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Besancenot quit the presidential race a couple of weeks ago, though (officially because he didn't want to become a professional politician).
Anyway, there's no way a far-left politician can pass the first round of the French presidential election. (And their top candidate right now would be Mélanchon, whom I find almost as repugnant a person as DSK.)
Yeah, the history of sexual harassment is what makes me inclined to believe this. If nothing else, it demonstrates a degree of entitlement to other peoples bodies and a lack of recognition when he has gone too far. The rape accusation is just the possibility he pushed even further past the "too far" line.
That's indeed the problem with him. Another weird hypothesis, but since the Conspiracy Theories have almost all been suggested, why not this one: DSK did all this by himself knowingly, in order to get out of politics. He could manage to get out of it by, I don't know, paying the maid or some officials (I'm not saying it's moral, just that it could be done, and, be honest here, he's rich enough to do that and there is always, U.S. aren't an exception there) to pull out and let him leave. He would be in total infamy, and his career would be wrecked. And... that would be the plan. One could be fed up of the whole "game", and, to be sure, if he tried to retire, noone would have let him leave the politics, as he was one of the major players in France, and without a doubt the future president. Now, noone will even poke him with a 50km stick, and if he can get the legal problems out, he'll be sure to have a quiet retirement once the mediatic storm calms down (give it a month or two, if the trial is cancelled for one reason or another).
Let's be clear: if that hypothesis is right, I'll be the first one to consider him as a Complete Monster since he would have assaulted or raped a girl in order to get to his objective. I'm just trying to come with some ideas as to why and how he got in this situation, and, as of now, we got:
- The IMF head let his **** take control a bit further than the other times and raped a maid and is soooooo going to (rightly) pay hell for it (but not before he tries to use his skeletons on U.S. and europeans politicians and bankers to torpedo the whole trial or take some people with him).
- A Anonymous/Assange/Cute Kittens/Darth Vader/Genghis Khan/Illuminati/IMF/Lady Gaga/Lex Luthor/Magestic12/Patriots/Sarkozy/Stalin/Wall Street/ Walt Disney conspiracy put him into this position, and either the situation is the same as above or Phoenix Wright will press the witnesses and Pull the Thread until the truth comes out in a dramatic way and the colored bits of paper fly all over the courtroom.
- The IMF head is a cross between a Chessmaster and a Complete Monster.
EDIT: corrected the list of conspiracies to comply with the suggestion
edited 17th May '11 8:29:38 AM by RufusShinra
As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero.Damn, you put a long list of possible conspiracies and you forget the other IMF?
"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."So the guy's been denied bail for fear that he'll pull a Polanski.
This line from the article seems perhaps the most damning:
"When he was unsuccessful, he forced her to perform oral sex on him," said John Mc Connell, an assistant district attorney. A criminal complaint details six charges in graphic detail.
The maid immediately alerted colleagues, gave a "detailed and powerful" account, and selected Mr Strauss-Kahn from an identity parade, Judge Jackson was told.
She underwent tests at a local hospital, where she was treated for minor injuries. "The findings during that examination corroborate her account," said Mr Mc Connell.
Preliminary inquiries at the hotel suggest "there may be forensic evidence to support the case," he said. In video of Mr Strauss-Kahn leaving the Sofitel, "he appears to be a man in a hurry". Mr Strauss-Kahn was due to appear in court on Sunday night but this was delayed after he "willingly consented" to a DNA test.
Injuries and forensic evidence sure imply that something happened.
What's precedent ever done for us?You mean this one
?
Yeah, the 'she totally wanted it' defence does seem to shut down rather a lot of conspiracy theories. And make him look like even more of a slimeball, considering the reported injuries.
What's precedent ever done for us?Sincerity Mode : is that newspaper trustworthy? Really, I don't know about it.
As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero.The written tone is tabloidy, but it links its sources, which are broadly reliable papers like the Wall Street Jounal and New York Times. The 'she consented' thing is from a Times article.
Sounds increasingly like this was a case of the guy practicing his usual habits in a country where that shit doesn't fly.
edited 17th May '11 8:30:14 AM by Iaculus
What's precedent ever done for us?![]()
Ok for the first part, nope for the second: extramarital affairs are somewhat tolerated in France (but are legally ground for divorce in favor of the other), rape really, but really isn't. If he's truly guilty, I think the judge will be paid... by more than a few frenchmen and women to put him in a nice little shower with some "friends" while the guards look the other way.
Because if he really is a rapist, well, there's that, of course, but also a betrayal of the whole country. Damn, he would give France a whole new kind of reputation, as well as depriving us maybe one of our last hopes against Sarkozy, leaving us with the clowns in the PS.
edited 17th May '11 8:37:42 AM by RufusShinra
As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero.
Well, there's a difference between an affair between consenting adults and sexual extortion. Isn't that what the Hungarian economist is now alleging?
EEEEK, I now see you're referring to the latest "hotel incident", not the old one with a subordinate at the IMF.
edited 17th May '11 8:49:37 AM by Freekippers
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He's apparently carried out a number of sexual assaults and similar improprieties in the past, all of which seem to have been quietly swept under the rug. This sort of thing may theoretically be a career-destroying move in France, but it sure doesn't seem that way in practice.
edited 17th May '11 8:55:29 AM by Iaculus
What's precedent ever done for us?
Don't know about those assaults. He had some affairs, that's public knowledge, but for the thing with the journalist in 2002, there's quite a lot of contradictions. He made advances, that, we agree on, but an assault? Not sure. And it wasn't quite ignored. She talked about it on TV a few years ago, if I recall correctly, and it was in her book. So I don't think there was an assault here or a criminal offense. But, of course, it paved the way for the situation he's in now: his word has next to no value in this case.
Why do I have the impression that French Jerk will have another example under "Real Life"? Damn moron, if he really did it.....
edited 17th May '11 9:08:36 AM by RufusShinra
As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero.For which the journalist in question was effectively blackballed; clearly you don't accuse powerful men of sexual impropriety in France without suffering personal and professional consequences. Moreover, it appears a fair amount of stuff gets hidden under the justification of "privacy" that in the US and the UK would not; for example, behavior on the job. He, it appears, has a long history indeed of sexual harassment of women who have to work with him that would not be tolerated for long in the US or UK, and a history of treating women with a lack of respect in general.
A brighter future for a darker age.![]()
True on that point. Ah, well, no use denying that politicians aren't quite the nice and moral people they pretend to be. And you can add without much risk that he was also probably corrupted like the others.
Meh, sorry if I looked like I was defending his behaviour as a whole, it's just that I've been quite upset with all the reactions on websites like the New York Times, where it's filled with Holier Than Thou comms about how France is immoral and corrupted and that we should be happy that the [[U.S. Eagleland]] are dealing away justice like we should have done a long time ago, being such a perfect country without any of those problems and perfectly honest politicians. So, yep, our system screwed up bad if he really did that, but, honestly, it's pretty hard to find a good middle between "not giving a damn as long as you keep it between willing adults" and "impeaching a president because he slept with a girl".
Sorry for that, I was on the same line of thought than on the other websites, having to explain again and again that, no, we do not accept rape from our politics.
As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero.Yes, I don't think either country has it right, and both put up with abuses of power and status a lot more than they should. France's history and legal system give a greater weight to privacy than the US grants for public figures, and this has both good and bad points. Good in that much of the law-abiding private life of public figures isn't really anyone's business or relevant to what they do in the public sphere; bad in that it provides ready cover for public figures to hide their misdeeds and even arguable crimes.
Meanwhile the US system means that we focus overmuch on the private doings of the powerful — to the degree that the amount of scrutiny discourages political service among anyone but those who have been power-hungry their entire lives, living their life from the beginning as of the cameras were always rolling — and ignore to some degree the relevant behavior from our politicians; what they do in office with their power.
The US de facto political system & rules, also, aren't that way because of any devotion to openness, but from the interests of no-holds-barred political combat from the candidates' side, the desire for Puritan-esque rules of sexual behavior from some proportion of the electorate, and the desire of the Press for salacious gossip.
A brighter future for a darker age.Yep, I just hope there won't be more consequences to that than a few moronic comms from both sides of the pond on the big media websites. And, of course, that whatever will happen in two weeks won't worsen the situation.
Anyway, back to the subject, do we have any new info about the trial itself, except that experts seem to back the maid and DSK is still sleeping in jail?
EDIT: Aaaaaaaand he just resigned.
edited 18th May '11 10:58:55 PM by RufusShinra
As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero.

One little tidbit that made me roll my eyes is that the maid recognized him in a line-up of men. The problem with that is that he is a well-known person, and his pictures are all over the internet, so Googling his name would give the maid loads and loads of pictures to recognize him with.
Also, from what I gather, the maid walked into DSK's room without apparently knocking, just as he came out of the bathroom (naked). The latter doesn't seem very strange to me, and I think almost everyone has done that. Now knowing how fucking uptight some Americans can be about sex (nekkid kid pictures sent to a boyfriend leading to a registration in the sex offender registry, anyone?), she might simply have been shocked by his nudity (DSK naked likely is Nightmare Fuel, considering his size), and have panicked. As for the 'locked in the bathroom', maybe she entered the bathroom without knocking (some cleaners are stupid like that), and he happened to be fapping or so.
So many possibilities.
Hopefully this isn't a set-up, because that is very damaging to real sex offenders' victims (just like the Assange case).
"That said, as I've mentioned before, apart from the helmet, he's not exactly bad looking, if a bit...blood-drenched." - juancarlos