L'Affaire Strauss-Kahn

From The New Yorker.

The Crisis in a Nutshell: “A Rutting Chimpanzee”

Posted by Will Oremus

 

 















A digest of last week’s prophetic and interpretive thought

• “Yes, I love women…. So what?” —Dominique Strauss-Kahn, on April 28th
• “The defendant restrained a hotel employee inside of his room. He sexually assaulted her and attempted to forcibly rape her.” —New York prosecutor John McConnell
• “The news last night from New York sounds like a thunderbolt. I myself, like everyone, am totally astounded.” —French Socialist leader Martine Aubry
• “It’s humiliating for the I.M.F. and humiliating for our country.” —Bernard Debré, a French politician from President Sarkozy’s party
• “I do not believe the accusations against my husband, not for one second.” —Anne Sinclair, Strauss-Kahn’s wife
• “I am convinced it is an international conspiracy.” —Michelle Sabban, a Paris regional councillor
• “Nothing in the world can justify a man being thus thrown to the dogs.” —Philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy
• “If the whole situation isn’t exposed for being a political set-up in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours, Monsieur Strauss-Kahn’s political career is finished.” —Stéphane Rozès, a French polling expert
• “Everyone in the Paris political village knew of Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s pathologic relations with women.” —Marine Le Pen, a right-wing French presidential candidate
• “We all know that he’s rather ‘vigorous,’ if I may say so, but that he’d let himself get caught up in something like this is simply bewildering.” —Christine Boutin, the leader of France’s Christian Democratic Party
• “He was a rutting chimpanzee.” —Tristane Banon, a French journalist who has come forward to accuse Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her nine years ago
• “This comes at just the worst possible time for Europe.” —Eswar Prasad, an international-economics professor at Cornell University
• “This should not impact on the programs for Greece and Ireland or the decisions about Portugal.” —Amadeu Altafaj, a spokesman for the European Commission
• “We believe there is a very, very defensible case.” —Benjamin Brafman, Strauss-Kahn’s attorney