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by stevesim Sat Nov 26th, 2011 at 11:02:18 AM EST
there is an extraordinary story in the NY Review of Books, today's edition - a compte rendu of the behind the scene activities the day that DSK was arrested in NYC
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/dec/22/what-really-happened-dominique-strauss-kahn/
the site is probably extremely busy
The main new point revolves around DSK's lost Blackberry. The contention is that it was hacked, and that he had been warned by someone in Sarkozy's party, the UMP, that one at least of his messages to his wife had been read at UMP HQ. The Blackberry then ceased to function, then disappeared (DSK concluded he'd left it behind at the hotel, and called the hotel about it).
The journalist also says he has seen video footage from the hotel of senior security men dancing and high-fiving at the time of DSK's arrest.
and now we know that the entire sexual encounter lasted 6 minutes, given the time he called his daughter.
one hopes this can be pinned on Sarko's minions... but then we'll have another socialist sell-out. i'll remain depressed. "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
hee hee
senior security men dancing and high-fiving at the time of DSK's arrest.
Not at the time, but before, right after police was called with on hour delay. But the other new(?) info that raised my eyebrows was that the maid visited another room before and after the sexual encounter with DSK, a room which was never searched and the inhabitant of which the hotel won't reveal. Maybe that's the unidentified man who was seen on the videos to accompany the maid and later high-fiving and dancing with the senior security man. Even if not, the inhabitant of Room 2820 seems the key as to whether this was orchestrated or not. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Regardless, it's absolutely unbelievable in my opinion that after a woman was allegedly raped that two grown men would feel the need to be dancing and high-fiving unless some serious hanky-panky was going on. Incredible.
How amusing would it be to take down Sarkozy AND DSK with this scam. We are not so lucky?
Less than two minutes later, the footage from the two surveillance cameras shows Mr Yearwood and an unidentified man walking from the security office to an adjacent area. This is the same unidentified man who had accompanied Ms Diallo to the security office at 12:52. There, the two men high-five each other, clap their hands and do what looks like a dance of celebration that lasts for three minutes.
Regardless, it's absolutely unbelievable in my opinion that after a woman was allegedly raped that two grown men would feel the need to be dancing and high-fiving unless some serious hanky-panky was going on.
I don't know. I haven't seen the video, only read a journalist describing what he saw. The serious hanky-panky can be of different nature, too, depending on whether the unidentified man is the inhabitant of room 2820 or not: if not, the rape may have been real but there may have been an effort to exploit it. Meanwhile, there is still the separate Banon case. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Could See Myself Becoming The Victim Of A "Honey Trap" SHOCKING STRAUSS-KAHN INTERVIEW: I Courtney Comstock|May 16, 2011|27,863|52 Very strange. Three weeks ago, Dominique Strauss Kahn said he could see himself becoming victim of a sex trap. In an interview with Liberation, a French publication, on April 28, he said he foresaw 3 main challenges ahead for him (the implied thing being, if he ran for President of France). "The money, women and my Jewishness." He said the challenges were "in that order," but he spoke about the big one first: Women. "Yes, I love women ... so what? [...] For years we talk about giant pictures of orgies," he told Liberation. "But I've never seen anything out ... Let show them!" Then he said he could see himself being set up because of his affinity for women. According to Liberation: DSK then talks about ending up in a men's room with Sarkozy, during an international summit, and asks him to stop the dirty tricks about his private life. Wanting to pose as a victim, DSK starts imagining "a woman (he might have) raped in a parking lot and to whom half a million or a million euros would be promised to make up such a story..." (Another translation of the paragraph says, "He said he could see himself becoming the victim of a honey trap.") Obviously, he was right to put the "women" challenge first.
Very strange.
Three weeks ago, Dominique Strauss Kahn said he could see himself becoming victim of a sex trap.
In an interview with Liberation, a French publication, on April 28, he said he foresaw 3 main challenges ahead for him (the implied thing being, if he ran for President of France).
"The money, women and my Jewishness."
He said the challenges were "in that order," but he spoke about the big one first: Women.
"Yes, I love women ... so what? [...] For years we talk about giant pictures of orgies," he told Liberation. "But I've never seen anything out ... Let show them!"
Then he said he could see himself being set up because of his affinity for women. According to Liberation:
DSK then talks about ending up in a men's room with Sarkozy, during an international summit, and asks him to stop the dirty tricks about his private life.
Wanting to pose as a victim, DSK starts imagining "a woman (he might have) raped in a parking lot and to whom half a million or a million euros would be promised to make up such a story..."
(Another translation of the paragraph says, "He said he could see himself becoming the victim of a honey trap.")
Obviously, he was right to put the "women" challenge first.
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-05-16/wall_street/30042492_1_dirty-tricks-liberation-challe nges Hey, Grandma Moses started late!
http://www.20min.ch/ro/news/dossier/affairedsk/story/Sofitel-remet-les-pendules-a-l-heure-14684185
The Sofitel electronic key record, which the hotel did not turn over to the prosecutors until the next week, contained another unexplained anomaly.
I hope the author of the NY Review kept copies of the tapes, in case Sofitel now issues doctored tapes to disprove his claims.
http://www.20min.ch/ro/news/dossier/affairedsk/story/La-video-du-Sofitel-pourrait--tre-diffusee-2184 0940
The New York hotel where the Dominique Strauss-Kahn was accused of trying to rape a chambermaid on Sunday issued a point-by-point denial of claims that the former French presidential favourite was set up as part of a grand conspiracy to discredit him.
On the high-fiving:
Accor said in a statement that the three minute dance of celebration "in fact lasted eight seconds, with both employees filmed on CCTV categorically denying that their exchange had any connection whatsoever with Mr Strauss-Kahn".
On the occupant of Room 2820:
But Accor said records showed the unnamed man in room 2820 had checked out before Miss Diallo started cleaning his room, and that she simply returned to pick up her cleaning trolley. She never met the "mystery" occupant.
Tired perhaps of discussing the Jersey Shore's heteronormativity and its power dynamic, academics at New York University are next taking up the scandal of the summer-the case of former IMF head Dominique Strauss Kahn and his alleged rape of a maid at the Sofitel Hotel in midtown. Called, "The DSK Scandal: Transatlantic Reflections on Sex, Law, and Politics, the two day conference "aims at interpreting the transatlantic dimensions of this event." [...] This two-day academic conference, co-organized by French and American scholars and institutions, aims at interpreting the transatlantic dimensions of this event. On the one hand, the mutual misunderstandings revealed important differences between France and the United States - not only between the legal systems, but also between the media cultures, as well as the political ones. On the other hand, the political dimensions of the story - in terms of gender, class, and race, and even sexuality - did transcend such national differences. Many feminists were quick to point it out: exceptionalism (whether French or American) is irrelevant in matters of power. As a consequence, the necessary cultural approach must eschew culturalism. In particular, attention will be paid not only to the different languages used within each society (in particular in law, media, and politics), but also to the self-examination this confrontation occasioned, and as a consequence the transformations that may result on both sides.
Called, "The DSK Scandal: Transatlantic Reflections on Sex, Law, and Politics, the two day conference "aims at interpreting the transatlantic dimensions of this event."
[...]
This two-day academic conference, co-organized by French and American scholars and institutions, aims at interpreting the transatlantic dimensions of this event. On the one hand, the mutual misunderstandings revealed important differences between France and the United States - not only between the legal systems, but also between the media cultures, as well as the political ones. On the other hand, the political dimensions of the story - in terms of gender, class, and race, and even sexuality - did transcend such national differences. Many feminists were quick to point it out: exceptionalism (whether French or American) is irrelevant in matters of power. As a consequence, the necessary cultural approach must eschew culturalism. In particular, attention will be paid not only to the different languages used within each society (in particular in law, media, and politics), but also to the self-examination this confrontation occasioned, and as a consequence the transformations that may result on both sides.
For conspiracy theorists, it's easier to believe in secret phone calls and a "victory dance" than sexual assault
The problem is, even if sexual assault is still more a probable hypothesis than conspiracy, the probability difference is not large. A deliberate ju-jitsu set-up of DSK makes all sense in this world.
It cannot be denied that it's very unpleasant to be arrested for sexual assault and attempted rape, even for a man less famous than DSK. But you could also argue that it's even more unpleasant to be allegedly sexually assaulted by a wealthy and powerful man, which is Nafissatou Diallo's side of the story.
The word "allegedly" is badly misplaced here, isn't it? It clearly belongs to the first sentence.
Whether ND or DSK had a more horendous May day, they both have many things to appreciate in their lives still - more than the average human being on the planet. I am more endlessly upset with general tendencies of ever more frequent "sex for college debt payments", "sex for apartment rent", "sex as emigration work" (especially for women from places like Iraq) than markedly suspicious single cases. The West is far from a horrendous place - but increasingly, it offers many women poor choices. The emergent system can rape as well.
Après le journaliste Edward Epstein, qui a relancé le feuilleton DSK en pointant les zones d'ombre dans l'affaire du Sofitel, le journaliste français Michel Taubmann évoque lui aussi des incohérences, qui pourraient être la marque, selon lui, d'un «complot».
Voici les principaux éléments avancés dans son livre «Affaires DSK, la contre-enquête».
http://www.leparisien.fr/dsk-la-chute/dsk-la-theorie-du-complot-revisitee-par-michel-taubmann-30-11- 2011-1746201.php
has video
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