Strauss Kahn resigns. :(

seamus · 19-05-2011 12:23PM

deirdre_dub wrote: »

AFAIK they are just ordinary people - they don't stand a chance against a pissed-off former head of the IMF.

The narrative seems to be that he is being stitched-up. I mean, seriously, how many of you would put yourself up against the head of the IMF for a stitch-up?

You think the head of the IMF would call in a hit against someone who accused them in court?

He's not Silvio Berlusconi.

deirdre_dub · 19-05-2011 12:24PM

seamus wrote: »

You think the head of the IMF would call in a hit against someone who accused them in court?

There are more ways of ruining someone's life than with a bullet. :rolleyes:

Whatever about their chance of stitching him up, he has a much better chance of successfully stitching them up in something else.

Solair · 19-05-2011 12:28PM

I've no doubt that there was pressure put on to encourage him to resign. However, I don't think this is an ordinary job and it is also an extraordinary time where the IMF is up to its neck in urgent business in Europe.

However, if he is not proven guilty and his name cleared, then he should be able to continue on at high level anyway.

In a situation like this there will always be pressure put on to call for someone's resignation. However, nobody compelled him to resign. So, he could have asked for a suspension until the trail is over.

At least with US trials, things tend to proceed at a relatively fast pace. In Ireland something like this could drag on for months or even years before reaching trail properly.

Dudess · 19-05-2011 12:28PM

I know it's off-topic and has been asked before, but why do some people post in threads to say they don't care, rather than just ignoring the thread? A tad attention-seeking like...

kraggy · 19-05-2011 12:29PM

Pressuring him into resigning was more to do with the fact that he can't actually do his job while in prison than the IMF thinking he is guilty.

It's the busiest time in the IMF's history. They need a leader who can show up for work.

My name is URL · 19-05-2011 12:32PM

It's all a bit mad. The way he's been presumed guilty and paraded in front of cameras as such, is not good.

Joey the lips · 19-05-2011 12:34PM

i would say the americans love what this is doing to the euro.

and off course the arabs.(Oil will go up)

Dudess · 19-05-2011 12:38PM

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

Not a lot of people would want to continue working with a person who is charged with such a crime.

Such people should really learn the difference betweeen "charged with" and "convicted of".

Captain_Generic · 19-05-2011 12:38PM

My name is URL wrote: »

It's all a bit mad. The way he's been presumed guilty and paraded in front of cameras as such, is not good.

Unfortunately this is happening when everyone wants to put a face to their recession-causing fat-cat banker rage. The media never misses a bandwagon

cosmicfart · 19-05-2011 12:49PM

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/05/19/new.york.imf.kahn.resigns/index.html?eref=ft

Is anyone else bitterly disappointed?
It's a sick, sick world we're living in, when an unproven and untested allegation can utterly destroy somebody's career long before they have even had their day in court.

I must remember in future that if I ever want to assure somebody loses their job or doesn't get elected, I just have to accuse them of molestation. Whether or not it's true is irrelevant, apparently, since they will be regarded as guilty either way.

I agree, his character assassination by these allegations will never recover even if he is innocent. Its all the medias fault, they found a story and ran with all they way.

Crunchy Friends · 19-05-2011 12:52PM

I know it's innocent until proven guilty but really, in these times and with the IMF being involved with so many countries they need strong leadership. I don't argue with him resigning. It would be wrong if he was fired - he should be suspended at most if the IMF were to take action. But like other posters said, he probably got a lovely golden handshake and if proven innocent will walk into another high paid job.

Solair · 19-05-2011 12:54PM

Well, I think we have to remember that it's relatively unlikely that the NYPD would attempt a stitch-up.

It's a criminal, not a civil case, so the victim is just a witness for the state, who are doing the prosecuting.

If it were a civil trial where he was being sued for damages, then it would be an entirely different situation.

If he turns out to be not-guilty, then he will have his name cleared and that's that.

Unfortunately, if you are a high profile person and you're charged with a crime, then there are always going to be problems with protecting your reputation.

There really isn't any other way of doing that.

Being no-longer the head of the IMF will actually put him into a situation where he can deal with this as a normal person without some of the heat of publicity.

If he subsequently turns out to be innocent he can move on and if there were false accusations there would be criminal and civil repercussions of a very serious nature for the person making them.

Anyone making any kind of false statement to police can wind-up in jail themselves and being sued for damages by anyone injured by those false statements. So it's not something that I would imagine that is very likely.

That's really the only protection that anyone has against false-accusations.

The best he can hope for now is a speedy, efficient trail that puts an end to this one way or the other.

The legal system has to operate in public. The problem is that the US media tends to be a little less restrained about commenting on a case before trial than the media over here would be as they don't have the same libel laws nor do they have the same sense that a trial would be possibly biased by coverage.

Short of re-inventing the entire common law legal system, there's really very little that can be done to prevent this kind of thing.

The trail will go ahead, and if he's innocent, his name is cleared and off he goes about his business. That's how it is supposed to work anyway.

So really all we can do is allow the wheels of justice to turn, get the process underway and accept the ultimate verdict.

In the meantime, we should not form opinions on his guilt.

Show Time · 19-05-2011 01:07PM

I'm sure this was an episode of Law and Order SVU.

Solair · 19-05-2011 01:13PM

Show Time wrote: »

I'm sure this was an episode of Law and Order SVU.

I'm sure the saga will inspire a script regardless of the outcome.

Kiera · 19-05-2011 01:17PM

Dudess wrote: »

I know it's off-topic and has been asked before, but why do some people post in threads to say they don't care, rather than just ignoring the thread? A tad attention-seeking like...

Yeah its the same people who tend to do it over and over too.

bryaner · 19-05-2011 01:19PM

Hasn't she got a mouthful of dna to send him down, game over..

southsiderosie · 19-05-2011 01:21PM

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

He resigned under pressure from countless media outlets, officials and governments.

All of whom, apparently, don't actually believe in the democratic principle of the burden being solely on the accuser to prove guilt before any penalty occurs.

Dealing with his case will likely take several months. His term is up in 2012. There is a huge economic crisis in Europe. His resignation was the most responsible thing that he could do in order to let the IMF do its job at a critical time.

Sykk wrote: »

People don't realize that it requires a man of ridiculous intellect, leadership and knowledge to run an organization like the IMF. Especially at a time of economic crisis. Strauss Kahn was the head of the IMF for a reason. It will be hard, very hard to replace him.

This will have knock on effects for everybody, including Ireland. People saying they "don't give a shít" are probably the same people who could care less about protests, governments and the like until their dole gets lowered or their tax raised.

Tbh this is pretty concerning for the world of economics and politics. Interesting to see how the case plays out. Innocent until proven guilty.

Christine Legarde's name (the current French finance minister) is being bandied about as a replacement. She gets on well with Merkel, she is familiar with European finance ministers, and she has good relationships in Washington. The sooner they get a permanent replacement in, the better.

walshb · 19-05-2011 01:24PM

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Really? It could be you tomorrow. How would you like to have your life wrecked without ever being given a chance to tell your side of the story first?

It's the principle. He has been found guilty of nothing yet, why should he lose ANYTHING? Are we going ot live in a society where we can just make accusations against people we don't like and cost them their jobs and ambitions regardless of the eventual outcome?!

Yes, innocent before guilty. But I doubt these are just allegations. They wouldn't have taken him off a plane unless there was some serious evidence to back up the allegations. But, legally he is innocent. He was right to resign however, regardless, until the matter is cleared, the man should not be in that type of high profile job with such a serious charge facing him.

partyatmygaff · 19-05-2011 01:27PM

This reminds me of what happened to Michael Jackson. All someone needs to do is make an accusation and the media immediately presume them guilty and set out on a reputation-destroying smear campaign. It's a sad state of affairs when people's lives can get ruined by a lie.

enda1 · 19-05-2011 01:32PM

If he is innocent he is ruined. People keep going on about him stepping into another highly paid job. This is clearly not his ambition. He is a career politician who's goal was to take Sarkozy's throne. This he is now assured can not happen. Perhaps he's guilty, perhaps he's not, but one this is sure, his career is over.

He is ruined as a politician, and a politician is what he is.

thebigbiffo · 19-05-2011 02:01PM

formally, no final decision has been made on prosecuting him and wont be made until the grand jury hear evidence (later today I think).

so basically; he was denied bail, has been assumed guilty by the public, has been forced to resign from his very important job and his reputation and ambitions torn to shreds on the basis of one persons accusations...and the evidence hasn't even been formally reviewed yet by the relevant body to ensure there's enough for a trial!! you couldn't make that s'hit up.

and i think it's hilarious that people keep banging on about the fact he was taken from the flight (which he was scheduled to take) and left his phone behind in the room (which he called the hotel telling them where he was to get it sent over - hardly the actions of a man fleeing a serious crime scene). Apart from that - according to yesterday's article in the Indo the time line's have been changed since the incident was first reported and he very well may not have even been in the hotel at the time the lady first said she was attacked!!

he could be guilty as sin, i'm just being devil's advocate here because i believe he has been treated very badly based on the evidence that has been made public.

Show Time · 19-05-2011 02:05PM

Solair wrote: »

I'm sure the saga will inspire a script regardless of the outcome.

Either for Law and Order or CSI no doubt.

Sir Oxman · 19-05-2011 02:39PM

enda1 wrote: »

If he is innocent he is ruined. People keep going on about him stepping into another highly paid job. This is clearly not his ambition. He is a career politician who's goal was to take Sarkozy's throne. This he is now assured can not happen. Perhaps he's guilty, perhaps he's not, but one this is sure, his career is over.

He is ruined as a politician, and a politician is what he is.

If he is found innocent the French people will probably forget about the charge.
Whether the PS will is another matter.

enda1 · 19-05-2011 02:44PM

gambiaman wrote: »

If he is found innocent the French people will probably forget about the charge.
Whether the PS will is another matter.

If his is found innocent he will miss the elections by the time the court case comes about and is concluded.

If the grand jury throws it out as being ridiculous and he never goes to trial, I expect he'll be in with a chance, but like you say, perhaps the PS will think again and he wont be their candidate.

Sir Oxman · 19-05-2011 02:47PM

enda1 wrote: »

If his is found innocent he will miss the elections by the time the court case comes about and is concluded.

If the grand jury throws it out as being ridiculous and he never goes to trial, I expect he'll be in with a chance, but like you say, perhaps the PS will think again and he wont be their candidate.

I thought the US justice system was eh, quick? ;-)
Anyhow, I forgot to add he probably will be fubard with all the other stories and whispers emerging which I'm sure will include at least another court case.

pickarooney · 19-05-2011 02:48PM

I think it's a bag of bull**** that anyone should have to spend months in prison before they even go on trial for a crime. I just can't get my head around how anyone can consider that fair.

IvyTheTerrible · 19-05-2011 03:23PM

I think it's very convenient that Strauss-Kahn has been accused of this crime when he was about to present himself as a candidate for the French presidential election, and was top of the polls to win it...I wonder is Sarkozy that powerful or evil to set this up, hmm.

southsiderosie · 19-05-2011 03:47PM

pickarooney wrote: »

I think it's a bag of bull**** that anyone should have to spend months in prison before they even go on trial for a crime. I just can't get my head around how anyone can consider that fair.

They don't have to sit in prison if the courts don't think that there is a serious risk that they will run away before their trial. If he didn't present a flight risk - and if France had an extradition treaty with the US - I doubt he would be sitting in Rikers right now.

sensibleken · 19-05-2011 04:12PM

and he was not allowed to be bailed out! oh the ironing

southsiderosie · 19-05-2011 04:17PM

sensibleken wrote: »

and he was not allowed to be bailed out! oh the ironing

I don't get it - what's your point here?

Strauss Kahn resigns. :(

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