Berlusconi - media mogul, prime minister, sex trafficker, etc..

Silvio Berlusconi has a long and extensive CV which includes entries such as mafioso, prime minister of Italy, media mogul, president of AC Milan, singer/songwriter and, only recently, sex trafficker.

He was in fact mentioned in the Trafficking in Persons Report 2011 published by the U.S. Department of State for facilitating child prostitution, due to his involvement in the infamous Rubygate.

To be totally honest, Berlusconi is still under trial for underage prostitution, and therefore innocent until proven guilty, but his mention in the report is definitely a further embarrassment for the country. I believe that in every other democratic country he would have no choice but to resign, how in Italy he is still allowed to stay in power is beyond my understanding.

The Minister of Defence travels in style

Just a few days ago I wrote an entry on how the Italian police is fundraising in order to buy petrol for their cars, following the Government spending cuts. Well, the cuts have obviously not affected the ministry of defence, which has recently acquired not one, but 19 new Maseratis.

The evil-looking Minister of Defence Ignazio La Russa, claimed that the cars were ordered a few years ago - silly excuse as Italy wasn't in a much better economic climate anyway.

Maurizio Caprino authored a very unbiased blog post for il Sole 24 Ore website, explaining that the cars might actually have been a good choice in terms of value for money, but still it seems that there was no good reason to justify such purchase.

Now, I know that this type of news can be easily blown out of proportion just to create scandal and that there might be a necessity for the ministry to owe such cars, but the point is that in Italy there is always a lack of transparency and politicians are allowed to do pretty much whatever they want with the tax-payers money. It is significant to point out that while the budget for the police was heavily reduced, the budget for the auto blu (cars used by politicians) has not been touched. These cars should only been used for work and official purposes, but they are notoriously used from pretty much everything, including going to football matches.

Beelzebub Ignazio La Russa

The Dangerous Buffoon

The thing I notice the most when I read Berlusconi-related news in the UK is that nobody takes him seriously anymore; they see him as a buffoon, but they seem to forget that he's the leader of one of the largest European economies and his poor management of the country can have effects on a global scale.

Tim Parks wrote a very good commentary for the Evening Standard. The title makes a very good point "Berlusconi's leering pantomime could hurt us all"...it is a pantomime, but one to be taken seriously. Mr. Parks also well describes the frustration of many italians (including myself):

"Why aren't Italians tearing their hair out in exasperation? Some are. But for the past decade and more, Berlusconi has enjoyed almost total control of the country's television, and the message has been that the economy is sound. An enormous number of people buy into that. Denial is always comfortable. Others comment with amused irony, as if all this were happening on another planet."

Well, my hope is that those Italians who are in exasperation are actually the majority of the country, and this exasperation will be reflected in a defeat for Berlusconi's party in the next elections. However, my worry is that we are still a minority, and the brainwashed ones his supporters will want to secure five more years of denial.

Berlusconi resigning?

Rumours of a possible resignation of Silvio Berlusconi before Christmas have set the web on fire this morning. Nothing has been confirmed, and to be honest I don't want to set my hopes too high, but if confirmed, the news will definitely be welcomed by many.

My question is, given that polls show an all-time low in the popularity of the Italian Prime Minister, wouldn't this be political suicide? Knowing him, probably not.

The opposition in Italy is still not strong enough, they still haven't got a leader that could run for elections if called too early, and most of all, they do not have a political programme. I feel that the past campaigns of the left in Italy have been disastrous, it seems that all they can do is to argue against everything that Berlusconi says, rather than come up with something new. He does cast a big shadow, but the opposition's best bet would be, in my opinion, to simply try to forget about him. Someone said that all publicity is good publicity, and this is definitely true. If in Italy we can't have a political debate without mentioning him, then we won't be able to move on.

Thinking about elections next spring makes me excited, but am not sure if I should be more scared instead?

Aren't you tired Mr. Berlusconi?

Merkel and Sarkozy on Berlusconi

This video has gone totally viral already.

When asked whether they trusted Berlusconi and its commitment to reforms, Angela Merkel and Nicholas Sarkozy simply looked at each other and laughed.

Berlusconi is clearly perceived as nothing more than a joke by his peers, but unfortunately his actions are not laughing matter and the whole Europe will be affected by his non-existent economic strategy.

A Mediterranean Spring?

I was just reading this article from the Guardian, on the Tunisian bloggers  that have been so instrumental to the revolution that started an avalanche of revolutions in the Arab world and is eventually leading to the country's first free elections.

I wonder whether the Arab spring will finally infect Italy next spring, when we might have the chance of new elections? Also in Italy there is a lively online community of people against the system that share news outside the traditional media controlled by the dwarf Berlusconi.

It's very telling that even high profile journalists like Michele Santoro find the web as the only mean to keep expressing their opinions. Mr. Santoro is a left wing journalist and TV presenter that until last year presented Anno Zero, a programme on Rai 2 (RAI is the Italian public television but it's heavily controlled by the Government) which week, in week out received great ratings. RAI decided to stop the programme, a very odd decision as the programme was among the most successful for the broadcaster. The decision doesn't seem odd from a political perspective, as Santoro was alway very critical of the Berlusconi Government.

As a last resolution Mr Santoro has launched the website Servizio Pubblico "Public Service", a tongue in cheek reference to the public service, which RAI is supposed to offer, but is no longer doing due to political pressure. He will also start a new TV programme that will air mainly online and on a series of local and digital channels.

This clearly shows that there are many people in Italy going against the establishment, but how many people still rely only on the traditional media, and are therefore unlikely to be exposed to any anti-Berlusconi or even factual news? Let's no forget that Italy has an ageing population. And Italians love TV. Which is bad news as the quality of the TV programmes in Italy is terrible.

With Berlusconi controlling Mediaset, the main private TV broadcaster, and his Government also controlling the public TV, it's clear that freedom of speech is no longer granted in Italy.

David vs Goliath / Santoro vs Berlusconi

Inappropriate things to say when someone dies...

...in the specific, when a dictator that you've been a**-kissing until not long ago dies..

Silvio Berlusconi: "Sic transit gloria mundi" - a sentence normally used when someone great dies, not for a dictator...ok, we know that he thought you about Bunga Bunga parties, but still...

David Cameron: 'People in Libya today have an even greater chance after this news of building themselves a strong and democratic future.' - democratic? Really...let's not talk about democracy when somebody is summarily executed like that, but it's good that you care about the oil democratic future of Libya, Mr Cameron.


To end this post, just a couple of pictures to remind us just what hypocrites our leaders are: 

OK, not David Cameron, but same thing

Berlusconi kissing Gaddafi's hands