Talks in Greek Crisis at Key Juncture … The arrest of the head of the International Monetary Fund in New York on Saturday comes at an especially sensitive time for its most high-profile project: saving Greece from default … After last year's rescue of Greece, I.M.F. and European officials have now, for the most part, accepted that Greece will require another 60 billion euros in aid in order to see it through 2011 and 2012. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the I.M.F. managing director, who was taken off an airplane destined for Paris and charged with attempted rape, had been reportedly due to meet on Sunday with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and to attend meetings in Brussels on Monday to discuss Portugal's economic crisis. – New York Times

Dominant Social Theme: The fall of this titan is almost too much to bear. It couldn't come at a worse time. Who can replace him?

Free-Market Analysis: The mainstream media was in visible mourning yesterday with dominant social themes and sub-dominant social themes pummeling the innocent Western world. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, whose alleged predilection for seduction was apparently an open secret, was removed from a plane over the weekend and charged with sexual assault in America. With this simple act, American law enforcement unleashed a thousand elite memes, as Helen of Troy once was responsible for a thousand ships.

Unlike, say, US President Barack Obama, we do not celebrate another man's downfall, much less his death, but as a paper covering the memes of the elite, we must admit the arrest of the IMF honcho provides a bonanza of analytical occurrences.

In no particular order they include the rigor and uncorrupt ability of American law enforcement, the equal treatment under the law in America for everyone (which can be seen by the 99 percent Federal conviction rate) and perhaps most importantly The End of the World as We Know It Following Arrest of This Irreplaceable Choo-Choo of Prosperity.

This last meme is the one that was being flogged the most by the mainstream media. We can see it clearly in the New York Times article excerpted above. Without Strauss-Kahn's brilliance, work ethic (and insistence on fresh flowers every day at IMF's Washington headquarters), a number of critical negotiations were said to be jeopardized.

OK, sarcasm off. This situation is actually nothing to joke about. It is actually a personal tragedy for Strauss-Kahn (though he is said to be set to plead not guilty), for the poor individual he allegedly assaulted, and a setback for both the IMF and Europe. Here's some more from the Times, which captures the reality of the situation:

The melancholy news of Strauss-Kahn's incarceration, due no doubt to a misunderstanding, caused absolute havoc in Europe. Portugal and Spain suffered back-to-back earthquakes and a number of commercial banks declared they would go out of business on Monday. The euro bond market sank to its lowest level since its inception and several junior IMF officials committed suicide.

A number of attractive junior, female journalists on the staffs of the BBC, Reuters and Al Jazeera were said to have breathed sighs of relief but throughout Southern Europe, currencies, crashed and whole business districts were said to be burning out of control. Riots struck major cities throughout Europe and following a run of foodstuffs and resources around the world it was said that the entire developing world was teetering on the edge of incipient famine.

It is not too much to say that the Strauss-Kahn's arrest, warranted or not, has jeopardized the very survival of billions and destabilized not only the European Union, but even the physical integrity of the continent. As of this writing several volcanoes – dormant for millions of years – were said to be rumbling back to life and most ominously of all a pall of smoke was seen spreading out from Mount Vesuvius.

As the European Union itself for some reason had placed most of its non-Brussels bureaucratic offices in New Pompeii, it is likely that an eruption of Vesuvius shall cover some of the most necessary workings of EU in lava and virtually paralyze the larger mechanisms of regional government. Unless Strauss-Kahn is released from jail it is probably not too strong to suggest that Fate of Civilization hangs in the balance and perhaps the very survival of mankind.

The Times also points out that Strauss-Kahn and Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou had "engaged in private discussion months before the 110 billion euro rescue last year." While this reinforces the man-on-the-street's view that "that IMF technocrats are responsible for Greece's economic problems," It also shows how deeply involved Strauss-Kahn's was personally in the Greek bailout, according to the Times.

Not only this, but despite Strauss-Kahn's high-testosterone charm, cooperation has "been spotty at best." In fact, the Times claims that Greek bureaucrats tend to view the IMF as "spies" working for Brussels and Washington and that further Greek bailout discussions (say, weren't they were illegal to begin with?) have been "tense" and "edgy."

The Times goes so far as to suggest that "Fund experts," (say, what exactly is an IMF "expert" – someone skilled at pushing teetering economies off the proverbial cliff?) are frustrated that Greek politicians that have not imposed more "reforms" (oh, laughable word) including more privatization, more cuts in public sector employment and more "flexibility" for private sector employers to hire and fire workers.

Fortunately, the Times intimates, not all is lost. If the world by some chance does not end within the next 24 hours, it is possible that the IMF's No. 2 executive, John Lipsky, "a former U.S. Treasury executive and onetime banker at JP Morgan," shall take over in the event of a criminal investigation. The Times tells us that as first deputy managing director of the IMF, Lipsky has been "overseeing the logistics of the Greek program." This is of course an endorsement.

Our view, extreme as many might think it, is that if every UN agency vanished from the face of the earth, the globe would be a much better place. That includes non-UN agencies like the World Bank and BIS. The IMF in particular does nothing but wreak havoc on people unlucky enough to be living in nations where their psychopathic leaders have squirreled away billions leaving their countries unable to pay their bills.

The IMF's prescriptions are always the same – and never work. Taxes are raised, services are cut and national assets are sold off to favored (Anglo-American) bidders. If leaders don't go along, their countries are bullied. If countries remove themselves from the IMF's prophylactic measures, they may end up like Argentina once did, with its entire middle class metaphorically (if not actually) picking through dumpsters to find a meal.

If only the Anglosphere elite would simply take a vacation, stop printing fiat money, stop passing nonsensical laws that put millions of innocent people in prison and ruin their families, and stop fomenting wars that murder and poison millions to keep in power! This would actually be a service to the world – were the elites to stop "helping" it. But that is not likely to happen anytime soon.

Instead we will likely be subjected to more media spin and more articles like the one in the New York Times bemoaning the fate of Irreplaceable Men. It is part of the larger dominant social theme that some people are simply born to rule others and that it is no accident that the power elite has the money and power it does. We don't believe it of course. The power elite gains its power by illegally manipulating government rules for personal gain – and there's nothing especially admirable about these sorts of activities.

Editor's Note: Was He Set Up? Global Research has recently posted a most interesting article claiming that IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was likely captured in a so-called "honey trap." Strauss-Kahn, the article points out, had enemies in high places and the whole matter "stinks to high-Heaven." Strauss-Kahn had recently broke-free from the "party line," the article explains and was changing the direction of the IMF.

Evidence? Progressive economist Joseph Stiglitz in a recent article titled "The IMF's Switch in Time" made the following points: "The annual spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund was notable in marking the Fund's effort to distance itself from its own long-standing tenets on capital controls and labor-market flexibility. It appears that a new IMF has gradually, and cautiously, emerged under the leadership of Dominique Strauss-Kahn."

And here's a key paragraph: "Strauss-Kahn had set out on a 'kinder and gentler' path, one that would not force foreign leaders to privatize their state-owned industries or crush their labor unions. Naturally, his actions were not warmly received by the bankers and corporatists who look to the IMF to provide legitimacy to their ongoing plunder of the rest of the world. These are the people who think that the current policies are just fine, because they produce the results they're looking for, which is bigger profits for themselves and deeper poverty for everyone else.

The article suggests that there is not going to be any change at the IMF, moving it in a more distributive and less exploitative direction. "Strauss-Kahn broke ranks and ventured into no man's land," the article concludes. "That's why he was set up and then crushed like a bug."

Additionally, the article notes that Strauss-Kahn is being replaced by the IMF's number 2, "John Lipsky, former Vice Chairman of the JPMorgan Investment Bank." How's that for change you can believe in? the article asks.

Edited on date of publication. The italic material "from the New York Times" in the MIDDLE of first article was developed by DB Elves and is intended as a joke. Do not therefore take it seriously or attempt such things at home (as injury may occur).

But this is the spin, nonetheless, as can be seen by the New York Times article quoted above. Every word we quoted from the article was true by the way. (You thought we made up the part in italics but we didn't.) It really is amazing what the Times has come to. And who would believe Brussels Eurocrats would export their most critical functions and place essential assets in a series of million-square-meter offices in Pompeii directly below an active volcano? Surely they are cleverer than that!