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The Manhattan District Attorney handling the Strauss-Kahn case is called Cyrus Vance Jr. And if you are old enough that the name sounds familiar, it is because he is the son of a former US Secretary of State, the late Cyrus Vance, who served in President Jimmy Carter's cabinet.

Even after he left government, Vance senior spent years being recalled to help in diplomatic negotiations around the world.

And according to one of his law partners with whom I had dinner years ago, when Vance travelled, he always took his wife. Reason: the tall and lanky former secretary of state -- known as 'Spider' to his friends -- had the kind of back trouble that often comes with that sort of vertical build.