Edward Jay Epstein wrote an extremely interesting piece on the day that the US became acquainted with DSK‘s name. Important parts of the piece that a lot of outlets left out:
- What took place between DSK and the maid in those six to seven intervening minutes is a matter of dispute. […] What is known is that DSK called his daughter on his IMF BlackBerry at 12:13 to tell her he would be late.
- The man I asked to talk to—and to whom I was not put through—was René-Georges Querry, Sheehan’s ultimate superior at Accor and a well-connected former chief of the French anti-gang brigades, who was now head of security for the Accor Group.
The article makes it look like a set-up, but I wish it had brushed more upon what France has lost as a result of this scandal. From what I’ve read, DSK was more capable of handling the impending euro-disaster than any other candidate. (Don’t be fooled by the socialist sticker, nothing in European politics translates to American English well.)
He’s undoubtedly a scoundrel, but when has that stopped the French (or Americans) from electing a leader? I wonder what would happen if Newt Gingrich was seized in a sex scandal abroad in an American hotel and a weak testimony from a service-person with a sketchy past.
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Comments
Sorry to digress as the first comment but this is some good news (I think).
Barney Frank will not seek reelection.
Rats . . . ships etc.
Expect him to resurface somewhere near Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae
It sounds like there is more than a euro-disaster afoot.
The DSK story is far too creapy for me to spend any time on. But thanks for the obligatory mention of Newt Gingrich…smh
Speaking of competent scoundrels, it’s too bad we didn’t have a supercommittee of two: Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich.
“(Don’t be fooled by the socialist sticker, nothing in European politics translates to American English well.)”
Well, “conservative” means conservatively backing the nanny state. When is the last truly conservative governmental action that France (or Britain or Germany) took other than under Thatcher? Everything seems to be skewed left.
In England,
Labour = Big Government Socialists, with union bosses and their political puppets in charge.
Liberal Democrats = Big Government Socialists with ‘liberal elites’ in charge.
Conservatives = Big Government Socialists with gentry/nobles and their allies in charge.
You end up with nanny-state socialism no matter who you vote for…
Thank you, Kathleen, for that link. It’s looking more and more like a James Bond adventure. I can see the title of it now, “Room 2820”.
Who was in room 2820? Why was the maid going back and fort and taking orders from him? Why did he destroy the Blackberry the maid stole for him? The “high-fiving” while waiting for cops gives the plot away.
“From what I’ve read, DSK was more capable of handling the impending euro-disaster than any other candidate.”
So what has France lost? Labels aside, I don’t see a single EU leader or wannabe willing to admit the Euro must die, debts must be repudiated, etc.
He was head of an institution that really needs to exit many of its functions, and under his tenure has not taken any reasonable reforms of itself. Proponent of SDRs at the IMF? This is not a good idea.
What would indicate that he would be any different in any other role? His credentials as an academic? Keynesian economist?
Maybe the the idea is that the others are worse, and that certainly may be so.