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...banks haven't tottered, but its economy is now starting to. After six years in which growth averaged almost 7% annually, most forecasters expect the economy to expand by less than 4% this year and next. Foreign direct investment poured into Turkey this decade as companies ranging from French insurer Axa to U.S. private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts snapped up Turkish assets. But that flood has now been reduced to a trickle. The burgeoning middle class is starting to curb its free-spending ways, and the nation's two major export industries - automobiles and textiles - are watching nervously...
...That quick avowal has led most French commentators and political insiders to believe that Strauss-Kahn will emerge from the scandal intact as long as no abuse of power is substantiated. If they are right, Strauss-Kahn would escape the fate of former Bush Administration official Paul Wolfowitz, who was forced to resign his job as president of the World Bank in May 2007 after it was established that he had intervened to secure unmerited promotions and severance payments for his female companion, who also worked for the organization...
...expected, this shows Strauss-Kahn was personally cavalier rather than guilty of an offense, then we're likely to see people in France and elsewhere file this away as a private matter," says Dominique Moïsi, senior adviser at the French Institute of International Relations. "From there he'll be judged on how he handles the most critical challenge facing the planet: reforming the world's gravely troubled finance system...
...other international organizations, the dramatic economic situation appears to be dampening any enthusiasm for seeing any more lofty heads fall. Especially in France, rumors are swirling that the initial press leaks of the Strauss-Kahn investigation stemmed from Russian and American rivals who covet his position and fear the French Socialists would favor an inordinately rigorous approach to regulating the global finance system. Nevertheless, some suggest there is little appetite within the IMF for an extended period of uncertainty over its leadership...
...Though his Bush credentials made him very unpopular, the Wolfowitz ouster wound up traumatizing many international organizations - and that was before general crisis set in," says a high-ranking French civil servant who worked with Strauss-Kahn before he won the IMF position. "Strauss-Kahn is viewed as accomplished, smart and very capable. Because of that, the prevailing view seems to be, 'Let's hope this turns out to be nothing, because the IMF and the world really needs this guy to come through...