DSK

Plenty has been said about his interview last night, which naturally enough I watched live.  Claire Chazal, the journalist who interviewed him, is not known for her hard questioning, and she is anyway a close friend of DSK's wife, who stood by him throughout. I found him dignified, truthful and not making excuses.  The only way to be.  It was remarked afterwards that his interview bore striking similarities to the statement made by Bill Clinton after he had been caught.  The difference is of course that Bill lied at first, and DSK did not.  But this has something to do with the difference in climate between America and Europe.  For those who don't understand French, DSK said there had been no violence in that hotel room, and that no-one had  been forced, nor was any payment asked for or received.  He also said that Nafissatou Diallo, the other person in the room at the time, had lied in her statements to prosecutors.  It seems clear that she did, and that that was the reason why the case was dropped.  There remains a civil case against DSK, and if that is successful the plaintiff is going to make some money.  So there it is.  Quiet dignity, and exonerated of crime.  I am a feminist, but (you knew there was going to be a "but", didn't you?) the women demonstrating outside the TV studio last night might have done better to turn their protest against the ghetto culture in the banlieues of French cities which sees girls treated routinely as meat by their contemporaries, and sold by their families as marriageable commodities.  The criminal justice system has found DSK innocent. Let's move on.