Thoughts on Strauss-Kahn; Elite's battles spilling onto the streets

Miscellaneous General
1

Usually, the Elites keep their disagreements discreet and behind closed doors. Look at the John P. Wheeler III case… murdered and stuffed and found in a dumpster but no word on why he was murdered or any other fallout. Silence. In the case of Strauss-Kahn, things have clearly spilled out onto the streets. The question of whether a crime was committed is relatively uninteresting to me, not because I’m heartless, but because these guys are all thugs to begin with so if a crime was committed this would have been the least of his offenses. The point that I want to focus on is that even if a genuine crime was committed here, this was definitely a setup. Let’s say this woman was attacked just as she says she was. That doesn’t mean it couldn’t have been a setup. For example, Strauss-Kahn calls the escort service to order an escort. CIA (or whoever) intercepts the phone call and the escort. This Guinean woman is in an especially vulnerable situation vis-a-vis the authorities, that is, she will do anything they tell her to because they could have her deported at any time. Perhaps the agency had done a little “prep work” in this regard, anticipating Strauss-Kahn’s arrival and eventual stay at this hotel where she works. An agent waiting at the hotel orders this woman to go clean Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s room at the very minute Strauss-Kahn is expecting his escort to arrive. Knowing his proclivities for rough sex and knowing that he’s expecting an escort to arrive, the intelligence operatives correctly predict he will assume the cleaning woman is what he ordered and he will start to go at it. Maybe he ordered an escort who is willing to play rough and so he ignores her protests.

The story I’ve given above is infinitely more believable to me than that Mr. Strauss-Kahn - an international power-player - out of sheer horniness would just wantonly throw himself on some random cleaning woman in a foreign country where he has no “safety net”, i.e. friends in high places he can call to get out of a legal tight spot. He’s known to consult prostitutes, why would he take the risk when he can just safely order whatever he requires?

In any case, it’s well within the realm of imaginable possibilities that Strauss-Kahn was set up, regardless of the factuality of the victim’s accusations (I’m sure there’s probably quite a bit of truth to what she’s saying I just suspect both the victim and Mr. Strauss-Kahn have been played by somebody else). Consider the news reports coming out yesterday that Strauss-Kahn would be receiving a “golden parachute” pension of at least a “quarter million dollars a year” - besides being irrelevant to anything, it turns out these stories were actually false! Somebody’s playing games, folks!

Also, notice that Strauss-Kahn got bail the day after he forked over his resignation letter. You think someone in a dull grey suit might have paid his lawyer a visit and explained to him that Mr. Strauss-Kahn can do things the hard way or the easy way? The causal chain is so obvious.

I wish I understood why Strauss-Kahn is getting raked over the coals. I don’t fully understand the power politics between the IMF, World Bank, Federal Reserve, ECB, BIS, and their respective political leaderships. It is my belief that a silent global struggle has been unfolding for at least the year and half since the breakdown of the Copenhagen agreement in December 2009. I think that there has been a string of retaliatory strikes against oil platforms and other select oil industry assets, starting with the Deepwater Horizon which I do not believe was an accident. I am skeptical about many other headlining incidents in the last year which have purportedly been accidents. It is my belief that this Strauss-Kahn arrest is first blood in a global struggle going on between unknown powers engaged in a secret battle over global hegemony.

Please don’t misinterpret this post to be some kind of well-wishing for Strauss-Kahn or any attempt to vindicate him of whatever happened in the hotel room. It’s just that the official story is obviously false and makes no sense, even if the facts are nominally consistent with it. It reeks of conspiracy and foul play. Strauss-Kahn is no “victim” since I’m sure he’s screwed over plenty of people in just this way, it’s just that rooting against Strauss-Kahn is not rooting for justice, it’s rooting for whoever was behind this particular setup, which I consider naive.

Clayton -

2

Interesting post, as always.

It is my belief that this Strauss-Kahn arrest is first blood in a global struggle going on between unknown powers engaged in a secret battle over global hegemony.

Sounds like the framework for a thrilling story. Too bad the details are so hazy. I guess that’s what novels are for…

3

Well there’s this novel that was a huge hit in China called “Currency Wars.” I haven’t read it but it looks fascinating. It’s not pro-hard money so it’s drivel, economically speaking, but I think it may have some interesting insights into how we got to where we are today.

Clayton -

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Is there just a natural, genetic ability for people to try to account for our overlords’ behavior? Isn’t that Stockholm Syndrome?

The guy is a rapist. An actual criminal. Simply a bully who is absolutely incredulous that he will be taken to task for this. In France it’s no problem, he would have had this taken care of already.

The media - all of the media - has worked very hard at calling this a “sex scandal” but rape is not a sex crime. It is a crime of violence. He is a regular, plain old bully.

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Well there’s this novel that was a huge hit in China called “Currency Wars.” I haven’t read it but it looks fascinating. It’s not pro-hard money so it’s drivel, economically speaking, but I think it may have some interesting insights into how we got to where we are today.

I read the review, and it inspired me to pull out my copy of G. Edward Griffin’s The Creature from Jekyll Island, which I have yet to read in full. Griffin describes what he calls “The Rothschild Formula” and details Nathan Rothschild’s aquisition of England’s entire debt after Waterloo.

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@Mercator: As I said, he may very well be “guilty” but that doesn’t mean it’s not a setup. And, in any case, this would be the smallest crime he’s ever committed and the people setting him up are just as dirty so I don’t see how rooting for them is “rooting for justice.” If he could have gotten away with this in France, it is precisely because he has a network of “friends in high places” there that he knows he does not have here! Now, I am disinclined to believe that someone becomes head of the IMF through a propensity to overlook obvious facts, especially obvious facts concerning one’s own well-being (staying out of jail). To assert that this could not have been a setup is to assert that the head of the IMF is a blundering idiot who is so oblivious that he doesn’t even realize that he can’t get away with the same shenanigans on US soil that he can on French soil even though he doesn’t have the friends in high places in the US that he has in France to get him out of a legal tight-spot.

Rape or no rape, I call bullshit on anyone who says this wasn’t a setup.

Clayton -

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Ok, fine.

Who is really that pissed off at DSK? Well the entire country of Ireland, for openers.

The Disctrict Attorney in the DSK case is named John McConnell. Coincidence?

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Clayton, good post. Funny thing, I wrote something along the same lines (then deleted it) in our recent exchange about the chances for a breakdown of the fiat money cartel. The elite’s battles spilling through the cracks may be a precursor. Just a thought.

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@Mercator: You need to let your employer know that sending you guys out into the Internet to “debunk” and spread disinfo only makes people like me more convinced that we’re right.

Clayton -

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@Clayton I suppose you mean my post about the DA in New York. I was trying to foment some discussion by going along with the spirit of your posts. I think that you have assumed that my post was derisive sarcasm. It wasn’t.

Ok?

I’m here to learn Austrian concepts from you guys. Don’t let me down.

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@Mercator: There’s nothing particularly Austrian about me, I just find that the bullshit per word ratio is much lower in Austrian economics than most economics. Sorry for assuming sarcasm - the trouble I have with the idea that “the Irish” were behind DSK’s setup (assuming there was one) is - who benefits? The DA might have Irish heritage but getting tangled up in something this dangerous would not be worth a mere sense of pride at “doing Ireland proud.” The Irish people themselves are angry but what Irish pol will be able to say “I was behind the DSK setup so vote for me!” No benefit. This was a tactical move by a power-center who was/is dissatisfied with the likely course of IMF policy with respect to Greece. My best guess is that, since this happened on US soil, it is a US or US-aligned power-center. Also note that the US would essentially be footing the bill of any Greek bailouts. So, my best guess at this point is there is a cabal of pro-Greek-austerity hardliners and DSK wasn’t playing ball and the hardliners took this opportunity to oust him so they can jockey for one of their boys to replace him.

Clayton -

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Mercator, do you see a difference between accusation and conviction? Or did you happen to be there in DSK’s hotel room and see the whole thing with your own eyes?

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As I posted previously Strauss-Kahn has a long (very long, actually) history as a pervert. He even went as far a loudly proposing to airline hostesses in front of tens of first class passengers. And yes, he ended up in troubles before but always got away with it, usually by settling the case out of court.

And that’s why I tend to agree with you: he could have settled this case as he settled many others before, by paying up. There’s also another thing that got me thinking: this kind of people always moves surrounded by an entourage. Secretaries, assistants, bodyguards… you name them. Where were his bodyguards? Are we to believe that anyone armed with a skeleton key (or its electronic equivalent) could have just walked into the room of the IMF Executive Director? Makes those airport “safety checks” sound even more ridiculous than they already are.

One thing I believe is that, just like in Stalinist Russia, Strauss-Kahn was simply a convenient scapegoat for the 2008 crisis and following depression. I am thinking about the Greek situation in particular: he had been instrumental in negotiating the “bailout package”. He was also very active in “persuading” Portugal and Ireland to “accept” the rescue package, as was in selling over the Chinese and the Japanese to the idea of the new “eurobonds”. After a year of mindless optimism, the debt crisis is again rearing its ugly head. Italian debt has been recently downgraded by rating agencies and we all know how the situation in Greece is progressively deteriorating.

Heads needs to start rolling.

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Could he have been considering a very unfavorable decision against the US, and was “taken out” in order to eliminate the threat?

Not that big into conspiracy theories, but either the man is a pig with really bad luck (getting caught without having friends in high places) or someone was trying to exploit a known behavior for their own benefit.

Third possible scenario is that the woman is just trying to get some money out of the situation and the story went beyond the capability of Strauss-Kahn’s friends to contain it. This seems rather unlikely in that she exposes herself as well.

Fourth possible scenario it that the media found the story and decided to run with it to destroy a powerful person. Need the exact sequence of events to determine who pressed this. Did the woman file charges first and then the media reported it, or did the media report and the woman filed in order to protect herself (e.g., she had HIV and consentual sex could have been charged as a criminal act)?

But I do agree, this story seems to be hyped up to the point that it could suggest someone wants it covered…or that the media just likes to sell stories that try to bring down people in high places through sexual scandal.

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Well I am in no position to do legal harm to Mr DSK, so my preconceived notions won’t probably upset him too much. Of course I respect “innocent until proven guilty.” My aim is to unambiguously set the following points:

  1. Rape is a crime of violence. The media’s attempt to frame this issue as a “sex scandal” is an attempt to put the argument on the terms of French sexual mores which are of course different than American ways. We’ve already seen bullshit Op-Ed pieces on the wonder of French sexual ways. What a crock. This is not about sex, or about the man’s sexual tastes. It’s about a serious violent crime.

  2. We “small people” need to pay careful attention to what exactly a central banker is. A central banker is not a “lender,” or “capitalist.” He doesn’t bring any capital to the table which he then lends out for a price. He doesn’t do anything, bear any risk, invest anything, or perform any analytical duties. All he does is bully his way into a position of “Predator in Chief,” at which point he is allowed to victimise the people of the world. This is the kind of person we are talking about.

Reports have surfaced that the woman’s extended family in French west Africa have already been approached with 7-figure settlement offers.

Central banking isn’t just “like” organised crime. It is organised crime.

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Argument from incredulity does not work in a context like this, where it is firmly established that some people are that stupidly recidivist and/or arrogant about their positions.

Try this story if you think that one is unlikely.

Btw, what is it with calling these people “Elites”?

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392463/Vladimir-Putin-claims-Dominique-Strauss-Khan-victim-conspiracy-force-out.html

What’d I say? Didn’t have to wait long for some vindication. In the words of Sherlock Holmes, it’s elementary. Big shots don’t get in trouble unless the other Big Shots are throwing them under the bus. 1+1=2

Clayton -

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“Btw, what is it with calling these people “Elites”?”

They are the Elites-self-styled. Their only real skill is clawing their way to the top and living off the productivity of others.

Clayton -

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Funny you would use Putin as a validating reference and funny he all of people would speak up on this. Many years ago an actress named Peta Wilson (La Femme Nikita) told a story about being invited by Putin to a dinner party. He had her partner, Damian Harris, hauled away by his henchmen and tried making move on her. She faked illness and left in disgust.

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So, what you’re saying is that Putin is a low-life, scumbag, power-mad, licentious politician? Isn’t that assumed? Shouldn’t it be assumed that the heads of the very agencies which are currently prosecuting Dominique Strauss-Kahn are, as well? Please note I’m not saying DSK is innocent - he may very well have committed some kind of sexual assault and possibly even on a hapless dupe. But there’s no way in hell this is just “the workings of justice” and nothing more to it. This is a political hit. To deny it is to bury one’s head in the sand at the widespread, systemic corruption in our police and legal systems. These crooks are pulling this kind of crap every day, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and then they cover for each other. When they stop covering for one of their own, it’s not an accident. It happened for a reason. That DSK was snooping around somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be and the US authorities slapped a trumped-up charge on him to keep him from leaving the borders strikes me as a much more plausible story than that he randomly threw himself on some chambermaid out of sheer out-of-control horniness in a foreign country where he does not have the high-level contacts to get out of a legal tight-spot if the usual hush-money doesn’t do the trick. The official story just doesn’t make sense. Putin’s story is at least plausible.

Clayton -