IMF Chief Strauss-Kahn Would not Spare the Dollar

IMF Managing Director at UN International Donors Conference
SIMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn (r), and President of the Republic of Haiti H.E. René Garcia Préval (l) prior to a bi-lateral meeting between Strauss-Kahn and Préval during the “International Donors’ Conference Towards a New Future for Haiti” at the United Nations in New York on March 31, 2010
IMF Staff Photographer/Michael Spilotro

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has resigned from the International Monetary Fund. Today he was granted bail and faces sexual assault charges involving housekeeper at the Sofitel Hotel in Manhattan.

The whole situation must be very surreal to him, given that, as recently as a month ago, on April 28, a French daily newspaper, Liberation, published an off-the-record comment by Mr. Strauss-Kahn described as voicing the fear that "political opponent would pay a woman more than $1m to allege rape"

DSK has said through his lawyer that there was no rape. He has pled not guilty and asserts that the sexual encounter was consensual.

Innocent until proven guilty. Critical thinking says we must question the evidence against Strauss-Kahn. After all, it is the job of the prosecution to prove its case. "Neither we nor anyone else—outside the accused and the accuser (and, perhaps, other interested and unnamed parties)—know exactly what went on in Strauss-Kahn’s suite at the Sofitel Hotel in Manhattan on Sunday. Whatever information the public possesses has emerged courtesy of the New York City Police Department, the alleged victim’s lawyer, and the mass media. None of these can be considered reliable sources."

Rape is a crime of control and violence. Strauss-Kahn was known as a seducer of women. Up to this point, he had never been accused of violently assaulting a woman who became the focus of his attentions, although since the attempted rape allegations, a woman has come forward to say that five years ago Strauss-Kahn acted like a "rutting chimpanzee."

Retired criminal defense attorney John Reed lays out a case for the defense of Strauss-Kahn:

"...first of all apply the Constitutional standard that Strauss-Kahn is innocent until proved guilty, and therefore, we must look with suspicion upon the facts asserted by the state at this point, including the alleged statement of the victim.

There are some very large red flags in this case, and if I had to choose right now whether I would rather prosecute this case or defend it, I would choose to defend it. I think it will be hard to prosecute.

First, my guess is that standard operating procedure in this hotel, like others, is for the maids to prop the door open with their cleaning cart as they work the room. So the defendant's prints better be on the handles of that cart since he had to remove it from propping open the door before he could commence the attack, and he had to do this without the maid seeing him.

Second, I would hire an expert to test the sound proofing of the room, and use an investigator to determine where the other maids and guests were are at the time of the assault. For if she did not scream when she could have been heard, then a reasonable doubt about a set up might arise.

Third, maids usually work in groups of two, and I would determine whether this was the normal procedure at the hotel in question, and why, if so, the procedure was not followed this particular morning. Fourth, hotel maids always determine whether a guest is in the room, including the bathroom, before they begin cleaning the room. They also make sure the guest has checked out. Neither was done in this case. Why? This kind of mistake does not happen in a $200 a day Hilton, let alone a room costing in thousands.

Fifth, why, considering that the rape shield law is preventing the release of victim's name, is the state keeping the alleged victim incommunicado, not even allowed to visit with her daughter, according to her attorney?

Sixth, why was the defendant not provided bail? He is one of the most famous men in the world. Certainly bail could be set high enough to insure his return. Moreover, the state would know his location despite the fact he travels internationally with frequency. If he failed to appear, he would not only look guilty, but he would simply be extradited eventually, and lose his bail money. [Bail was granted as of 5.91.11.]

While there's plenty of reasons to question the case against Mr. Strauss-Kahn, we must also look at the motive that "interested and unnamed parties" might have in railroading him.

According to an economics expert interviewed on Russia Today, Strauss-Kahn was a vocal advocate of widening the world money system and drawing the world away from the dollar as a reserve currency.

Adrian Salbuchi, is an economics and geopolitics author in Buenos Aires. Mr. Salbuchi interprets the dramatic circumstances surrounding the former IMF boss' resignation as a sign "that the powers that be were not very happy with him."

Russia Today is not the only alternate news source to smell something fishy about Strauss-Kahn's spectacular arrest. To many it's not making a lot of sense and the timing is really suspicious.

The UK Telegraph broke the scoop. Dominique Strauss-Kahn was mounting an attack against the dollar:

So, Strauss-Kahn finds himself in the same crowd as Saddam Hussein and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, right? You may recall that Saddam switched from dollars to euros about a year before the war. Twelve months later Iraq was invaded, Saddam was hanged, and the dollar was restored to power. Gaddafi made a similar mistake when "he initiated a movement to refuse the dollar and the euro, and called on Arab and African nations to use a new currency instead, the gold dinar." ("Libya: All About Oil, or All About Central Banking?" Ellen Brown, Op-Ed News) Libya has since come under attack by US and NATO forces which have armed a motley group of dissidents, malcontents and terrorists to depose Gaddafi and reimpose dollar hegemony.

To sum up the motives for the arrest:

1. Mr. Strauss-Kahn angered a lot of the big-money guys because he was a vocal advocate for drawing the world away from the dollar as a reserve currency.


2. DSK was planning to institute reforms at the IMF:
   

   Strauss-Kahn had set out on a "kinder and gentler" path, one that would not force foreign leaders to privatize their state-owned industries or crush their labor unions. Naturally, his actions were not warmly received by the bankers and corporatists who look to the IMF to provide legitimacy to their ongoing plunder of the rest of the world. These are the people who think that the current policies are "just fine" because they produce the results they're looking for, which is bigger profits for themselves and deeper poverty for everyone else."

3. The IMF issued a surprising report in 2009 – two years into Strauss-Kahn's tenure, which placed the blame for the global economic crisis on U.S. mortgage companies and financial industry associations. Read an evaluation of the report here.


4. In an interview with the French daily newspaper Liberation, Strauss-Kahn voiced the off-the-record fear, published as recently as a month ago, in April 28th, that this very situation might be engineered: "IMF chief 'feared political opponent would pay a woman more than $1m to allege rape"

   Michelle Sabban, a senior councillor for the greater Paris region and a Strauss-Kahn loyalist said: ‘I am convinced it is an international conspiracy.’

   She added: ‘It's the IMF they wanted to decapitate, not so much the Socialist primary candidate.

5. The IMF chief was ahead of Nicolas Sarkozy in the race. Sarkozy had a number of personal scandals and plummeting approval ratings. Strauss-Kahn was favored to be the next President of France.


6. The fact that Strauss-Kahn is a member of the French Socialist party cannot be ruled out of the equation, given the stigma attached to anyone labeled with having a "Socialist agenda" – as is erroneously the case with detractors of U.S. President Barack Obama.
   
   
   The Daily Mail reports that, "the first person to break the news of Strauss-Kahn's arrest was an activist in Mr Sarkozy's UMP party -- who apparently knew about the scandal before it happened. Jonathan Pinet, a politics student, tweeted the news just before the New York Police Department made it public, although he said that he simply had a 'friend' working at the Sofitel where the attack was said to have happened." Also, "The first person to re-tweet Mr Pinet was Arnaud Dassier, a spin doctor who had previously publicized details of multi-millionaire Strauss-Kahn's luxurious lifestyle in a bid to dent his left wing credentials."

The purported facts of the case as released by the police are suspicious. In the hands of a competent criminal defense lawyer who can punch wholes into the incredible story, Mr. Strauss-Kahn will likely be acquitted. Strauss-Kahn's attorney Benjamin Brafman, who has defended other high-profile clients, including Michael Jackson, is no slouch.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn was probably taken down because he advocated real change to a monetary system which is rotten to a the core. In this "new world order," failure is rewarded, up is down, down is up and we the people are always the ones who get screwed.

Therefore, his political career is affectively over before it began. He has lost his power, influence, reputation and sadly his freedom. To further prejudice the public, a rumor has been circulated that he is on suicide watch. No fear of him being offed while in jail, though. The ends have been achieved. Like they were with the jailing of Haiti's Father Gerard Jean-Juste, Yvon Neptune and other political prisoners globally who are deemed to pose a threat to those in power.

The IMF's first deputy managing director John Lipsky has stepped in as acting managing director of the global institution in the interim. When a new IMF chief is selected, that next individual will have great motivation for toeing the line and keeping the dollar king.

UPDATE 05.27.2011
Replacing Strauss-Kahn; "Pro-bank bailout" Lagarde is a shoo in by Mike Whitney

"Lagarde supports weaker regulations so that banks and other financial institutions can continue to rake in windfall profits while increasing the risks to the broader economy. She just announced her candidacy this morning (May 25), but already she's won the approval of Washington, Wall Street, the big banks, and the EU heads of state. She's a shoo."

"But Lagarde has not moved to the head of the pack due to her anti-worker bias alone, but because she's a trusted insider who will implement the IMF's privatization and structural adjustment programs without challenging their merit.

Strauss-Kahn's promises of "reform" at the fund were a constant source of anxiety for big finance. Lagarde won't make that same mistake. She won't go off the reservation, consort with progressives like Joseph Stiglitz, or veer from her script. Here's how The Guardian summed up Lagarde's impressive resume:

"Christine Lagarde stands for protecting big banks.....she's the most pro-bank bailout of the lot.

"The Americans are going to try and put in [White House adviser] David Lipton as number two. Lipton is Mr Bank Bailout. He worked for Citigroup. If they put in Lagarde and Lipton, what does that say? We are going with the total bank protection plan. That would be a disaster."

[...] So the belt-tightening will intensify under Lagarde, which is a signal to bankers that she can be trusted to protect their interests, and all the talk about "soft restructuring" or reforms a la Strauss-Kahn will end.

There will be no more talk about replacing the dollar with SDRs (Special Drawing Rights) either. Lagarde is not going to rock the boat. The only reforms she'll be working on are "labor reforms", a familiar buzzword among the financial elite for union busting.

[...] So, it looks like Wall Street may have found their replacement for the mercurial Strauss Kahn. There won't be any debt-restructuring, bondholders will be paid in full, and the dollar's dominant role as the world's reserve currency will go unchallenged."

Background:

• International Monetary Fund director Dominique Strauss-Kahn calls for new world currency | By Andrew Trotman


• Dominique Strauss-Kahn was trying to torpedo the dollar | By Mike Whitney


• The Amerikan Police State Strides Forward by Paul Craig Roberts


• The serious questions raised by the Dominique Strauss-Kahn affair by David North and David Walsh


• IMF chief Strauss-Kahn caught in "Honey Trap" by Mike Whitney


• Why We Need a "Marshall Plan" for Haiti by Dominique Strauss-Kahn

The Libyan onslaught by NATO is about oil

Reporter Kevin Hall of MacClatchy says that the Libyan situation ties to development of oil in the Caspian region and other oil rich regions. It marks a scramble for oil and controlling Europe's energy supply.

Hall found a cable through Wikileaks which leads him to conclude that the U.S. is trying to keep Russia out of Libyan oil. According to Hall, "Cold War is alive and well." The plan is to contain Russia's energy power. -- making sure the Europeans are not dependent on one source.

Yesterday Democracy Now! reported that the International Criminal Court (ICC) Issued an arrest warrant for Muammar Gaddafi, his son and Intelligence Chief for "crimes against humanity" – only the second time a warrant has been issued for a sitting head of state – the first being a warrant issued for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

Tragically and ironically... after the announcement by the chief prosecutor of the ICC, there followed other Libya news, including that: "On Saturday, Libya buried 11 Muslim clerics who were reportedly killed on Friday in a NATO air strike in the city of Brega." At least 50 other people were wounded in the NATO aerial attack. NATO has now completed more than nine thousand air strikes and sorties against Libya.

NATO issued a statement which read in part: “We are aware of allegations of civilian casualties in connection to this strike and although we cannot independently confirm the validity of the claim we regret any loss of life by innocent civilians when they occur.”

In April the BBC reported that Libyan rebels were "mistakenly hit" by a NATO air strike. "Rebels said five died, while doctors in Ajdabiya told the BBC at least 13 rebel fighters had been killed in the strike." In another report on the incident, Al Jazeera reported, "Pro-democracy forces in Libya say at least 10 of their fighters have been killed in a NATO air strike on the outskirts of the eastern town of Brega, as the battle rages on for control of the oil port."

Sources:

McClatchy | WikiLeaks cables show that it was all about the oil

The Real News | WikiLeaks Reveals US Wanted to Keep Russia out of Libyan Oil
Kevin Hall: US wanted to block Italian Eni from acting as "stalking horse" for Gazprom

Background:

Libya - The DC/NATO Agenda And The Next Great War By Paul Craig Roberts

Libya: All About Oil, or All About Banking? by: Ellen Brown

Democracy, Haitian Style

by Stephen Lendman | StevelendmanBlog

Except for Aristide's tenure, what passes for Haitian democracy would make a despot blush, thanks to America's imperial grip on the hemisphere's poorest, long-suffering people.

As a result, last November's presidential and legislative elections might best be called a cruel joke. The entire process was rigged to exclude 15 parties, including by far the most popular, Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas.

Moreover, the election was so tainted by brazen disenfranchisement and fraud, including ballot box stuffing and other irregularities, that legitimate independent observers would have demanded throwing out the results and starting over.

Most Haitians, however, weren't fooled. A scant 22%, in fact, voted, a hemispheric low since record keeping began over 60 years ago.

Since no presidential candidate won a majority, a March 20 runoff followed, pitting stealth Duvalierist Michel ("Sweet Micky") Martelly, an anti-populist former Kompa singer, against Mirlande Manigat, wife of former right-wing president, Leslie Manigat. Between them, they got about 11% support in round one, making them both illegitimate presidential choices.

Even more so for winner Martelly with fewer than 22% of Haitians voting, a new record low so embarrassing it was almost like holding a national election and no one showed up. Why bother with only US approved candidates participating, making both rounds fraudulent, illegitimate, and predictable, assuring sham democracy, continued repression, deep poverty, and exploitation for another five years.

Nonetheless, on May 14, Martelly will be inaugurated as president, by imperial selection, not popular mandate. In a nation of about 9.7 million people, he got about 700,000 votes, about 16.7% of registered voters (about 7% of all Haitians), making him perhaps Haiti's least popular president ever. The people's choice, he's not, with good reason.

Martelly, a President with Notorious Extremist Connections

He's long had ties to Haitian elites, militarists, reactionary Duvalierists, and his thuggish Tonton Macoute assassins, backing coups, death squads, deep repression, and denial of basic freedoms. Moreover, Damian Merlo managed his campaign, a man connected to former Reagan and Bush II official Otto Reich, notorious for some of the worst right-wing policies of both administrations, including attempting to destabilize and overthrow democratic governments.

As a result, Martelly will quash efforts for progressive change, in lockstep with Washington, Western corporations, and Haitian oligarchs, wanting no interference with their plans for even greater exploitation. Moreover, he's expected to do it by reinstating Haiti's notoriously repressive army, established to serve elitist interests by murdering regime opponents and crushing popular resistance, what UN Blue Helmet occupiers and Haitian police have done since spring 2004.

On April 23, Washington Post writer Lee Hockstader shamelessly called Martelly "a new kind of political figure (promising) rule of law (governance), free public education, jobs, new homes (for Haiti's homeless), and help for poor farmers." In 2002, however, a WP profile said he was a popular "favorite of the thugs who worked on behalf of the hated Duvalier family dictatorship before its 1986 collapse," a history now airbrushed from his resume.

During the Duvalier years, he ran the Garage, a Port-au-Prince nightclub, popular among the worst of Haitian extremists. At the time, he openly befriended Lt. Col. Michel Francois, dictator Raoul Cedras' ((1991 - 1994) secret police chief, and was associated with his death squad repression of Lavalas party members, even participating with them on hunt and kill operations.

In 1994, when Aristide was restored as president, he moved to Miami to continue singing in America. Once the Bush administration launched efforts to oust him after his 2000 reelection, he returned to Haiti as an outspoken critic of his policies. In fact, after his February 2004 ouster, he organized a Port-au-Prince concert under the slogan, "Keep him out!"

According to Haiti Liberte writer Roger Annis, Washington financed his multi-million dollar campaign, backers Martelly called his "friends in the US" to assure his cooperation as president.

City University of New York Professor Francois Pierre-Louis deplored the prospect of him in charge, saying:

Haiti's "dream has not come true. Sweet Mickey is vastly
unprepared and inexperienced. He did not run under an established party and thus is yet to present a realistic program for dealing with reconstruction and unemployment, and much of his team represents some of the most notorious anti-democratic forces in the country."

Moreover, "Haiti hasn't invested in the agricultural sector since the 1990s and continuing the old trade policies will likely create a food crisis very shortly. If promised agricultural reforms are not met, there'll be demonstrations and protests and Martelly's mandate will shift from developing the country to keeping people in check."

In other words, murdering them for his bosses in Washington and Haiti's oligarchs.

Of course, he was selected to serve Western, mainly US, corporate interests at the expense of popular needs. Based on his history, he won't disappoint.

On April 20, Miami Herald writers Lesley Clark and Jacqueline Charles headlined, "Haiti's Martelly meets with Clinton during his first visit to Washington since election," saying:

He "won enthusiastic backing Wednesday from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton." She praised him, saying:

"We are behind him; we have a great deal of enthusiasm. The people of Haiti may have a long road ahead of them, but as they walk it, the United States will be with you all the way."

In fact, Martelly is Washington's man charged with extracting every possible pound of flesh from ordinary Haitians, those resisting facing the most extreme repressive power of the state.

According to Wesleyan University Professor Alex Dupuy:

"The dual strategy of urban sweatshops and laissez-faire agriculture, which subordinated Haiti in the 1980s, is now its reconstruction plan."

In Washington, Clinton and Martelly discussed it, including financing by the IMF, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and other international lending agencies to exploit Haiti more than ever for profit, its people no better than wage slaves for those lucky enough to have any work.

The Miami Herald's Clark and Charles said:

Martelly "visited with officials at the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank, signaling he wants their support for aid to the Haitian government and investments in the private sector. He also promoted Haiti at a US Chamber of Commerce cocktail party."

In other words, Haiti is open for business. Ahead expect greater neoliberal exploitation, Washington, the IMF and World Bank obligating Martelly's government to take more loans to service old ones and enforce structural adjustment harshness, including:

-- greater privatization of state enterprises;

-- mass layoffs;

-- full deregulation;

-- no social benefits or development;

-- wage freezes;

-- unrestricted free market access for Western corporations;

-- unchecked plundering of state resources;

-- corporate-friendly tax cuts;

-- crackdowns on or elimination of trade unionism; and

-- harsh repression against those opposing a system incompatible with social democracy.

In other words, Martelly's mandate is to facilitate profiteering from misery. As a result, unscrupulous Western interests expect a bonanza from greater pillaging of the region's most vulnerable state, including its rich resources and exploitable labor to be sold out for profit.

_____________
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.