France rocked by new twist in DSK case

Revelations last week challenging the credibility of the New York chambermaid who says she was raped by former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn have triggered a whirlwind of speculation, recrimination, and of course good old-fashioned America-bashing in France.

Even before the revelations on Friday and DSK's subsequent release from house arrest, there was already widespread doubt in France that he was guilty. Polling indicated that 57% of French people thought DSK, who was until his arrest the leading contender to challenge Nicolas Sarkozy in next year's presidential election, was set up. The French media was scandalised by the US media's coverage of the case, which they said seemed to be presuming DSK's guilt. They were particularly outraged by the so-called 'perp walk' of a handcuffed DSK in front of the news cameras, something that is illegal to show in France if someone has not been convicted of a crime.

The case against DSK now looks almost certain to be dropped after it emerged that the woman has allegedly worked as a prostitute in the past. It also came to light that she had changed her story to investigators. Rather than reporting the incident to the hotel right away, she actually cleaned another room after the alleged attack and then went back to Strauss-Kahn's room to finish cleaning it.

US focus on French sex attitudes echoes Lewinsky saga

Something is very wrong with France, if we are to believe the Anglophone media commentary this week. The arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund and contender for the French presidency, has provoked some soul-searching in France about whether the media was right to have kept quiet about his history of unwanted sexual advances toward women. This soul-searching has been reported on with fascination by the American and British media. But for many in France, the Anglo-Saxon attention to their national trauma is bordering on smugness.

Back in the late 1990's, the French were quite vocal in their confusion and disgust with the impeachment proceedings against US President Bill Clinton. France has long had an expectation that politician's private lives are just that – private – and should have no relevance to their office. 'What kind of a society would impeach their president because he had an affair?' they asked. In fact the period during the Monica Lewinsky saga was probably the only one in which the French openly talked about their history of philandering presidents – from Mitterand to Chirac – if only to demonstrate how different their society was to America. If their politicians were oversexed "séducteurs" it was none of their business. Indeed, sometimes it was celebrated as a good thing, a sign of a healthy libido.

But what goes around comes around, and it seems that now it’s the Americans' turn to look derisively across the Atlantic, shake their heads and say, 'if only they were more like us.'

IMF arrest rocks French politics

He could have been the next president of France, but instead Dominique Strauss-Kahn sits tonight in a New York City jail. Yesterday's news that the International Monetary Fund head was arrested for attempted rape has sent shock waves throughout Europe. DSK, as he is known in his native France, was set to become the Socialist candidate to challenge French president Nicolas Sarkozy in next year's election. Opinion polls had indicated that he could defeat the French president. Now with DSK out of the picture, France looks set for another five years of Sarkozy.

The French Socialist party has been in disarray for years now, without a clear leader who could defeat Sarkozy. Strauss-Kahn ran for president in 2007, but lost his party's nomination to Segolene Royal (who eventually lost to Sarkozy). After Sarkozy won he nominated Strauss-Kahn to head the IMF, undoubtedly to remove a formidable political enemy from the country. DSK's time at the IMF has been considered successful, as he has navigated the fund through a difficult period of economic crisis and debt bailouts in Europe.

The French media today has been all DSK all the time. It's a political earthquake that has sent the entire country spinning. Some of the media coverage has conjured up conspiracy theories, while others are blaming the "Anglo-Saxon world" for persecuting their poor misunderstood Gallic hero. Some die-hard Socialists are convinced that the whole thing is a set-up by Sarkozy's UMP. The fires of their conspiracy theories have been fanned by the fact that apparently the news was tweeted by a young UMP activist even before the arrest took place. Many have suggested that the maid making the accusation was set up as a honey trap. A poll this week found that 57% of French people believe Strauss-Kahn was set up, and the figure shoots up to 70% among Socialists.