayor of New York blithely prejudging his possible conviction by saying:
“I think it is humiliating, but if you don’t want to do the perp walk, don’t do the crime,” Mr Bloomberg told reporters in the state capital, Albany.
It now it seems that the New York Post has discovered that Nafissatou Diallo (for we Europeans have the advantage of knowing her name) qualified just six months ago to live in a particular Harlem tower block that is exclusively reserved for those who have HIV/AIDS. Not just those who have HIV/AIDS children living with them, but those families which include an adult with HIV/AIDS. Since Ms Diallo’s family consists solely of her and her daughter, her husband died many years ago, we can safely assume that either she lied through her back teeth to get that apartment or she regrettably suffers from HIV/AIDS……
If you were an international globetrotter with unlimited expenses a busy itinerary, and beset by an inconvenient erection – would you phone the concierge and demand a high class hooker arrive immediately, or would you chance your arm on getting away with raping a passing maid who just happened to come from that part of the African continent with a high rate of HIV/AIDS?
I don’t doubt for one moment Ms Diallo’s account of being raped – that is a matter for the courts to judge, but I do question whether it is conceivable that Strauss-Kahn would have expected that the young woman who let herself into his bedroom would turn out to be a lowly maid who wouldn’t even have mentioned that she had previously claimed to have HIV/AIDS when he demanded his erection be attended to. If you thought you were about to be raped, wouldn’t this piece of information be on the tip of your tongue?
Something stinks here – not least the fact that the Diallo family, from the relatively small Peule tribe originating in Guinea, West Africa, as a whole, are far from ‘impoverished’. They received $3 million dollars a few years back when four police officers shot a member of the family, and although cleared of murder charges, the city settled $3m on them by way of compensation.
This case grows more curious by the day – not least because Strauss-Kahn stepping down from the IMF has removed the main man who was concerned to ensure that it was not the Euro which collapsed.
You may have strong views on the EU and whether or not Britain should been involved at all – but did you realise that this was a contest to see whether it was Europe, rather than the Euro, that ended up with the stale bread and dripping, whilst the US salvaged the Dollar and all the jam?
May 23, 2011 at 02:02
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Everyone does the perp walk. I suspect he violently assaulted this girl,
whether she is a hooker or doing special services for money on the side. She
worked in this hotel for 3 years prior to this incident.
Although the precise timing of the incident, Sarkozy’s recent military
interventions on behalf of USA strike me as out of character. I could not work
out what caused the French to jumpin guns blazing.
Does anyone know the relationship between DSK and the new president of
ivory coast. Are they going to start drilling for oil in the capped oil fields
that were discovered in the 70s?
- May 21, 2011 at 02:04
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why was he alone. No butler. No posse to deal with his mighty thoughts as
soon as he wakes. Remember aristos don’t get privacy they get security.
- May 20, 2011 at 19:06
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Lots to think about, but there are so many things we just don’t know about
this case. I wouldn’t necessarily agree with the assumption that he’d order a
prostitute rather than attack the maid. From my (very limited) understanding
of the subject, the attraction of rape is more to do with the excercise of
power over the woman, more than for the enjoyment of sex itself.
Likewise, I’ve no idea what her language skills are like, or whether she
had the opportunity to, or indeed did disclose her (alleged) medical
condition. It is concievable that she did, and that this altered the course of
the attack.
It’s highly doubful to my mind that this was a case of mistaken
identity.
One has to hope the courts will uncover the truth.
- May 20, 2011 at 18:03
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” …..If you thought you were about to be raped, wouldn’t this piece of
information be on the tip of your tongue? …”
Early reports indicated that it was a part of his anatomy that was on the
tip of her tongue.
- May 20, 2011 at 16:52
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A most excellent and thought provoking post!
- May 20, 2011 at 16:12
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I’ve been following this story on the excellent Zero Hedge and the general
feeling there seems to be while getting rid of him would be very handy for a
number of people a set up seems a bit far-fetched.
For example the maid had been working there 3 years making her being a
plant unlikely. Also it seems our former overlord alledgedly has a very long
track record of what could charitably be called “risky behaviour.” His defence
being consent rather than nothing happened suggests there is plenty of
evidence something did occur.
I’m usually to first one to cry conspiracy rather than cock up … but this
could simply be a case where, by some miracle, the justice system actually
worked.
- May 20, 2011 at 14:05
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Brilliant post! Much more fun than the LP shenanigans!
In some ways I hope it is Europe that goes bang. Including Britain, we all
need a kick up the proverbial.
- May 20, 2011 at 13:43
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What puzzles me is that, in my experience of hotels, cleaning staff won’t
enter your room until you’ve gone out. They come in, see that I’m still lying
in bed at 12 noon, close the door, and try again later. The same would apply
if I was having a shower: the bathroom light would be on, and maybe the door
locked, and showers are quite noisy things.
So what the hell was Diallo doing in there?
Mind you, most of the hotels I’ve stayed in have been (a lot) less than $3,000 a night. But even at that price, I can’t see that any
guest is ever going to tolerate staff with brooms and sheets walking in while
they’re still in their rooms. In fact, at that price it would be utterly
intolerable for such a thing to happen.
- May 20, 2011 at 13:19
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There is also the fact he suggested a ‘haircut’ for the unsecured US loans
in the Irish bailout.
- May 20, 2011 at 13:30
- May 20, 2011 at 13:05
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Excellent Anna. Worth the media booking in and checking what you can
arrange for room service!
- May 20,
2011 at 12:11
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“not least because Strauss-Kahn stepping down from the IMF has removed
the main man who was concerned to ensure that it was not the Euro which
collapsed.”
This is an absolutely striking point and one I’ve not seen anyone else
bring up. Thanks Anna.
Lots of people asserting a French establishment conspiracy (which I do find
plausible) are facing criticism from people who saying it isn’t a big enough
motivation or confluence of interests to justify such a set-up, though a Euro
versus Dollar scenario certainly is.
- May 20,
2011 at 12:07
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On the issue of the Euro catastrophe itself, I think this <a
href=”Dominic Strauss-Kahn”single picture summarises the problem better than
anything else I have seen….
- May
20, 2011 at 12:08
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Whoops:
Link
- May 20, 2011 at 11:59
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This scenario is not far from reality, especially as all the hookers (and
mistresses) who have given services to him state he is ultra-agressive and
many do not want anything more to do with him. Sounds like he could end up
killing or seriously injuring one of them in the future – so perhaps this is
now all for the good?
-
May 20, 2011 at 11:55
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I’m starting to think there may be a bit of racism here. They came to an
agreement and because she was a francophone from the colonies, DSK welched on
it, $300 rather than the $500 agreed and he probably said ‘I can make eet very
difficult pour toi’ and she cried rape when she checked out who he was. Could,
ofcourse, be quite wrong.
- May 20, 2011 at 11:36
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A lot of people want him out of the way. Sarkozy would not want him as
opposition at the next election. The US don’t like him, as he supports the
Euro, not the dollar. Brown wants him out of the way so he could
(theoretically ) grab his job. Is it possible that one or more organisations
who do not like him, could have played on his apparent weaknesses, and set him
up. It’s been done before, so why not this time.
The world, after all is blessed with a multitude of good honest
politicians, and public servants, who would always put the benefit of the
public above their own personal interests. It is such a pity that they never
seam to get to positions of power nowadays.
- May 20, 2011 at 11:57
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As much as I detest Broon I just don’t see him going that far. He only
has to shake hands with someone and the poor bugger is dooooooooooomed!!
It’s the curse of Jonah Brooooon!!
- May 20, 2011 at 13:47
- May 20, 2011 at 11:34
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Now there’s a new slant on the story.
BUT, would it be best to settle for a Rape Charge, or to admit that he had
high class hookers in maid’s uniforms at his beck and call on his
expenses?
Tough one.
- May 20,
2011 at 11:55
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Given the way the EU handles its finances, I have to say (on balance)
he’s far more likely to get away with the latter!
- May 20, 2011 at 11:30
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whether it is conceivable that Strauss-Kahn would have expected that the
young woman who let herself into his bedroom would turn out to be a lowly
maid
Well, even when I’ve stayed at the Premier Inn, I’ve found that the chances
of it being hotel staff come to do the sheets when they use a key and let
themselves in, is pretty high tending to certainty.
But no…if I was facing a rapist, I don’t know if I’d have the nouse to
start wittering about my HIV, as if issuing a health warning was going to be
some kind of deterrent.
- May 20, 2011 at 11:39
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OTOH, I do find it plausible that he had ordered a prostitute and simply
assumed she had turned up and was up for some role-play, and then found it
inconceivable that he was mistaken because the world exists to serve people
like him, how dare it refuse.
- May 20, 2011 at 11:22
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Strange he was denied bail until he resigned.
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