Where in the world is IMF chief Dominique Strauss Kahn?
Meanwhile, the multi-layered Strauss Kahn scandal continues to unfold, with third world countries hoping the outrage will lead to a shakeup in the European monopoly on leading the IMF. That push comes as it is learned that Strauss-Kahn’s accuser is an African woman, from Guinea.
Ironically, Kahn was one of the less horrible IMF leaders, and had been in the forefront of seeking more representation for emerging nations, and less harsh “austerity” measures for those needing bailouts. Which means that Kahn’s downfall (and whether or not he is convicted, he’s done) could mean even more draconian austerity is coming for countries that got crushed by the worldwide banking swindle. (BTW, it looks like it will be left to states to bring the prosecutions for the global meltdown.)
Al Jazeera wonders, is this the end of the French way of looking past a man’s “personal peccadilloes?”
In North Africa, the ICC is pursuing Muommar Gaddafi, and Gaddafi’s envoys are seeking help in Russia.
Wired finds out what Gaddafi’s forces are fighting with.
And the wife of deposed Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak will give back millions of dollars.
Meanwhile, could the ‘Arab spring’ finally spread to Palestine? Young Palestinian activists seem finally to have discovered the power of non-violent, unarmed mass protest. And it could be a nightmare for Israelis, who responded violently to this weekend’s marches, but who if they choose to use violence, will have to do so on a very different world stage.
P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas’ op-ed in the New York Times on Tuesday opens with this:
SIXTY-THREE years ago, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was forced to leave his home in the Galilean city of Safed and flee with his family to Syria. He took up shelter in a canvas tent provided to all the arriving refugees. Though he and his family wished for decades to return to their home and homeland, they were denied that most basic of human rights. That child’s story, like that of so many other Palestinians, is mine.
This month, however, as we commemorate another year of our expulsion — which we call the nakba, or catastrophe — the Palestinian people have cause for hope: this September, at the United Nations General Assembly, we will request international recognition of the State of Palestine on the 1967 border and that our state be admitted as a full member of the United Nations. …
And there are indications that this time, the U.S. won’t stand in the way with a veto.
So what would change if Palestine were recognized by the U.N.? More from Abbas:
Meanwhile, four U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan on Monday by an IED. The four were serving with NATO forces.
This as the U.S. is actually speeding up direct talks with the Taliban in anticipation of a summer start to the pullback of forces.
