The Soap Opera Continues

I left a version of the following remarks in the comment section of Miss Diallo Speaks. I then decided to post it as a separate article.

A reader recommended this excellent video. To all those who understand French, I too recommend it. It's an hour long, but worth the effort. The moderator and four well-informed guests discuss the quagmire Cyrus Vance has gotten himself into, the reasons for the latest postponement of the trial (August 23), the political stakes for the District Attorney who will lose the next election in 2012 if he forces the taxpayers of New York to pay millions in damages to Nafi Diallo, as the result of a civil suit. They are surprised at Vance's poor handling of the phone call in African dialect which was mistranslated the first time. They also wonder what he could have said to Diallo during an 8-hour interview today, and they wonder as well why he didn't interview her at length in the beginning.

They explained clearly, for their French audience, the differences between the French and American legal systems with regard to criminal and civil cases. In America, as we know they are separate, and the civil suits are often nothing more than an attempt to get rich quick. So if Vance drops his charges, she will be in civil court instantly and stands to gain several million dollars. They brought up the O.J. Simpson case as an example.

One guest, an American lawyer who speaks excellent French, in answer to a question about ethnic groups sticking together, said that so far, contrary to expectations, the Jews of New York do not support DSK, but sympathize instead with Diallo. (Implicitly, this also means they would support the African and Afro-American organizations that support her as well. I would guess that some American Jews are a bit embarrassed by DSK and want to disassociate themselves from him. But they merely go from the frying pan into the fire when they do this. The only position that is tenable is the desire for the truth. I fear we will never get there.)

They discuss Tristane Banon, and the convergence of the two cases. We finally learn that Tristane did not go to a hospital following the alleged attack by DSK in 2002 (or 2003, not sure). Hence, when her lawyer says he has proof, it seems certain that he has NO physical evidence of injuries.

We see (at about 45 minutes into the video) the gathering of the United African Congress and the tearful speech Diallo gave. But I noticed that her speech was much less buoyant, much more difficult to understand than it had been in her interview with Robin Roberts. Probably because it was less well rehearsed (another point the guests make).

All of the guests contributed valuable information, including the female guest, who though a feminist, said that feminist groups had abandoned her completely in her support of Tristane Banon. She even said one such group had threatened her life! The flaw in her comments revolves around her friendship with Anne Sinclair, whom she praises for standing by her husband. So here is another woman who has connections to both Tristane and DSK. She defends both women in the case, even though one of them - Anne Sinclair - could (I said COULD) be guilty of complicity in her husband's misdemeanors (I won't say crime).

There is much in this video of value and I only wish I had time to translate it.

All in all, fascinating.

Note: An article that I will try to translate later claims that ALL photos of DSK relevant to the event in New York have been removed from the Internet. The article says that if you do a Google search for these photos, you will come up empty-handed. I have not had time to verify this. If it is true, I would imagine his lawyers are behind it.