The arrest of Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on charges of sexual assault in New York City has been the occasion for all sorts of salacious gossip and speculation.
It has prompted the usual arguments about the differences in French and American culture — legal, journalistic and sexual — and the inevitable dark musings about conspiracies.
We leave those ruminations to the professionals; instead we will focus on the implications of Mr. Strauss-Kahn's predicament for both international economic governance and French politics. After his arrest, Mr. Strauss-Kahn resigned his position as managing director of the IMF.