They never fade away

Several news items of interest about people who really should retire from the political and media circuit but seem unable to do so. First of all, we have our old friend Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the man who has caused so much hilarity through the various scandals he was involved in and who opened up a, sadly, brief discussion about the sexual mores of the the French political left. He is back in the news, having gone the way of other dubious Western politicians and taken the Putin rouble.

He "has been given a board position in the Russian Regional Development Bank" in order to raise the corporate profile of said Kremlin owned organization. The New York Times reminds us that the bank is a subsidiary of Rosneft.

Rosneft’s media office declined to elaborate on the appointment or on how Mr. Strauss-Kahn would be compensated.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn, a former French presidential contender, is re-emerging in a much smaller role than he once had. The Russian Regional Development Bank is hardly a financial heavyweight. It ranks No. 64 in Russia by assets.

Vedomosti, the leading Russian business newspaper, reported that Rosneft may be seeking to raise the profile of the bank by hiring a former International Monetary Fund director.

It is not as good as the various lavish positions former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder managed to grab.

If DSK is trying to make his way back or, at least, to earn large sums of money, Claude Juncker is refusing to go away. As Der Spiegel put it yesterday:

Jean-Claude Juncker has been in power in Luxembourg for 18 years, but he still isn't ready to fade into retirement. After tripping over a secret service scandal, he is now planning his comeback -- a project that could ultimately land him a senior European Union position.

The Luxembourg Prime Minister, the longest serving politician in Europe, has been holding on, refusing to admit that he had any responsibility for decisions taken by government officials while he was in the main seat (that is, for the last eighteen years).

In the end, he chose to go on the offensive. He appeared in parliament and proposed holding snap new elections. In doing so, he escaped the humiliation of a no-confidence vote and didn't even have to officially resign. Not even Helmut Kohl could have come up with a better trick.

His position in the EU is not nearly as strong as it used to be and his relationship with Chancellor Merkel and President Hollande (the only two that matter) is said to be tense. But he has become used to being a political leader and he does not want to go.

Now that the decision has been made to hold new elections, it is unclear how much longer Juncker will continue to sit at the table of EU leaders. Although his CSV is likely to remain the strongest party, it is unclear whether the patriarch will be able to easily find a coalition partner. In the wake of the intelligence scandals, the Socialists, part of the current coalition government, have moved closer to the opposition Liberals and Greens. It can't be ruled out that, for the first time, there will be a three-party-alliance in Luxembourg after the new elections. Unlike the CSV, the Socialists have completed a generational shift. Long-standing Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn is no longer campaigning as the party's top candidate, instead paving the way for the younger generation.

But even if Juncker doesn't get another chance at home, his career likely won't come to a rapid end. The European People's Party is urgently seeking a top candidate for the European Parliament election in May 2014. Juncker, known throughout Europe and fluent in many languages, would be the ideal candidate.

The winner of the election also stands to be appointed to a top EU post. Juncker, for instance, could become president of the European Commission or the European Council, even though he, of course, denies any such ambitions. He wants to remain in Luxembourg, says Juncker. "I'm campaigning to become my own successor."

And talking of people who refuse to fade away, I see those giants of political thought, Ken Clarke and Peter Mandelson are back, having formed a new pressure group with the help of Danny Alexander. Called British Influence (the one that has been missing in recent decades) it is proposing that

Britain should abandon attempts to secure a new "special deal" from the European Union and push instead for reform covering all 28 EU members.

That should work. Mind you, I can see those ideas becoming quite popular when we reach the fabled referendum shore.

The American view of THAT scandal

A highly rational article in the Wall Street Journal about the Strauss-Kahn story. (And you can get it without going through Google.)

The scandal as seen in France

Dominique Strauss-Kahn may be all smiles and the Socialist Party may be glowing with happiness at the thought of this great and good man coming back to take his rightful position (though the case is not over yet) but the political scene in France has changed as a result of the accusation, says Anne-Elisabeth Moutet.

There may be troubles ahead

The case against Dominique Strauss Kahn has run into difficulties. Sensibly, not only has he produced the only possible defence - consensual if possibly rough sex - but he has been spending money to find out more about his accuser, as the NY Post reports.

Strauss-Kahn’s legal team has hired the world’s best private investigators to ferret out every detail about the the accuser’s past.

They have unearthed photographs of her drinking and partying, despite her professed Muslim faith, sources told The Post.

There also seems to be some evidence of her being connected with drug dealers. The New York Times has more.

Prosecutors from the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., who initially were emphatic about the strength of the case and the account of the victim, plan to tell the judge on Friday that they “have problems with the case” based on what their investigators have discovered, and will disclose more of their findings to the defense. The woman still maintains that she was attacked, the officials said.

“It is a mess, a mess on both sides,” one official said.

According to the two officials, the woman had a phone conversation with an incarcerated man within a day of her encounter with Mr. Strauss-Kahn in which she discussed the possible benefits of pursuing the charges against him. The conversation was recorded.

That man, the investigators learned, had been arrested on charges of possessing 400 pounds of marijuana. He is among a number of individuals who made multiple cash deposits, totaling around $100,000, into the woman’s bank account over the last two years. The deposits were made in Arizona, Georgia, New York and Pennsylvania.

The investigators also learned that she was paying hundreds of dollars every month in phone charges to five companies. The woman had insisted she had only one phone and said she knew nothing about the deposits except that they were made by a man she described as her fiancé and his friends.

In addition, one of the officials said, she told investigators that her application for asylum included mention of a previous rape, but there was no such account in the application. She also told them that she had been subjected to genital mutilation, but her account to the investigators differed from what was contained in the asylum application.

All of that does not necessarily make her accusation against DSK untrue, as Glenn Reynolds points out, but it does make her an unreliable witness whom the prosecutors will not like to put in the box for cross-examination.

So where does that leave us? Not so badly off. Whatever the outcome of this case might be, the truth of DSK's behaviour and the general attitude to male misbehaviour towards women in France (especially on the Left) has now come out into the open and cannot be put back into the secret little box. (Here and here.) That can't be a bad thing.

Furthermore, the IMF (an institution whose time has been and gone, but that's a separate story) has appointed its first woman head. If the case against DSK collapses he may return to French politics and, even, become the Socialist presidential candidate, which will undoubtedly play in the hands of Sarko but, even more so, those of Marine Le Pen. If, on the other hand, the Socialists decide that they don't want the case to be revived too much by innuendo during the campaign, they may well choose Martine Aubry as candidate. Either way, the irony would be very pleasing.

UPDATE: Dominque Strauss-Kahn has been released on his recognizance and his bail returned but he will not be allowed to leave the United States. Next hearing, July 18.

Will it make any difference?

The New York Times discusses whether the fall of Strauss-Kahn (or DSK) will make any difference to gender relationships in France. (Story covered on this blog here and here.) There is an odd question that arises in my mind. There is no doubt that the macho attitude is there and sexual misbehaviour (by which I do not mean affairs but actual attacks on women) are ignored or have been until now, as the forced resignation of George Tron demonstrates. Yet there seem to be more women on higher levels in politics in France than here. How is that to be explained? I would also be interested to know whether there have been any serious comparisons between the level at which there is a glass ceiling in business in France and in Britain.

Before anybody accuses me of something I am not guilty of, I must point out that I do know and have written about the truth of what women's lives are in certain other societies and in Islamic countries and communities. Nevertheless, not everything is perfect in the West either.

Yet more on the Strauss-Kahn story

Yes, yes, I know. Stop it already. Get on to something else apart from the hilariously funny Strauss-Kahn story. I shall eventually - there are many other things to write about. All the same, I think this long article in Time magazine is worth reading.

Well, why was France silent about Strauss-Kahn's womanizing? And, if it comes to that, why is there a curious elision between seduction and violent assault that is close to rape. One explanation might be this:

Strauss-Kahn may have been abetted by the fact that most of his so-called conquests involved ideological fellow travelers — as was reflected by the Banon case. Says the French lawyer who asked not to be named: "My clients and other women I've been contacted by with reports of sexual aggression by Strauss-Kahn were all either Socialist Party members, supporters, or involved in wider leftist political activity that eventually brought them into contact with Strauss-Kahn. He has said he loves women, but it seems more accurate to say he loves Socialist women. I suppose he viewed that milieu as providing his supply of new women, and as one where women who caught his eye would either be compliant, or keep quiet about having to fight off his advances. Either way, there are a lot more women — and men — in Socialists circles who know about his activity than have ever said so."

This is an old story - the Left, who are supposedly feminist and supportive of women's rights, will silence women (sometimes with the women's full agreement) when a left-wing male is threatened. Bill Clinton is the most obvious example; his victims were abused racially and sexually by his left-wing supporters, which included feminist organizations. But, on a more disgusting level, think of Gerry Healy and the WRP, which numbered various Redgraves among its members.

The case in New York City reflects another dimension of the problem in France. "If I try transposing the situation in New York on Sunday to France, I just can't do it," says Diallo [Rokhaya Diallo, president of Les Indivisibles, an association that promotes diversity in France] "Not only because the woman is black and apparently an immigrant. But also because she's a housekeeper. Perhaps even more than her race, her station in society would probably prevent authorities [in France] from taking her accusations against a rich and powerful man seriously. Racism is on the rise here again, but class discrimination has never gone away."

Then again, the class aspect did crop up with Clinton as well with at least one of the women who complained described as "trailer trash" by somewhat unexpected people.

UPDATE: DSK has resigned from his job at the IMF, which shows that, having worked in the private sector, he understands reality a bit more than his enarque colleagues. Traditionally that job, as opposed to the one at the top of the World Bank, goes to a European. Ed Morrissey at Hot Air who seems to confuse Europe with the European Union is a little sniffy about that.

The issue for the EU is whether it can reclaim the top spot at IMF. For the moment, American John Lipsky is in charge, but the IMF won’t keep an American in that slot; the US gets the top spot at the World Bank by tradition, while Europe runs the IMF. This arrangement to balance the influence of the West on global markets was already under increased criticism as non-Western powers like China and others emerging from the developing world want a shot at running both organizations. Two years ago, the US and EU agreed to an “open, transparent, and merit-based process” for appointing leadership — but with the EU staggering through debt crises in several of its member states, it needs that spot perhaps more than it has in decades. Don’t be surprised if the “very, very strong, able candidates from the developing world” get rejection letters this go-around.

Uh-huh! I wonder whether Mr Morrissey will be just as anxious to have someone from the developing world when the top job at the World Bank comes up. European countries did need bailing out (regretfully) but they are not alone and where does most of the funding come from if not Western countries? Of course, we could put in an Australian or a Canadian but I suspect that is not what Mr Morrissey had in mind when he talked about those others who are lining up to run another tranzi organization.

I have a much better idea: why don't we investigate how useful the IMF and the World Bank are and, if the answer is not very much, then shut them down or, at least, limit their activity considerably.

We had expected you to be ....

Well, maybe not "the next prime minister but three" as Hilaire Belloc wrote so memorably about Lord Lundy who was far too freely moved to tears but, at least the next socialist candidate for the French presidency and, quite possibly, given Sarko's lack of popularity, the next French President. Alas for those hopes. It seems more than likely that Dominique Strauss Kahn's political hopes and career are over.

As the Economist put it:

EVERYTHING was in place to enable Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF head, to declare next month his candidacy for the Socialist primary, ahead of French presidential elections next year. Polls consistently showed that he was the most popular Socialist candidate, and the best placed to beat President Nicolas Sarkozy in a run-off. But Mr Strauss-Kahn’s arrest on May 14th in New York, for an alleged sexual assault, has thrown all those plans in the air, and looks almost certain to wreck his political future.

This is rather a belated acknowledgement of the story that is of some interest and even greater amusement. After all, if the two stories about DSK as he is now known in the media are true then there may well have been others and, almost certainly, a good deal of gossip around him that was, presumably covered up by the various left-wing parties, media outlets and transnational organizations the man fetched up in.

Anne-Elisabeth Moutet, a leading French journalist who can write and broadcast equally well and entertainingly in French and English says on her blog and in the Daily Telegraph:

When the news broke in Paris early yesterday that France’s former finance minister had been arrested by the New York police for alleged sexual assault on a hotel housekeeper, reactions here were split between sheer disbelief, suspicions of entrapment and all-too-many knowing shrugs.

“Dominique Strauss-Kahn is well-known as a seducer,” his official biographer, Michel Taubmann, said. “I can’t believe he would force himself on an unwilling woman. That doesn’t make sense.”

Such a statement would come across as damning in most Western countries. In France, it is seen as a spirited defence. Until today, complicated sexual lives, multiple divorces and serial adultery never hampered political careers. François Mitterrand famously ran three parallel families while president. He appointed a former girlfriend of his, Edith Cresson (a married woman) as prime minister in 1991. His predecessor, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, used to borrow a Ferrari from his friend Roger Vadim, the film director and Brigitte Bardot’s first husband, when he went on the pull. (He once crashed it into a milk float early one morning on his way back to the Elysée.) Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy were known for eyeing up comely reporters and female junior ministers.

In that context, DSK’s notorious penchant (and more) for a legion of pretty women did him no harm at all. “If anything,” Taubmann recalls, “he was the one harassed, not the reverse — I’ve seen time and again women MPs, party workers, etc brazenly passing on notes, hoping he would notice them.”

Poor chap - clearly the victim of predatory females. Or something. But, as Ms Moutet points out, alleged assault on two women (and more accusations might surface) is a different matter even in France, especially as the arrest was made in New York. Would he have been arrested had the first complaint been made in Paris? It is worth reading Ms Moutet's posting in full - she is very knowledgeable and gives some background to the story, pointing out that the immediate beneficiary of it all is Front National's Marine Le Pen, who is reported as not being surprised at all.

In the meantime here are a couple of articles from Der Spiegel, which support Anne-Elisabeth Moutet's points. Apparently, the appointment of a man who had been a banker or, in other words, actually understood about money, was something of a surprise among the cognocscenti, "but his stewardship of the institution during the global financial crisis drew praise". Must have been all that money he was giving away in bail-outs.

The same issue had an article about French political opinion being "aghast" at the charges.

In the end, it is, as ever, Dan Mitchell with whom I agree. He thinks that, while rapists should be tried and, if found guilty, punished, it is the IMF that we should really go after.

More on the IMF from Doug Bandow, also from Cato. I'd like to think he did not pick that ridiculous title, which is silly even as an attempt at a play on words. The article is very good.