Dominique Strauss-Kahn Arrested: Why It's a Big Deal

Strauss-Kahn had a good chance of becoming France's next President. Moreover, according to polls so far, he is the leading candidate of the leading left-leaning party of France, the Socialist Party, and the leading overall candidate.

If the rape accusations (and allegations that he tried to flee the US to escape justice) against him stick, it would not only end his presidential aspirations. but could also dent the entire left-wing in France in the 2012 elections.

Marine Le Pen, leader of France's biggest staunchly right-wing party, already jumped on Strauss-Kahn's predicament.

According to AP, she said:

The truth, and everyone knows it, is that Paris has buzzed for months if not years in the political and journalistic milieu about the rather pathological relationship that Mr. Strauss-Kahn maintains toward women.

France is at a critical juncture right now and where the French government falls in the left-to-right political spectrum in 2012 matters a lot.

Key issues at stake for France, the European Union, and the international community at large include EU's financial assistance to peripheral European countries, France's military involvement and stance towards authoritarian regimes like Libya, deciding on new entrants to the EU, immigration in France, and nuclear power in France.

Strauss-Kahn is also currently the head of the IMF and libertarian US politician Ron Paul has taken the opportunity to criticize the IMF.

Paul said on Fox News:

These are the kind of people that are running the IMF and we want to turn the world finances and the control of the money supply to them. That should awaken everybody to the fact that they ought to look into the IMF and find out why we shouldn't be sacrificing more sovereignty to an organization like that and an individual like he was.

However, the IMF's power base and continuity hardly depends on Strauss-Kahn; he can be readily replaced with a number of candidates. His rape allegations, therefore, will have limited impact on the Washington D.C.-based organization.