Memorial Day

The vacation period begins today with the annual Memorial Day observances. I will be resting after two exhausting weeks. Enjoy the day and remember the men whose journey on earth was brutally cut short. This year too is the tenth anniversary of September 11. At least we got Bin Laden, though we didn't seem to know what to do with the body or the photographs. But we do not have the most patriotic or knowledgeable men in power right now.

The vintage postcard above, which I've used before, is still one of my favorites.

I don't know if our armed forces today know the song Home on the Range, but at one time many a homesick soldier felt comforted listening to it. It's an old cowboy song, and can be ruined with excessive sentimentality, but here American baritone John Charles Thomas does it justice. Thomas, who sang opera and operetta, was very popular in the first half of the 20th century. Bing Crosby also has a fine recording.

For and Against Lagarde

Nicolas Sarkozy's current finance minister Christine Lagarde is likely (though not certain) to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn as head of the IMF. This article in The Telegraph tells why it is a poor choice. However, the author never mentions her role in bringing Islamic finance to France.

The view from France is quite different. Martine Aubry, the chairman of the French Socialist Party, and the mayor of Lille, has endorsed the candidacy of Lagarde to head the IMF. In a stinging article at Riposte Laïque Christine Tasin, who organized last year's demonstrations against Islamization, denounces Aubry and the coalition between big money and the Left. She begins by lashing out at those who took DSK for a Socialist, when he was in fact working for the United States, attempting to impose an ultra-liberal economic system, fueled only by economic interests, on the world, forcing countries (and the U.S. in particular) into debt, and leaving the people behind.

I cannot take time to comment on her thesis, but it is predicated on the assumption that old-time Socialists were "for" the people, and new-time Socialists are just a bunch of Americans/Internationalists out for money (or something close to that), hence not true Socialists. She is certainly idealizing the old-timers and assimilating the American system with everything evil in the world.

But her denunciation of Aubry is worth a look, and she reminds us of the unholy unofficial coalition between Sarkozy's UMP party and the PS, called the UMPS by bloggers and commentators:

(…) for several years, we have been denouncing the false bipartisanism that would like us to believe that we can choose and change. It is so fallacious that we are now used to speaking of the UMPS… The differences between the two parties have been blurred to such an extent that the French, in disgust, no longer vote.

The two enemy brothers could not care less, delighted that only their disciples go to the polls to confirm them in their lofty seats of power (…)

She lists the various collaborative efforts of the two parties, resulting in the Maastricht Treaty, the Treaty of Lisbon, privatization of energy, among others. She forgot open borders and Islam, but she has discussed these collaborations elsewhere.

(…) We've come full circle. This time it's Aubry who is supporting the candidacy of Lagarde to head the IMF! World capitalism suits perfectly the UMP and the PS, and clever is the one who can tell them apart! Moreover, is it not strange that those who can't find enough harsh words to lambast Sarkozy's bling-bling style, his evenings at Fouquet's and his yacht cruises, have never found anything to criticize about Strauss-Kahn's immense fortune, and who were ready, with one voice, to prove to us that, just as 2+2=4, this Socialist was authentic and competent. (…)

We won't be fooled this time: Aubry's support for Lagarde is the icing on the cake and her pathetic explanations will deceive no one. First, supporting a candidate merely because she is a "woman, European and respectable" is all the more senseless considering that Martine Aubry, if she were a real Socialist and if there were real differences between the two parties, would have shouted on the rooftops and proposed other candidates (man or woman, it doesn't matter, European or not) who might have been qualified to put order into chaos at the IMF that has not ceased bleeding the people. (…)

Next, no one can be surprised that the woman who dared agree to special swimming pool hours for the women of Lille, the woman who refused to allow an atheist who was born a Muslim to be cremated as he had requested and instead gave in to the demands of the grand mufti of the Lille mosque who claims that you cannot renounce the Muslim religion, this woman now proposes a guard of honor for the one who brought shame on France by imposing Islamic finance, at the opposite extreme of our egalitarian values.

We've come full circle. (…)

The cartoon below reads:


"Segregation by sex in the swimming pools in Lille, that's ME!"

"Islamic finance in France, that's ME!"

"Is the status of women regressing because of Islam?"

"We don't give a damn, we are POLITICIANS!"

Note that "politicians" here is masculine. The feminist Riposte Laïque has at least acknowledged that women in politics do not always do right by women.

Not Prosecuting

Tristane Banon, the French girl who claimed she was sexually molested by Dominique Strauss-Kahn in 2002, is not yet going to court. It seems she has no interest in helping the American prosecutors. But there may be other, more valid, reasons for her change of heart. This report from La Provence has been condensed:

Tristane Banon, a French girl who claims to have been the victim of a sexual assault by Dominique Strauss-Kahn in 2002, does not wish be a witness in the American investigation, her lawyer said on Friday (May 20).

The American police expected to add this story, as well as information on the 2008 affair of DSK with an IMF employee, to the report of a presumed rape of a maid in New York, a legal source said in New York.

David Koubbi, Tristane Banon's lawyer told Reuters that his client refused to testify before American investigators.

"The presumption of innocence does not exist in the United States. My client does not wish to participate in this matter," he said. (…)

Note: An incredibly reckless remark to come from the mouth of a lawyer. Could this be misinformation?

After DSK's arrest last Saturday (May 14) in New York, Tristane Banon announced through Koubbi that she intended to file a complaint in France, but has not yet done so. Her lawyer (…) explained that his client refuses to turn this into an additional weapon for the American prosecution against Dominique Strauss-Kahn in a case of which she knows nothing.

A writer and journalist, she said she was the victim of an assault by the head of the IMF when she met him for an interview. It was her mother, Anne Mansouret, a Socialist councillor from the department of Eure, who related that her daughter, then 22, had told her of the event, but that she had dissuaded her from reporting it. (…)

Note: Later, Mansouret admitted she was sorry to have dissuaded Tristane from prosecuting, and spoke of the pressures she had been under.

The journal Nouvel Obs has devoted a page to the legal factors that would make testimony on her part unwise. Obviously, if you are going to file a lawsuit, you must have a reasonable chance of winning your case. There does not seem to be sufficient grounds for attorney David Koubbi to try his luck in a courtroom. Only three charges could be brought: sexual assault, rape, and attempted rape. A charge of sexual assault must be filed within three years of the event. As for rape, nothing she said in her narration of her encounter with DSK indicates a rape occurred. According to French law, for a man to be charged with attempted rape, he must have exposed himself and approached the victim. But Tristane Banon did not speak of DSK's nudity. In the end it would be her word against his.

The article then raises the question of what would happen if, after all, she did bring a lawsuit against him. Would the United States extradite DSK to France on demand? The answer seems to be that such a move would put off his trial here and given the publicity surrounding the case, this does not seem likely.

There is a summary in English of what she said in her account of the assault at The Telegraph.

Tristane Banon told her story on French television in 2007 to host Thierry Ardisson, but the name of her attacker was bleeped out at the request of the television station. In an informative article posted at E&R Aquitaine, she is quoted as saying that she did not feel she would be believed if she went through with a lawsuit:

" (…) So I said to myself that I would just live with it. And what would I have gotten out of it? Money? I don't want his dough. And if it was to sell books about this kind of reputation, frankly, I prefer to sell fewer or none… And then, there was simply the fact that I live alone in Paris. He's with some guy who isn't necessarily a gentleman, he doesn't necessarily have very refined methods… I don't think he would have had me killed, but to mess me up, that would have been possible…"

Tristane Banon had set up the interview with DSK within the context of a book she was writing called Erreurs avouées (Errors confessed) about the worst errors committed by ten male personalities. The publisher, Anne Carrière, removed from the book the pages concerning DSK, even though many journalists had already seen them. When she began to plug her book on television, host Marc-Olivier Fogiel, received a call from Dominique Strauss-Kahn asking him to cancel her visit:

" (…) because he was afraid that I would talk about it since it was a live show. Now it's one person's word against another. That's what Marc-Olivier Fogiel said to me and I don't know why he would lie, but Fogiel said, when he invited me (I still have the invitation), he said 'Listen Tristane, they're threatening to cut me off if I let you on.'"

Acquittal in New York

Both Americans and French are talking about the acquittal of two New York policemen accused of raping a woman who was very drunk. They feel this may give hope to DSK's defense. The two situations are very different, and although I have the feeling the cops may be guilty of something, there was no way of proving it. A jury has to base its decisions on evidence, especially DNA in the case of rape.

French readers can turn to Le Figaro.

I know everyone saw the pictures of DSK's posh digs in Tribeca. But if you missed it, turn here. I'm supposed to be impressed, but it looks like an ocean liner, not a home. I suddenly prefer my old house with its tiny closets and cat hair flying about. I would however exchange my slowly decaying bathroom for his (below).

And EVERYBODY is wondering if it includes maid service! Or will Anne Sinclair do the dishes and the laundry?

Aid for the Brotherhood

A short item from Yves Daoudal:

At the G8 in Deauville, Nicolas Sarkozy promised 40 billion dollars in aid to "revolutionary" Tunisia and Egypt.

And "on the part of France, there will be one billion euros for Egypt and Tunisia"

The Muslim Brotherhood must be very happy.

A longer English version is at VOA.

Photos of Namibia

I'm working on several articles on DSK simultaneously, and am sorely in need of a change of pace. Did you see the above image posted at NPR? What appears to be a painting is actually a photograph by Frans Lanting of camelthorn trees in Namibia. But NPR makes our understanding of it a bit confusing. If you scroll down, you will see another photo of quiver trees and just above you see this active link: "Here's what the scene looks like from a wider vantage point." It's easy to assume that the two photos are supposed to be of the same scene, but your eyes will tell you that is impossible. However, if you click the active link you will be led to the photo below:


Still, if you compare these two photos, you may, as one NPR reader did, question whether they are of the same scene, since none of the trees match. Another reader came up with this photo that may be closer to the original scene at the top (I'm still not sure):


The readers point out that NPR has done a poor job of clarifying the situation.

There are more stunning shots by other photographers at National Geographic. The photos vary in beauty and strangeness according to the time of day.

Google Breakdown

Update: The problem seems to be solved for now.

A breakdown of the login function at both Google and Blogger prevent me from posting comments received at my G Mail account. The Firefox browser may be the problem, but hundreds of people are having trouble with IE and Firefox. Right now I'm using Safari. Some are saying that Chrome is working. This is really a test to see if I can post.

Sorry. But there isn't a thing I can do about the comments right now. Google always manages to correct its problems - eventually.

Lifting Skirts No More

You all remember my article on the journalist who said that all DSK did was to "lift her skirt"? Well, he now has to lift himself up and retire from journalism. This short article appears in Le Point:

In an internal e-mail to the weekly news magazine Marianne, CEO Maurice Szafran, announced to the editorial staff that Jean-François Kahn, 73, will publish his last entry this week and will bring to a close "all journalistic activity". Maurice Szafran added: "I'm counting on you not to leak this information before the paper comes out." On that point he didn't quite succeed. A meeting is to be held on Friday during which the retirement of J.-F. Kahn will be at the center of the conversation.

According to the first leaks, Kahn's remarks about "a lifting of skirts" ("un troussage de domestique") did him in. His words, at the very least unfortunate, concerning a young chamber maid, the alleged victim in the DSK affair, caused an uproar at every meeting of the staff of Marianne.

Note: Jean-François Kahn and Maurice Szafran were co-founders of Marianne in 1997.

An Embarrassment of Rumors

There is a report at François Desouche that the woman in the case is going to change lawyers. Instead of a criminal lawyer, she is seeking an attorney who deals with minority rights, and hopes to present herself as an oppressed black woman from a background of dire poverty abused by a powerful rich man.

Another report at François Desouche says that DSK's defense will insist that it was consensual and that the woman asked for money.

In an article that has been widely quoted on the Internet, especially at African websites, liberal British journalist Greg Palast stresses the cruel nature of Strauss-Kahn's dealings with Africa, and claims not to be surprised that he raped an African woman since he had already treated her native land ignominiously. If you read the Wikipedia article on Palast you may be inclined to doubt his thesis. But what he says about the IMF's attempt to bail out Greece seems to have some merit.

There's a report in the New York Post about an attempt by the friends of DSK to pay off the woman's family in Guinea so that charges may be dropped.

The endless stream of articles makes getting at the truth an impossible task. Lawrence Auster describes his frustration here.

A Campaign That Backfired

While many people are amazed at how low Dominique Strauss-Kahn has fallen, it is equally fitting for us to wonder how he had risen so high. Was he so different from any other banker or economist or Socialist mayor? Did he alone hold the key to solving the world's economic crisis? In America, Donald Trump had enough sense to withdraw as a presidential candidate, even though he may have had some justification for aspiring to the post. DSK, as far as we can see, had no such humility. It took an unexpected calamity to force him off the list of potential candidates. Nonetheless, he may have had a premonition that he would be undone, as this article by Andrea Massari from Polémia explains. And we learn also why and by what hidden processes he was elevated to the heights of power and influence:

In an interview with Libération, at the end of April, DSK admitted he had three possible weak points: "Money, women, and my Jewishness."

In truth, the man who had declared "I get up each morning wondering what I can do for Israel" was apt to have some trouble mobilizing the votes of the Arab-Muslim ghettos who had voted massively for Ségolène Royal in 2007.

But even before the election, he would have had to win the Socialist primary!

How could a man who was the incarnation of world finance win the votes of Socialist Party members, many of whom are still government employees? How could a man who had imposed on Greece a rigorous plan and who had praised the Tunisian example of Ben Ali gather enough votes from the party members?

Note: The Socialist primary will be held on October 9 and 16, 2011.

Likewise, it is surprising that the Socialist Party, a feminine and feminist party, could envisage giving itself to a man impelled to harass women, in a manner closer to that of a predator than a seducer.

In such conditions, how on earth could DSK appear to be presidential?

DSK took the lead in the polls thanks to his image as the economic savior of the planet.

Here we have to distinguish reality from the image conveyed by the media.

In reality, the IMF and its leader functioned as a sort of permanent secretariat of the G20. But other than tedious communiqués, the G20, G8 or G5 made very few concrete decisions; and above all, in no way did they correct the dubious practices of world finance. Quite the contrary, they catered to the interests of big banking did nothing against systemic fraud.

Only the magic of communication made DSK the deus ex machina of a hypothetical rescue from the economic crisis. And it was only the French who believed it. In New York, as we saw, DSK does not have the celebrity status the French imputed to him…

The communications agency Euro-RSCG (part of the Bolloré Group) was maneuvering behind the scenes. This agency had acquired from the IMF the communication rights for Europe and Africa. In practice it helped to impose the image of a "super DSK"on the French. Stéphane Fouks, the head of Euro-RSCG, had, as early as 1990, the reputation for being "a businessman capable of selling a color television to a blind man." And Euro-RSCG is a powerful agency. It assures the communications of 14 companies of the CAC-40. Not to mention the Lazard Bank, Orange and MacDonald's France.

Euro-RSCG's job is to pass on to the bosses of the press and the media the political "messages" of the biggest advertisers. Many of them deemed the head of the IMF to be the best candidate for the French presidential elections from the point of view of finance and multinational corporations. Here we find ourselves in the midst of an incongruous mixture of press, advertising, business and politics.

Besides Stéphane Fouks, the head of Euro-RSCG, three people seem to have been working almost full time (and at very big salaries and "false fees") for DSK: Ramzi Khiroun (the man with the Panamera Porsche), Gilles Finchestein (one of DSK's ghost writers) and Anne Hommel (a press attaché). They are the ones who are suspected today of having spread the theory of a "plot", in order to try to protect DSK.

Note: Ramzi Kiroun, a Tunisian born in Sarcelles where DSK had been mayor, and personal adviser to him, was the owner of the Porsche that created such a stir in the press when Strauss-Kahn was seen riding in it. French readers may be interested in this article from Le Parisien that discusses the care with which Kiroun watched over every detail of DSK's campaign.

The morality, if not the legality, of all these practices is more than dubious.

In France, the rules of political finance exclude the financing of a political campaign by private enterprises as well as by foreign States and international organizations.

Likewise an enterprise does not have the right to serve for no reason the ambitions of a man through abuse of social goods (note: what we call "corruption"). Did the national promotion of DSK enter into the international deals between the IMF and Euro-RSCG? If so, what were the conditions?

In the end, who will pay the primary campaign bills of DSK? The IMF, the Socialist Party or Anne Sinclair?

Whatever the case may be, we see here the perfidy of French-style "spin doctors": the manipulators of opinion, the little communications geniuses, who were trying to impose first on the Left, then on the French people, a man manifestly not qualified for the high function to which the world superclass aspired for him!

Note: This article is based on the assumption that DSK is not really a Socialist at all, but a financial mogul on a global scale who the Left was fooled into thinking was one of them. The article does not take into the consideration his early ties to the Communists, his long term as a Socialist politician in Sarcelles, as a Socialist deputy in the National Assembly during the presidency of François Mitterrand, and as minister of finance in the government of Lionel Jospin. The article does not go into the nebulous merger that we have seen in recent years of the Left with big business, and with multinational companies and philanthropic organizations.

Nor does the article question the validity of the IMF itself. In a recent communiqué, Marine Le Pen declared that the IMF has become useless and should be abolished.

I don't doubt the truth of the article (at least I have no reason to now), but I do question the implication that the Left did not "know". Certainly the people may not have known they were being sold a bill of goods, but the politicians of the Left knew, not only of his dangerous life-style, but of his great wealth. They were, after all, going to benefit from the Euro-RSCG publicity effort with a triumphant return to Elysée.

A discussion of the connections between big money, globalism, and the Socialists of the world is too complex to go into here. However, the flood of articles about him goes on unabated, just when I was hoping for a respite.

One final note: the letters RSCG stand for the first initial of the last names of the four founders of the agency: Roux, Séguéla, Cayzac nd Goudard.

The images are from Novopress.

Mayor of Sarcelles

I've been hunting (not very successfully) for information about Dominique Strauss-Kahn as mayor of Sarcelles. He was mayor of that small town from 1997 to 1999, then deputy-mayor until 2007. We have heard so much about his sexual appetites, his power, his wealth, I've been wondering how he performed as mayor. There is an article at Le Post, from February 2011, that describes him as very competent, and as having raised the standard of living among the large immigrant population of Sarcelles. (I am surprised that an immigrant population put him in office.)

Decrease in the public debt, increase in the capacity for self-sufficiency, hence of the town's autonomy, increased investments (more schools, more athletic and cultural facilities…), are indications of the quality of the mayor, especially if you consider that towns with similar demographics evolved less slowly.

The article ends with this summary:

But the example of Sarcelles, besides the leadership ability, the intelligence of strategic choices, and the experience of local life that we find in the performance of the IMF leader, also has the merit of teaching us a little bit more about the DSK of yesterday in order to better understand the DSK of today: a man who has spent almost 20 years of his life running one of the poorest cities of France, welcoming in underprivileged populations, creating jobs for young people, and prioritizing economic development and job creation with his "free urban zones" (ZFU), cannot, in all sincerity, be called peremptorily a friend of the rich or of management… unless you do not believe that a man is the product of his past.

At the very end, the laudatory article provides the sources for its data. According to one source, the 2006 population of Sarcelles was 56,653 inhabitants, of which 46,125, or 79%, were in 3 ZUS's. These are "sensitive urban zones", a euphemism for violence-prone ghetto. I assume this means that the vast majority of residents of Sarcelles are immigrants or children of immigrants.

However, a blog called La Gauche m'a tué (The Left Killed Me) paints a different picture. The blog is devoted to exposing the ways in which the French Left has betrayed the youth of France:

(…) In 1999, before becoming the Bernie Madoff of French politics, DSK was minister of finance and mayor-adjunct of Sarcelles (…) in the department of Val d'Oise. At the time, his hobby was to replace every vacant post in city hall with an "emploi-jeune" (a temporary position for a young person). Sure. Why hire a someone with a definitive work contract at a decent salary when you could make use of the "emploi-jeune", that gives the same person half the salary with no specific duration of employment. It's so much easier and less tiring.

This measure - the biggest large-scale fraud ever invented by the Left, allowed the city of Sarcelles to take on 390 "emplois-jeunes" (a record not yet surpassed) for jobs that no city employee wanted. These jobs ranged from social or cultural mediator to cemetery guard or crime prevention. Of course, when the measure came to an end after Lionel Jospin's defeat, DSK and his subordinate François Pupponi, laid off the 390 workers and sent them to the National Employment Agency, since there were no more positions in Sarcelles.

It turns out that many of the residents of Sarcelles are Tunisians and Moroccans. It also turns out that Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his wife are the owners of a luxurious estate in Morocco. The following is from 24 Heures, dated February 17, one month before the Fall:

With friends like Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, Dominique Strauss-Kahn doesn't need enemies. Criticized for his "bling-bling" life-style, the head of the IMF was defended by the loyal but limited Cambadélis who said that DSK is not the "caviar Left" but the "couscous Left" (…)

The "couscous Left"… Jean-Christophe Cambadélis thought he was being humorous when he opposed criticisms of (…) the "candidate of the ultra-caviar Left", who is not in step with the realities of the French heartland, with another image - that of a Dominique Strauss-Kahn the elected official of Sarcelles, where there is a large North African community.

(..) but the voters will certainly read something different in Cambdélis' remarks.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his wife Anne Sinclair possess an ultra-luxurious riad in Marrakech… and the couscous they eat during their thousand-and-one-nights receptions have every chance of being absolutely "royal".

Note: Riad is the name of a luxury hotel in Morocco, but it also applies to a large property closed off to the outside world, with an interior courtyard. According to Wikipedia he also owns a home in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. and two apartments in Paris:

These are not the only outward signs of wealth that the head of the IMF, who is also a lover of fine watches and beautiful women, enjoys revealing; he is also the owner of a superb apartment on the very posh Place des Vosges in Paris. The private art collection of the Strauss-Kahn couple is also one of the most beautiful (and valuable) in Paris.

If the relationship between DSK and Ben Ali came to light when the Tunisian dictator fell from power, what about the Moroccan establishment, where the level of corruption and depredation of national wealth has nothing to envy of its Tunisian neighbors?

Dominique Strauss-Kahn is perhaps mayor of Sarcelles, but he spends his vacations amidst the extravagant luxuries of the Maghreb… while outside an oppressed and deprived people cry famine!

Below, a photo from January 2011 of DSK and Ben Ali, then leader of Tunisia. Both men have fallen hard. Ben Ali has been replaced by Rachid Ghannouchi, a more dangerous Islamist tied to the Muslim Brotherhood. DSK may be replaced by Christine Lagarde, the French minister of finance who was responsible for opening the doors to Islamic finance in France.


His grandiose life-style became apparent a few days before the scandal broke. DSK was seen getting into a Porsche belonging to a friend. Imagine that! A man so close to the people in a Porsche. Here is what his close collaborator Jean-Christophe Cambadélis said in an interview with JDD:

JDD - Does this send an image of Dominique Strauss-Kahn as the candidate of the rich?

J.-C. Cambadélis - Dominique Strauss-Kahn is an international functionary. He and his wife have a "laïc" relationship with money, unlike Nicolas Sarkozy who dreams about it at night. They deal with all levels of society, they are as comfortable with policy-makers as with the working class of Sarcelles. We need statesmen who speak to everybody.

Note: A "laïc" relationship with money would mean that money is not a religion for DSK. He regards money impartially. It is the first time I've seen "laïc" used this way. Considering what we now know about Strauss-Kahn, we are not likely to see it used this way again.

An article in Le Parisien, dated May 20, announces the creation, in Sarcelles, of a committee supporting Dominque Strauss-Kahn:

(…) The objective: to bring together all those who wish to support Dominique Strauss-Kahn. If for the time being, the site of the meeting remains confidential, the committee intends to extend its influence beyond the Socialist Party and beyond the city. "This is in response to many requests by people who want to support him," explains Jacques Langlade, former chief of staff of DSK in Sarcelles, who has been at his side since 1986. "Ever since last week, emotions have been running high". In Sarcelles, the arrest of the former mayor has had a devastating effect. (…)

I don't know how far beyond the Socialist Party they can go, since from all that I hear, outrage at his arrest is by and large limited to parties of the Left. And even they are reticent on his future.

More revelations keep coming out of both French and English media sources. You may have read about the connection between Eliot Spitzer, former governor of New York and DSK. Here's the report in The Telegraph.

The endless flood of articles continues to stress the fact that the media were engaged in an omertà, that as bad as he his, those who rush to his defense are beneath contempt, and that he has been guilty on many occasions in the past, not merely of seduction, but of criminal acts that were hushed up. Also, as you may have heard, DNA evidence has been found on the woman, confirming that there was a sexual act, but not necessarily violence. One final note, Anne Sinclair has suspended her blog.

Below, the very unusual city hall of Sarcelles.

Tolerance and Infidelity

Here's an article by Pamela Druckerman from a series of eleven articles in the New York Times, dated May 18. The general topic "Are French Women More Tolerant" is in keeping with many of the comments I have received regarding the sexual behavior of the French as compared to Americans. A reminder that though the topic is entertaining, DSK is not being held for infidelity, but for a criminal offense, as yet unproven. Another reminder that we are far from immune to this sort of thing: we let O.J. Simpson off on a murder charge, and we allowed Ted Kennedy to spend his life in the Senate, even though he was not only faithless to his wife, but guilty of murder, if not in the first degree, in some degree. A debate in which French mores are pitted against American mores is forever interesting, but doesn't resolve any issues. Infidelity is wrong. Infidelity is common but not universal. Infidelity is not confined to one country or culture. Infidelity must not be taken for granted as American-born Anne Sinclair seems to be doing. Besides wondering about DSK, it might be worthwhile to wonder about his wife's masochistic tolerance. If you click the link above, you will have access to the ten other articles:

When I tell ordinary French women about their reputation for turning a blind eye to their husbands’ adultery, they think I’m nuts. “Would you want your husband to cheat on you?” one stunned wife asked me.

French politicians are supposed to be sexier; no one -- not even their wives -- expects them to keep all that charisma bottled up.

In fact, French people think fidelity is terrific. According to polls, it’s the top quality women seek in a spouse, and No. 2 for men (first is “tenderness”). The French don’t even “date,” which could mean juggling several suitors at once. Monogamy is presumed from the first kiss. In sex surveys, French and American adults report nearly identical high rates of monogamy.

Politicians are another story. We Americans want ours to be recognizable versions of ourselves; someone we could imagine having dinner with. The French prefer to elect people who would never invite them to dinner. Even the expression for politician, "homme politique," suggests that they’re a separate species. French politicians are supposed to be more clever, more learned and more cultured than ordinary humans.

They’re also supposed to be sexier. Popular politicians are routinely described in the French press as “seductive.” No one -- not even the politicians’ own wives -- expects their political leaders to keep all that charisma bottled up. In America, the cuckolded political spouse is supposed to react the way the rest of us do: with anger and humiliation. In France, she can survive with her pride and her marriage intact.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has allegedly gone way beyond mere infidelity. He’s charged with attempted rape. His wife, Anne Sinclair, says she doesn’t believe the accusations. She has long defended Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s private behavior.

In 2006, when asked if she was pained by her husband’s reputation for being a "séducteur," Ms. Sinclair said: “No, I’m rather proud of it! For a politician, seducing is important.”

This elite view does trickle down a bit. Even ordinary French people admit that while fidelity is a great idea, real life sometimes gets complicated. When this happens, they might not let their husbands off the hook. But they have an easier time forgiving than we do.

H/T: Lawrence Auster, where he links to other articles about Madame Stauss-Kahn.

From Sofitel to...?

The New York Post describes DSK's day in court and his aborted attempt to move to posh new surroundings. There are many comments to this article in French and in English. Many readers are cynical because of the huge fine he had no trouble in paying and the implication that he will be living in luxury as soon as Anne Sinclair can find a place willing to take him in!

In the photo he looks desperate, but it may just be the photo.

A Statue for Steven Lane?

Some of you may find this post objectionable because of the language and a faint odor of antisemitism. I found it very funny, and sincerely hope that antisemitism does not become an issue in this affair, although it is not possible to avoid certain facts. The man at the center of it all is Jewish, but more than that, his most ardent supporters, the ones who immediately came to his rescue - Bernard-Henri Lévy, Jean-François Kahn, Jack Lang, Robert Badinter - are also Jewish. They are the faces seen nightly on French television. Theirs is the liberal policy of open borders, sexual liberty, globalism, anti-nationalism, multiculturalism, etc… All the evils we perceive as destroying the French nation, they perceive as good things BECAUSE they are destroying the French nation. In the longstanding tradition of François Mitterrand, the nation is the greatest evil; progress (i.e., Socialism) the greatest good. Dominique Strauss-Kahn was a good Socialist.

The post by Paul Dautrans is from Scriptoblog

Hurraaaaah! LOVELY!

Oh hell! They're going to crucify him. They're going to put him in a penitentiary full of blacks (necessarily). With a sign around his neck: "I'm Jewish, I'm rich, and I raped a black girl from behind".

Hurraaaaah!

I promise not to say anything bad about the American leagues of virtue. For a whole week. It'll be tough, but I'll manage. What I wrote above is the last until next Monday. I swear.

Not one Americano-skeptic remark from the pen of Uncle Paul. Promise. God bless America.

You've got to admit, that this time it isn't a peasant girl from Lorraine who will have saved France, but an improbable New York cop.

In the event, it was Steven Lane, badge 03295, as the indictment below attests.

I demand a statue for Steven Lane. "To Steven Lane, from France eternally grateful."

Twenty meters high, on the promontory of the Pointe du Raz , his eyes riveted on the Yankee coast all the way over there, on the other side of the pond.

Thank you Mr. Lane. God Bless You!

Hurraaaaah! LOVELY!

While I have been receiving lots of e-mails and comments about how disgraced France is in the eyes of the world, the above article is emblematic of so many others I have read. Not all Frenchmen are feeling disgraced. Why should they? They didn't do what DSK did. Au contraire, they are almost elated this happened to such a prominent Socialist who would have been catastrophic for France had he become president. If they are gloating because he is Jewish, this is partly because there are too many prominent Jewish Socialists blabbing daily on French television about how racist the French are, how backwardly puritanical the United States is, and how great the virtues of Socialism are compared to the evils of Capitalism. The beauty of DSK is that he is a perfect example of the money-obsessed Socialist, who doles out crumbs to the workers of France, making them work harder and harder for less and less, making their daily lives miserable through lax policies on crime and immigration, sapping them of their will to take private initiatives, and at the same time slowly destroying their ancient traditions, religion and values.

Also, to some female readers who are afraid that DSK is typical of Frenchmen, I can only remind you that DSK is typical of a spoiled rich man used to having his way. If he cannot control himself, somebody should have stopped him. The same was true of Bernie Madoff - they knew what he was doing, they should of stopped him. Ditto John F. Kennedy. But people are afraid of getting involved, afraid of losing their jobs, or worse.

I think the disgrace for France is not so much what DSK did, but that the backwardly puritanical "Ricains" caught him and hold him. If only he had done this at Sofitel Bangkok!

Now, MY biggest fear is that we will mess up as we did in the O.J. Simpson trial and let him off easy because he is a privileged member of what the French are calling the "Caste".

"He Only Lifted Her Skirt"

Monday morning, Socialist Jack Lang (left), former minister under François Mitterrand, made the following comment about DSK's arrest:

"Not to free a man, when no one has been killed, not to free someone who has paid a large fine, is something that is practically never done."

Another Socialist, Jean-François Kahn, founder of the left-wing publication Marianne, made light of the whole incident:

Here is a rough idea of what he said:

J.-F. Kahn: I am certain, anyway practically certain, that there was no violent attempt to commit rape, I do not believe that. I know this man, and I don't think so. That there was an imprudent action we can't… (hearty laughter), I don't know how to say it, he lifted her skirt ...

A.-G. Slama: He called it an error of judgment (cackles).

J.-F. Kahn: He lifted the skirt of a servant, that's what I mean, it's not right, but, there, it's my impression.

Below, the video:



Again I turn to Yann Baly, for his reaction to these two examples of left-wing nonchalance when confronted with the sexual misdeeds of one of their own. First, he reacts to Jack Lang:

This tendency to put sexual deviations in general, and rape in particular, into a favorable perspective is not at all surprising for someone who, in 1977 when he was dean at the University of Nancy II where he also taught Dominique Strauss-Kahn, signed a petition supporting three persons being judged for acts of pedophilia. Le Monde, on January 26, 1977, published the petition:

"We consider that there is a manifest disproportion between the label of 'crime' that justifies such severity, and the nature of the facts cited; furthermore, between the obsolete character of the law and the daily reality of a society that tends to recognize in children and adolescents the existence of a sex life (if a 13-year-old girl has the right to take the pill, what is it for?), three years in jail for caresses and kisses, that is enough!"

No doubt the deputy from Pas-de-Calais perceives that the American laws on sex crimes are also "obsolete."

There is, in any case, consistency in Jack Lang, that everyone must realize, ever since his years in Nancy. No one can say "I didn't know..."

The other reaction, just as disgusting, comes from Jean-François Kahn, editor of Marianne, who affirmed on television that the act committed by DSK was "lifting the skirts of a servant!" ("troussage de domestique")

The ties that bind Mr. Kahn to Mr. Strauss-Kahn, the former's wife having been a witness at the marriage of the latter to Anne Sinclair, are not enough to explain this crazed and scandalous defense. There is a caste mentality, of people cut off from reality, united by money, luxury and power, that cannot tolerate that one of their own is in trouble.

Equally scandalous is the absence of any reaction from other politicians and journalists to these ignominious remarks.

How different was the witch hunt organized against Bernard Debré, deputy from Paris, who had the courage to say what he thought and what the entire world of politics and media knew about DSK!

Note: the French text does not say "witch hunt" but "curée", which translates as "quarry", i.e., food for bloodhounds.

The caste of rich bobos cannot stand its totalitarian consensualism to be questioned. Honor to Professor Debré!

Note: I was curious about the word "consensualism". We don't use it often in English. It appears to be a synonym of "consensus". Here is the online definition:

Consensus decision-making is a group decision making process that seeks not only the agreement of most participants but also the resolution or mitigation of minority objections. Consensus is defined by Merriam-Webster as, first – general agreement and, second – group solidarity of belief or sentiment. It has its origin in a Latin word meaning literally feel together. It is used to describe both general agreement and the process of getting to such agreement. Consensus decision-making is thus concerned primarily with that process.

French readers may enjoy a text by a blogger called Le Grand Barnum, in which he discusses the various rights and privileges, according to one's sex, in older societies such as Rome, and compares the current Socialist oligarchs to ancient Romans for whom taking advantage of a slave was a not a rape, but ogling the consul's old lady in the shower almost was. The post ends with these thoughts:

(…) But Jean-François Kahn is not a Roman. He is just a French oligarch, an untouchable member of the media system, sure of his place, of his right to say anything, and of the superior finesse of every cliché he utters. And comfortably macho, without even realizing it.

There are no more consuls, no more slaves. Just men and women, powerful and sure of their rights, cackling at every little salacious comment and at the "dominated women whose skirts are lifted". In short, no big deal. It would be a terrible shame if things changed!

Three Articles of Interest

More from Lawrence Auster:

The HIV story. The rumor had it that the chamber maid was afflicted with HIV. Her lawyer vehemently denied it. This article has the story, but you should also read this one.

A possible bail. There will be a hearing tomorrow. DSK is expected to request bail.

Here is an interesting article from an Australian journalist in which she objects to the lighthearted way the press is taking this story. We also glean some information (however tentative) on what the victim looks like.

Two Justice Systems

There is a plethora of articles comparing the French and American systems of Justice.

Yann Baly writes at Bernard Antony's blog:

Behind the Strauss-Kahn affair, there is the scandal of the reactions by political and media leaders.

Since the arrest of DSK, we have witnessed an organized attack against the American police and justice systems: it is a scandal to have shown this gentle lamb Strauss-Kahn in handcuffs, they refused to give him V.I.P. treatment, he was jailed with other criminals of all backgrounds (those on the Left should rejoice)… "The French are indignant" came from the mouth of such and such journalist or Socialist leader.

No. You have only to listen to the man in the street to understand that the French are not indignant, that they are even pleasantly surprised to see a country where justice is inflexible with defendants, even if one happens to be head of the IMF! We are far from the French "tradition" of acquittals, of cases not followed up, or of affairs discreetly swept under the rug whenever a powerful person is implicated.

French political leaders of the Right and the Left who have been sharing power, now one, now the other, for so many years, ought to be more discreet on these questions. They are the ones responsible for the catastrophic situation of justice in France, a system where too often criminals are granted more rights than victims. They are the accomplices, through the laws that they pass, of dozens of crimes, murders and rapes, perpetrated by individuals that their justice system has released, having deferred the day of sentencing, with unpredictable clocking-in or surveillance by ideological Freudian psychiatrists as the only means of control.

So, Ladies and Gentlemen, you who adhere to the right to be different, allow the Americans the right to a justice that is different from ours!

Below, a short video on Rikers Island, and a discussion of the suicide watch placed on Strauss-Kahn.

DSK Everywhere

Here are some English-language links to articles about DSK.

From The American Spectator - There is much to disagree with in this article by Ben Stein, although he is right to feel that we mustn't rush to judgment.

From VFR - A detailed account from the Mail.

From the New York Times - A two-page article on how France is taking this.

H/T: Lawrence Auster - Browse his home page for more.

I will try to have some material up tomorrow (Wednesday). There is a certain amount of commentary from bloggers who are delighted he is in American custody, and an article describing DSK's Trotskyist past. There is also an article at an Algerian website describing at length the personality of the chamber maid. She is presented as being so sweet, so honest, so kind, that she could not possibly be lying. And she is a devout Muslim. Strauss-Kahn is Jewish and has frequently expressed his loyalty to and his concern for Israel. How likely is it that he would attack a Muslim woman wearing a head scarf? Most of the websites, except the Socialists, believe he is guilty.

Update: The website of François Desouche which was inaccessible yesterday is back. Their original article on DSK had to be shortened and the more than 6000 comments were removed to prevent another breakdown. Below, one image from the article, shows the cover of France-Soir with the headline:

"Everyone Knew".

Under that, a quote from someone close to him:

"They should have put body guards around him to prevent him from behaving so foolishly."

A Media Frenzy

There is a full-page account at the Daily Mail replete with photos of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, his wife, attorneys, and even a view of the prison where he is spending the night.

Discrepancies are maddening in cases like this. For example, in my previous post, based on the French account in l'Express, it states that he had NOT left his phone or any personal effects behind. However, the Daily Mail says that the phone was left behind. Several other sources, including the original New York Times report and American Thinker, corroborate this point. Also, l'Express stated that the chamber maid was from Ghana, while the Daily Mail says she is from Guinea. I am sorry about these discrepancies, but when there is such a deluge of articles, especially about a celebrity's sex life, it is a wonder we get anything right.

Another unforgivable error on the part of the Daily Mail is to refer to "Michael Debré" as the deputy who denounced Strauss-Kahn, when in fact it was Bernard Debré who penned the open letter to DSK that I posted here.

The biggest discrepancy is the the use of the word "conservative" to describe Nicolas Sarkozy. This has been a major impediment to understanding the French crisis, ever since Sarkozy won the presidency in 2007. The world generally regards him as a conservative, and nothing anyone says can change that blind refusal to see him for what he is.

Anyway, you must browse this page, even if there are inaccuracies. There is plenty of background information on him, plus links to more articles than you'll ever be able to digest.

Did Sofitel Cover Up?

This article appears today at the website of l'Express, a left-wing publication. The questions raised are: Were there other incidents that had been covered up by Sofitel? Is Bernard Debré (see my previous post) wrongly incriminating Sofitel? If so, why? Are his accusations aimed at weakening the Front National? How can that be the case, since the FN would be weakened by DSK's presence on the ballot, not by his absence. Very confusing. Judge for yourselves:

By publishing an article at his blog on Sunday in which he called Dominique Strauss-Kahn a "sexual criminal" who ought to seek "treatment", the deputy from Paris unleashed the anger of many left-wing politicians, including Pierre Moscovici, and message-board commenters, who reproach him for excessive violence in his use of words.

Contacted by l'Express on Monday morning, Bernard Debré (photo left) stands by his remarks and now accuses Dominique Strauss-Kahn of previous sexual aggressions, in the same New York hotel. According to him, they were covered up by the management, against the will of the employees.

"This hypocrisy must stop. This is not the first time that DSK has engaged in this sort of behavior at Sofitel. He always stayed there. This has happened several times and for many years. Everybody in the hotel knew it," declared Bernard Debré, currently on a trip to China.

"The employees were about to rebel," he added. "The management was au courant but until now no one dared say anything. They covered up all the other affairs. Other hotel maids before Ophelia - a charming woman, 32 years old, who did her job very well - had been attacked. Let's stop pretending we were born yesterday. Do you believe that the New York cops would have arrested him in the plane (photo below) if they did not have precise information?"


"This is humiliating for our country. It is shameful. Now I am in Shanghai. The Chinese look at me and laugh. They say that all Frenchmen are sex maniacs. If we continue to cover up, that will help the Front National," Bernard Debré continued.

Note: I strongly disagree. By exposing DSK, by getting him off the ballot, the Front National is in a better position, and the Socialists are weakened (temporarily). It almost sounds as if Debré has to justify what he is doing without in any way incriminating his boss Nicolas Sarkozy, who is (or was) DSK's friend and promoter. Rather than incriminate Sarkozy, he claims to be stemming the tide of pro-Marine feelings. As I said above, this is confusing, because he is doing the opposite. However, he may mean that it is better for him to expose DSK than for Marine to do it and get the credit. If this is the case, it's just a bit shoddy. It means his only motive is to thwart the success of Marine Le Pen.

Note: Pierre Moscovici, mentioned above, is a Socialist leader and was at one time a student of Strauss-Kahn at the ENA (National School of Administration), a specialized college that trains those entering public service.

"I have had many calls from MP's and party members who support me," he insists. And from ministers also? "I cannot say anything."

Note: So he cannot give out the names of the ministers who support him? Then, the hypocrisy has not ended. The floodgates of revelations against Strauss-Kahn have been opened, but we are not allowed to know who is glad or why. Is this not an admission that Sarkozy would be angered if his ministers supported Debré?

There is another article at l'Express that informs us that the maid in question is a 32-year old from Ghana, and the single mother of a teenage girl, who normally did not work on the floor where he was staying:

(…) DSK was supposed to occupy a regular room on the night of May 13-14. But at the last minute he was upgraded at no extra cost to an unoccupied suite. Normally, Ophelia, a 32-year old Ghanian, did not clean that floor of the hotel. But following a personnel problem she was sent to Suite 2806 occupied by DSK.

According to the young woman's narrative, when she arrived, the door was ajar and inside a waiter was removing the tray. He explained that the occupant had departed, and then left. At that moment a naked man came out of the bathroom and violently attacked her.

Note: Why did the waiter say that? Did he really think no one was in the room? Did the tray belong to the previous occupant? Not clear at all.

Hotel spokesmen affirmed that the maid, a single mother of a 15-year old girl, had never caused the slightest problem in three years of service, not in her performance on the job, not in her contacts with hotel clients.

According to the police report, at 12:28 p.m., DSK paid his bill with a credit card. A little while later he called the hotel to ask if a mobile phone had been found in his suite. After a check, no phone or personal effects were found. This call allowed the police to locate DSK and to arrest him on board the Air France plane a few minutes before take-off.

On another note, the management of Accor (owner of Sofitel) denies the repeated accusations by the UMP deputy from Paris, Bernard Debré, who spoke of precedents. If, in 2010, the head of the IMF stayed on five different occasions at Sofitel New York, including once in September, once in October and once in November, no incident was reported.

Note: As I post, I see that DNA evidence has been found on the hotel maid who was too terrified to admit everything at first. See Lawrence Auster.