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By Saul Landau
$34.95
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By Chris Hedges
$19.00
$18
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From the BBC: “Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been hit in the face and knocked to the ground after a political rally in Milan.” Update: Video
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AP / Keystone, Peter Klaunzer
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Recognizing that this week’s popular vote to forbid the building of minarets in Switzerland represented a blatant show of religious intolerance it couldn’t ignore, an association of Jewish organizations is expressing its strong disagreement with the ban and calling on Swiss leaders to defend religious freedom.
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Flickr / lightmatter
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Twenty-three CIA agents are going to have to think twice about leaving the U.S. now that an Italian court has convicted them in absentia for snatching an imam in Milan and sending him to Egypt, where the cleric says he was tortured. (continued)
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orbiscatholicus.com
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An Italian mom’s wish for her kids to have a secular education provided the catalyst for a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights to bar crucifixes from being displayed in Italy’s classrooms. Needless to say, the court’s decision didn’t sit well with the Vatican.
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telegraph.co.uk
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It’s not clear whether the editors of Newsweek believe they hold any diplomatic power, but they’ve gone ahead and told Italy to “dump” its scandal magnet of a prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, in the magazine’s European edition this week. Let’s see whether Time can top this.
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flowtv.org
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Channeling Muhammad Ali bravado with a Kanye sensibility, Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi has declared himself as “the best prime minister,” inferior to no one in history and the “most legally persecuted man of all times.”
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Wikimedia Commons / Agência Brasil
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Italy’s colorful prime minister is in a heap of legal trouble now that the country’s high court has stripped him of immunity. Despite facing charges of corruption, bribery, tax evasion and fraud, Silvio Berlusconi stayed in character, saying, “The trials against me are a farce. Viva Italia and Viva Berlusconi!”
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Flickr / Robert Scoble
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Annie Leibovitz may be the most famous portrait photographer in the world. According to one angry Italian, she’s also a thief. Paolo Pizzetti is suing Leibovitz for allegedly using his photos in a calendar without permission. She’s also on the hook for a $24-million loan and could lose the rights to her work.
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telegraph.co.uk
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Everyone’s favorite world leader/womanizer is in the news again after a film director accused the Italian prime minister of censorship. Italian state television has refused to show a film trailer that accuses Silvio Berlusconi of creating a “frivolous media culture,” and many think the PM’s incredible influence over the media has something to do with it.
Posted on Sep 3, 2009
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Wikimedia Commons/Agência Brasil
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Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is aiming to do some serious image rehab after taking a beating in the European press this summer for his alleged sexual indiscretions. To that end, Berlusconi is pulling out the legal big guns and going after publications in France, Italy, Spain and Britain for besmirching his reputation.
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thawstudio.com
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In the face of strong conservative Catholic opposition, Italy has approved use of the RU486 abortion drug. Italian authorities decided to allow the drug to be administered by a doctor up to the seventh week of pregnancy.
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highvolumemedia.com
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In the spirit of the poignant critiques of capitalism made popular by Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI has written a scathing letter just in time for the capitalist G-8 economic summit in Italy that demands we find a “profoundly new way of understanding business enterprise.”
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Rainer Hachfeld, Neues Deutschland, Germany —
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Flickr / michal_hadassah
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Three Italian women academics have called upon the wives of world leaders attending the G-8 summit in Italy next month to boycott the gathering in a stance against Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi’s “sexist” and “offensive” attitude toward women. Could they be referring to his harem of call girls, his rumored affair with an 18-year-old, or his nominations of ex-showgirls to the European Parliament?
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White House / Eric Draper
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You may have heard about the scandalously overpriced presidential helicopters the U.S. had ordered from Italy, but did you know they may have been a payoff for forged intelligence used to sell the war in Iraq? It’s all a part of “a web of conspiracy and deceit,” says journalist Paolo Pontoniere.
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White House / Eric Draper
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You may have heard about the scandalously overpriced presidential helicopters the U.S. had ordered from Italy, but did you know they may have been a payoff for forged intelligence used to sell the war in Iraq? It’s all a part of “a web of conspiracy and deceit,” says journalist Paolo Pontoniere.
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By William Pfaff — The impending end of the Bush administration and the inauguration of Barack Obama pose the enormous and explosive question of what to do about those responsible for what are regarded by a significant part of the world as war crimes.
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tomkirkman.com
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Some needy denizens of Milan will be served a rare delicacy this holiday season, after Italian customs officials seized about 88 pounds of beluga caviar from smugglers trying to sneak it in from Poland. The loot—worth over half a million dollars—was donated to feed the Milanese poor.
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Composite: Revolucije Narodnosti Jugoslavije / Flickr / TedsBlog
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The Movimento Sociale-Fiamma Tricolore party in Italy has offered to pay $1,940 to parents who name their children after Benito Mussolini or his wife Rachele. The “purely casual” name game is meant to address low birthrates and not fascist nostalgia, according to the far-right party. Sure.
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Newsday
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Leaders from France, Italy, Great Britain and Germany are planning to meet on Saturday in preparation for a European finance summit to be held in Washington next week. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who shot down reports on Thursday that France was proposing a hefty European bailout package, invited the other three heads of state to the pre-summit huddle in Paris.
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Flickr/ Captian Giona
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Imagine going to the Internet and being able to see how much everyone in the United States, including you, earned and paid in taxes. The outgoing Italian government just made everyone’s private business public. Needless to say, Italians were outraged as they rushed to the Web to see the income of their neighbors and the rich and famous.
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Flickr / AndreasC
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Consider Barack Obama a trendsetter: In Italy, the recently defeated center-left leader in the parliamentary elections took a cue from the American candidate and adopted the slogan “Si può fare” or, as The Economist translates, “It can be done.” Right-winger Silvio Berlusconi, who won a convincing victory in that election, begged to differ.
Posted on Apr 16, 2008
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White House / Sheahlah Craighead
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With the concession of his main rival, conservative media mogul Silvio Berlusconi is set to take up a third term as Italy’s prime minister. Although a divisive and controversial figure, Berlusconi offered “An affectionate kiss to all Italians” over the news.
Posted on Apr 14, 2008
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abcnews.com
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Silvio Berlusconi, billionaire, media mogul and former prime minister of Italy, is calling for voters to give him a substantial majority of parliament seats as he vies a third time for the country’s most powerful office. The elections, to be held Sunday and Monday, will decide whether the country is led by a center-left coalition or Berlusconi’s right-wing “Freedom Folks.”
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And now, some news from the right side of the aisle: Presidential hopeful Ron Paul chatted with conservative talk show host Steve Gill about his recent fundraising success, domestic and foreign policy issues, and 9/11 and its aftermath, blasting the neocons for using the Sept. 11 attacks to advance their agenda: “If the mafia attacks someone in this country, we don’t bomb Italy,” Paul said.
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boston.com
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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may be persona non grata at the Vatican. When Rice swung through Italy in August, she gave notice ahead of time about her hopes to meet with Pope Benedict XVI, but the pontiff’s camp politely rebuffed her request, explaining that he was on holiday.
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More than 300 of Italy’s life-sentence prisoners have signed a letter asking the Italian president to reinstate the death penalty and change their sentences. Italy is one of the world’s leading opponents of execution and even allows prisoners serving life sentences conditional release after years of good behavior. But the inmates who signed the letter seem to feel that life behind bars is not worth living.
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A State Department official said the U.S. will not extradite 26 suspected CIA agents to Italy, where they are accused of carrying out “extraordinary rendition.” Legal adviser John Bellinger added a veiled threat, saying further legal action in Europe would hamper “intelligence cooperation.”
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An Italian judge has decided to go forward with the first criminal trial of extraordinary rendition. Twenty-six Americans and five Italians—including the former head of military intelligence—have been indicted and ordered to stand trial for the abduction of an Egyptian cleric who was detained and allegedly tortured in Cairo.
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washingtonpost.com
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Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi lost his job thanks to his support of the Iraq war and alleged abuses of power, but he had another headache altogether this week. In a letter that appeared on the front page of a major newspaper, Berlusconi’s wife browbeat him for his public flirtations and demanded an apology—which she got.
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stanfordalumni.org
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A court in Italy will decide whether to charge 25 alleged CIA agents for participating in an act of “extraordinary rendition.” The trial, should it go ahead, will be the first to address the heinous tactic, by which the United States or its allies kidnap terror suspects in order to remove them to torture-friendly nations.
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howstuffworks.com
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An Italian cement company has developed a treatment for building materials that transforms pollutants into less harmful substances, such as water and carbon dioxide. Experts suggest that covering 15 percent of a smog-choked industrial city like Milan could reduce pollution by 50 percent. (h/t: Engadget)
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Italy’s prime minister has tentatively offered to take the leadership role in Lebanon’s peacekeeping mission with a deployment of 3,000 troops. France, which was to lead the mission, has offered only 200 troops after expressing concern over the force’s mandate.
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The pop queen staged a mock crucifixion in a stadium a mile away from Vatican City, ignoring accusations of blasphemy by the Catholic Church, and even inviting Pope Benedict to come and watch.
Of course, Madonna has been fending off Vatican blasphemy accusations since 1989—in the pre-“covering up for child molestors” era, when many people still felt the Catholic Church held the moral high ground.
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Italian prosecutors want U.S. Marine Mario Lozano to stand trial for the death of Nicola Calipari, a 51-year-old Italian intelligence agent who was killed at a U.S. roadblock in Iraq. Calipari was escorting an Italian journalist who had been released by kidnappers. A report published by Italy last year conflicts with the U.S. version of events and, according to the BBC, cited “the troops’ stress and inexperience.”
Posted on Jun 19, 2006
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After a fiercely fought election, Rome is pulling nearly all of its 3,000 troops out of action. | story
Does this mean that Bush’s “Coalition of the Willing” is ready to call those 2,000 mine-detonating Moroccan monkeys into service?
Posted on Jan 20, 2006
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Marching in Chicago: Resisting Rahm Emanuel’s Neoliberal Savagery
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