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Pressure mounts on Kahn to quit
[Bangla Daily Star] Confined to a jail cell, his reputation in tatters and facing serious criminal charges, Dominique Strauss-Kahn is almost certainly on his way out as head of the International Monetary Fund. But the question remains is who will replace him.

US said Kahn is "not in a position to run" the International Monetary Fund as Japan said it is too early to discuss the matter, escalating a chaos that started with his arrest over an alleged sexual assault on Saturday. The alleged assault on a maid happened at New York's luxury Sofitel hotel on May 14.

Strauss-Kahn - who denies the claims - has been put on suicide watch in the city's infamous Rikers Island prison.

Addressing the Harvard Club in New York on Tuesday, Geithner, US treasury secretary, said the most important thing for the IMF was that it found a leader to fill Strauss-Kahn's shoes.

"He is obviously not in a position to run the IMF," Geithner said. "It is important that the board of the IMF formally put in place for an interim period someone to act as managing director."
They do have a second-in-command, don't they?
Number Twos are sometimes best suited to remaining second in command. Especially when the top job demands someone with a resplendent resume' to properly ornament society in the name of the organization. Perhaps the next top guy should be a disenfranchised prince or something.
It is the first time that a top official from President Barack B.O. Obama's administration has publicly spoken about the impact of Strauss-Kahn's alleged sexual assault.

Washington has a major say in determining who runs the IMF, because it has the largest number of votes in the organisation.

Strauss-Kahn is not due back in court until Friday - and there are growing calls for the IMF to fill the leadership vacuum, the BBC's Steve Kingstone in Washington reports.

Jean-Francois Cope, the leader of the French governing UMP party demanded the replacement of Kahn must be named "in the coming days.
"And he must be another eminent Frenchman. No other could handle the job with such panache and savoir faire," he added.
"I don't see how he can carry out the job as managing director of the IMF. So, by definition, this question will have to be settled in the coming days," the UMP leader Jean-Francois Cope told news hounds after a party meeting.

Earlier, Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter said Strauss-Kahn was "hurting" the organisation.

Meanwhile,
...back at the argument, Jane reached into her purse for her .38...
 Japan, the second largest donor after the United States to the IMF, said yesterday it was too early to discuss replacement of Kahn.
Japan doesn't want their money to go to the bottomless pit that is Greece, perhaps.
"On this point, I think it's premature to even consider," government front man Yukio Edano told news hounds when asked whether a successor should come from Europe again, Asia or another part of the world.

Division is also potent in selecting region from where the next IMF chief will be selected.

South Africa yesterday said the new head of the International Monetary Fund should come from a developing nation opposing a German claim that vacuum should be filled from Europe. A European should take the top job at the International Monetary Fund if the position opens up soon, given that the eurozone debt crisis is the fund's central issue, said Germany.

Government front man Christoph Steegmans said Europe has "an abundance of highly qualified candidates" to replace Kahn if needed.

Emerging powers including China believe it is time for Europe, the IMF's biggest capital contributor, and the United States, its home, to reconsider arrangements to share leadership at the IMF and World Bank between the two.

"South Africa calls for a candidate from a developing country to be given the opportunity to be the managing director of the IMF," Pravin Gordhan, South Africa's finance minister, said in a statement. "Such a candidate will bring a new perspective that will ensure that the interests of all countries, both developed and developing, are fully reflected in the operations and policies of the IMF."
When the developing world can fund the IMF, we'll see...
French finance minister Christine Lagarde has emerged as a possible replacement to Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Meanwhile,
...back at the sea battle, the Terror of the Baltic's career had come to an abrupt and watery end...
 the lawyer for Strauss-Kahn's alleged victim says his client, a 32-year-old hotel maid, is living through an "extraordinary" trauma and is now in hiding.

"It's not just my opinion that this woman is honest," Jeffrey Shapiro said. "The New York City Police Department (NYPD) reached the same conclusion. This is a woman with no agenda."

Kahn, 62, who had been seen as a favourite in La Belle France's 2012 presidential elections, faces seven charges and could be sentenced to up to 25 years in jail if proven.
Everyone in France apparently knows the man is a libertine, which apparently in his case means more than that he trifles with the affections of innocent young women.

Posted by: Fred 2011-05-19
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=322854