IMF Leader Arrested After Alleged Sex Attack

reply to post by Reaching


Diallo is a very common name in Western Africa. It's a Fulani name and the article confirms she is a Fulani. It's a pretty common name really, I know a few unrelated Diallos myself.

The article defends the view she can't have been manipulated.
Factual information obtained through an anonymous family member is that she's 32 and has been living in the USA for 13 years. Daughter of a Fulani storekeeper or trader (french 'commerçant' means both, the context here is not enough to clarify the meaning) from Labé, Guinea. Followed her husband, a Guinean storekeeper/trader, in the USA in 1998. She then divorced. She has family in Harlem, including a sister married to a Guinean import/export trader.
She has a Green Card. She is working as a maid for Sofitel for 3 years. She has a reputation of being reliable (it's unclear if the last bits are still from the anonymous family member).

According to 'another cousin we also got on the phone' (implying the first source was a cousin ?), 'she is a hard worker much like her sister'. Her relatives, from a large family of merchants of Guinea, have not yet spoken with her. Like everyone else, they have read the press but they hope that the assault took proportions 'less important' than what is reported.

Mamadou Chérif Diallo, a relative of the victim, a 35 years-old Guinean working for a NYC agency and charged with representing the family says: 'She is a good Muslim. She is really pretty, like many Fulani women, but in our culture, we do not accept this type of aggression. Frankly, Dominique Strauss-Kahn has fallen on the wrong person! It is a scandal and it's really sad, this accident !'
(I would have said SHE has fallen on the wrong person ! Let's say it's hard to find words to tell the press when you are not used to.)

The rest isn't really relevant, a last interesting quote from Mamaoud Chérif Diallo, was she manipulated ?
'No, no, no ! People must understand that here we live in communities and Nafissatou lives in her community, the Fulani of Guinea, and she is not interested in politics. She has no right to vote in the U.S. and does not even participate in our Guinean political associations.'

reply to post by Manouche


Thanks very much for the translation Manouche. It's especially useful to know that theirs is a common surname.

Another example of how inaccurate the details of this story have been is the fact that the accuser was originally referred to as a widow. Now she's divorced.

She went from being a widow from Ghana to a divorced woman from Guinea. Regardless of which side of the fence anyone is on, I hope we can all agree that this demonstrates there has been some pretty poor reporting in this case.

When this story broke I didn't have a strong opinion about whether he was innocent or guilty, but the more I read, the more I believe he was set up.

DSK may have had a stroke of bad luck in having to appear before the judge who deemed him a flight risk.

Here's some information on judge Melissa Jackson:

"The judge accused Foxy Brown of not really being deaf - when all medical reports publicly discussed by doctors indicate she is deaf! The worst part in my opinion is when the judge shouted at an officer to "hit her" when she resisted being handcuffed due to the bangles on her hand getting in the way."

www.judiciaryreport.com...

Those who argue that Kahn is being discrimiated against, and should be presumed innocent by the general public also think that people should presume that all people who make allegations ARE guilty of being liars and greedy blackmailers.

Isn't it interesting that people want to protect the accused, but have no problem finding the accusers guilty of a heap of social, religious, moral and common-law crimes.

Originally posted by Reaching
reply to post by Manouche

 

When this story broke I didn't have a strong opinion about whether he was innocent or guilty, but the more I read, the more I believe he was set up.

In my humble opinion it is because you only read stuff that validates your view and skip everything else. It does not matter how much you read then...

For example, a couple of posts ago you wrote:
"As for the reporter who has come forward with allegations..... 10 years later? Her name is now known around the world. That's good news for her career."

I have written more than once in this thread about how she spoke about this in a tv interview already 2007, which makes her more believable, but Strauss-Kahns name was not mentioned then (it was bleeped out) and I've provided a link to a reputable source: www.guardian.co.uk...

It was for the sake of the career that she shut up back then, because: "I didn't want to be known to the end of my days as the girl who had a problem with the politician."

reply to post by pimpinette


You know what? Now she will be known to the end of her days as the girl who had a problem with a politician but hey, at least she has the glamor shot go with her image. Transparent.

Originally posted by Reaching
reply to post by pimpinette

 

Transparent.

Yes, you are.

Originally posted by Reaching
reply to post by pimpinette

 

You know what? Now she will be known to the end of her days as the girl who had a problem with a politician but hey, at least she has the glamor shot go with her image. Transparent.

I see you have a very in-dept knowledge of how the media works. It is of course the people they write about that picks the photos. Doh!
Since she has a career as a writer, with four books, the publishing company at some point of course arranged for press pictures to be taken. Yes, she had the audacity to continue her life and career, when she should have been content with the glory of almost being raped by DSK.

Both sides are following the same pattern of generally ignoring the other side's comments and arguments. No side can claim higher morals or better intellect. We are all forming an opinion from distorted and inconsistant media 'facts' because that's all we have. We are all forming an opinion based on our judgment but prejudices and biases too. DSK is French, Jewish, socialist and head of the IMF, ok, stop it, already too many reasons for an ATS member to show bias. It's not as if most members weren't strongly politically-motivated, is it ?

I think a discussion between to opposite sides can sometimes be interesting and constructive. What's disgraceful and saddening is when one is willing to 'fight' for his view formed on so little facts. Let's admit humbly, all of us, we don't know much and are only speculating. In unison and with understanding will be better.

I give credence to Banon's testimony but she hasn't faced contradiction until now since she didn't file a complaint. She says herself she can understand why people won't take her word. I will take it as it is, allegations at the moment.
That she talked about it in 2007 doesn't change anything, a wrong repeated twice is not a right. In 2007, Strauss-Kahn was already high-profile and subject to attacks on his reputation.

No, That is not what is happening.

People would like to suggest that those who do not immediately fly to the defense of this man are "against" him and prone to bias.

While they lambast the alleged victim over and over and claim this is not bias.

He is NO MORE entitled to special treatment than any other citizen, and this fact bothers those who want these people to be treated "special."

The Special People, and their suck-ups can kiss my arse.

They are offended he's been charged AT ALL. That he might be in JAIL, like A COMMON CRIMINAL. Common being the real stickler.

That he doesn't get to freshen up and special treatment - which he *IS* getting just like all rich white collar criminals do.

He gets EXACTLY what everyone else gets, and the people who think he deserves more are nothing up a bunch of dithering suck ups.

reply to post by Aeons


I was referring to my perspective on the reporter's motives.

Your comment was very disrespectful. I hope you're aware that regardless of whether ATS Members agree, they are expected to be courteous.

Originally posted by coquine
I'm curious to know why he was staying in a hotel when he has his own apartment in Manhattan.

There is something fishy there........

I have the immediate knee jerk reaction of judging this guy guilty myself, because I don't like him and I hope to god the socialists do not get the presidency through anyone. But I can't allow that to cloud my objectivity!

Is it possible he took the room because a meeting for a sexual encounter had been planned, by him or by someone else?

Though I can perhaps consider the possibility of a spontaneous acting out in a rape, concerning someone in the public eye (losing control) I find it hard to consider they would carefully plan out an attck of that sort- or at least if they did, they'd plan it out more carefully than this- such powerful predators would have arranged to have the victim taken out of the picture imediately afterwards.

So it makes me wonder if he hadn't had a sexual meeting planned with a hooker, or a "friend of a friend" type of thing, and either he was set up, or mistook that woman for the one he was expecting?

I don't know, I am brainstorming on why he was in that hotel in the first place.....

Good questions, Coquine.

Originally posted by jefwane
I have absolutely no problem believing that the head of an institution that routinely rapes entire countries wouldn't think twice about taking what he wants from a lowly little maid.

However, I came across an article that implies that he might have been exposed to a little more than some non-consensual booty love.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn may have more to worry about than a possible prison sentence. The IMF chief's alleged sex-assault victim lives in a Bronx apartment rented exclusively for adults with HIV or AIDS, The Post has learned. The hotel maid, a West African immigrant, has occupied the fourth-floor High Bridge pad with her 15-year-old daughter since January -- and before that, lived in another Bronx apartment set aside by Harlem Community AIDS United strictly for adults with the virus and their families. Read more: www.nypost.com...

From NY Post

I'm not going to lie reading that made me happy.

What if this report is true? If DSK is infected that would be a kind of karmic justice.

Originally posted by Reaching
A link to an article about DSK's accuser Nafissatou Diallo is pasted below.

She is a Muslim single mother who is raising her 15-year-old daughter in the Bronx. She is from the West African nation of Guinea, and indicates that she is in NYC on a work visa.

As this piece is written in French, if anyone could offer a synopsis of its details, it would be helpful.

www.slate.fr...

According to Wikipedia, Guinea is one of the poorest countries in the world. Here is an interesting little factoid about the IMF's relationship with Guinea:

"In 2002, the IMF suspended Guinea's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) because the government failed to meet key performance criteria. In reviews of the PRGF, the World Bank noted that Guinea had met its spending goals in targeted social priority sectors. However, spending in other areas, primarily defense, contributed to a significant fiscal deficit. The loss of IMF funds forced the government to finance its debts through Central Bank advances. The pursuit of unsound economic policies has resulted in imbalances that are proving hard to correct. Under then-Prime Minister Diallo, the government began a rigorous reform agenda in December 2004 designed to return Guinea to a PRGF with the IMF."

Diallo must be a common surname as both DSK's accuser and the nation's former Prime Minister, who was involved in dealings with the IMF, share this name....

The plot thickens. I find it very interesting that the maid comes from a former French colony. Ghana, on the other hand, was British at one time.

I'm sure there is much more to this story than what appears on the surface.

Originally posted by Manouche
reply to post by Reaching

 

Diallo is a very common name in Western Africa. It's a Fulani name and the article confirms she is a Fulani. It's a pretty common name really, I know a few unrelated Diallos myself.

The article defends the view she can't have been manipulated.
Factual information obtained through an anonymous family member is that she's 32 and has been living in the USA for 13 years. Daughter of a Fulani storekeeper or trader (french 'commerçant' means both, the context here is not enough to clarify the meaning) from Labé, Guinea. Followed her husband, a Guinean storekeeper/trader, in the USA in 1998. She then divorced. She has family in Harlem, including a sister married to a Guinean import/export trader.
She has a Green Card. She is working as a maid for Sofitel for 3 years. She has a reputation of being reliable (it's unclear if the last bits are still from the anonymous family member).

According to 'another cousin we also got on the phone' (implying the first source was a cousin ?), 'she is a hard worker much like her sister'. Her relatives, from a large family of merchants of Guinea, have not yet spoken with her. Like everyone else, they have read the press but they hope that the assault took proportions 'less important' than what is reported.

Mamadou Chérif Diallo, a relative of the victim, a 35 years-old Guinean working for a NYC agency and charged with representing the family says: 'She is a good Muslim. She is really pretty, like many Fulani women, but in our culture, we do not accept this type of aggression. Frankly, Dominique Strauss-Kahn has fallen on the wrong person! It is a scandal and it's really sad, this accident !'
(I would have said SHE has fallen on the wrong person ! Let's say it's hard to find words to tell the press when you are not used to.)

The rest isn't really relevant, a last interesting quote from Mamaoud Chérif Diallo, was she manipulated ?
'No, no, no ! People must understand that here we live in communities and Nafissatou lives in her community, the Fulani of Guinea, and she is not interested in politics. She has no right to vote in the U.S. and does not even participate in our Guinean political associations.'

Thank you, Manouche, for the translation. My French is pretty bad, even armed with my Oxford Hachette. "Parent" in French means blood relative, not parent -- as I would have assumed.

The fact that the maid is from Guinea (a former French colony, ruled by dictators since independence and with bad history with the IMF) makes me think she is an even more likely victim of extortion.

In other words, she did not do this for money, but the people who have forced her to bear false witness against DSK, have something on her or her family.

Originally posted by Reaching
reply to post by Manouche

 

Thanks very much for the translation Manouche. It's especially useful to know that theirs is a common surname.

Another example of how inaccurate the details of this story have been is the fact that the accuser was originally referred to as a widow. Now she's divorced.

She went from being a widow from Ghana to a divorced woman from Guinea. Regardless of which side of the fence anyone is on, I hope we can all agree that this demonstrates there has been some pretty poor reporting in this case.

When this story broke I didn't have a strong opinion about whether he was innocent or guilty, but the more I read, the more I believe he was set up.

So much MSM misinformation. I agree, the case for a set up grows stronger.

reply to post by Reaching


Some people learn to hate those who become prey for their weakness. They see the World as Hammers and Nails, and hate the Nails and cheer the Hammers. Thinking that by sucking up to the Hammers, they'll never be Nails.

Blaming the victims - THAT's offensive.

reply to post by Aeons


I really hope my suspicions that this is a set up are correct, not because I need to be right, but because I hate the thought of a woman having to endure such violence and indignity.

Originally posted by Aeons
reply to post by Reaching

 

Some people learn to hate those who become prey for their weakness. They see the World as Hammers and Nails, and hate the Nails and cheer the Hammers. Thinking that by sucking up to the Hammers, they'll never be Nails.

Blaming the victims - THAT's offensive.

And some people characterize those who question the official line as being near-rapists themselves, which from my perspective would appear to be off topic character assassination and not related to any of the actual facts or reports in regard to the specific case.

Some thoughts I can't get rid of and may get me yelled at.

Between 12 am and 2 pm is a busy time in a hotel, guests check in, check out. Rooms have to be cleaned quickly before new guests arrive. I don't remember seeing one maid going on her own, I have usually seen several maids working on the same floor, sometimes helping each other out to change the sheets, it's quicker. Was she alone on the floor ? I have had tiny rooms cleaned up by two maids. Changing the sheets, doing the bathroom, vacuum cleaning, the bare minimum in a 3000$ suite. Doesn't it at least need two maids ? There must be a standard procedure. I was picturing it as a team job. I may be wrong.

The maid entered a suite with a guest. How did the mistake happen ? Was she looking for another suite but got confused ? Or did she wrongly think the guest had left and why ? She has probably knocked at the door, nobody answered, she entered. Has someone read or heard about it ?