Blimey, Buffoon Berlusconi's Bad

[David Guyatt]

The posturing crook-come-fool-come-Il Duce strikes again.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8540134.stm

Berlusconi ire at legal 'Taliban'
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, embroiled in two trials for fraud, has likened Italian prosecutors and judges to the Afghan Taliban.

He told a rally in the northern city of Turin that they were waging a subversive, political campaign to bring down his government.

He spoke after a UK lawyer convicted of for taking a bribe from him was quashed on statute of limitations grounds.

Magistrates condemned Mr Berlusconi's "insults and aggression".

The country's highest court, the Court of Cassation, quashed the 2009 conviction of British tax lawyer David Mills relating to a $600,000 (£400,000) payment made in 1999.

Prosecutor Gianfranco Ciani maintained Mr Mills had taken a bribe but said the conviction should be overturned because the statute of limitations had expired.

A parallel corruption case against Mr Berlusconi may now also be dropped on this basis.

'Intolerable escalation'

Addressing an election rally in Turin, Mr Berlusconi said there was "a subversive aim" of bringing down his government.

"If the prosecutors don't like a law then they challenge it and it gets rejected by the courts," he said.

"We are in the hands of this band of Taliban, today our democracy is in this situation."

He described the Mills case as "an invention, pure and simple, absurd" and demanded "full absolution" for himself.

Mr Berlusconi faces regional elections next month which are seen by many as a test for his centre-right government.

In addition to the bribery trial relating to Mr Mills, the Italian prime minister is on trial for tax fraud relating to his business dealings before he entered politics.

Italy's National Association of Magistrates condemned Mr Berlusconi's speech as "an intolerable escalation of insults and aggression", Reuters news agency reports.

Antonio Di Pietro, a former anti-corruption judge and now leader of the small opposition party, Italy of Values, was quoted by AFP as saying: "If Berlusconi was really innocent he would stand trial instead of running away and continuing to attack and insult the judiciary like a dictator in a light opera."

[Jan Klimkowski]

The press are claiming Berlusconi is getting a tad senile.

I fail to see any difference in the behaviour of the horny old neo-fascist.

I particularly enjoyed the part about a conspiracy by "left-wing referees" against Berlusconi's club, AC Milan.

Berlusconi jokes about Hitler at youth rally

Silvio Berlusconi urged to apologise after impromptu speech in which he also advises young Italians to marry into money

September 13, 2010

Faced with a tottering economy and a crumbling coalition government, Silvio Berlusconi has chosen to woo a youth rally with jokes about Adolf Hitler and his own sexual prowess.

Appearing relaxed, if a little pale, before a crowd of cheering supporters yesterday, the frequently outspoken and gaffe-prone Italian prime minister promised to see out the end of his term, despite losing his guaranteed majority after a split with an ally, Gianfranco Fini.

Putting politics aside, he then launched into a series of anecdotes and apparent jokes that promptly drew accusations of anti-Semitism and even mental instability from opposition politicians.

The former cruise ship entertainer told a joke in which Adolf Hitler is begged by his supporters to return to power after they discover he is still alive. After resisting, Hitler says: "I'll come back, but on one condition ... next time I'm going to be evil."

Fabio Evangelisti, a member of parliament for the opposition Italy of Values party, demanded Berlusconi apologise to Israel and the Italian Jewish community. The party's leader, Antonio Di Pietro, said: "At this point the problem is not political or judicial, but psychiatric."

Turning his attention to the economy, Berlusconi jokingly advised young Italians to marry into money, adding: "I have a daughter who is free to marry."

Now separated from his wife following the scandal over his friendship with the teenage model Noemi Letizia, Berlusconi said he was also an eligible candidate for four reasons: "I am friendly, I have money, legend has it I know how to do 'it', and lastly because girls think: 'He's old and rich, he will die soon and I will inherit everything.'"

The poor performance over the weekend of AC Milan, the football club he controls, was down to a leftwing referee disallowing goals, Berlusconi joked.

The impromptu speech followed a visit to Russia on Friday, where he surprised the audience at a conference on democracy with a fierce attack on Italian magistrates he claims are hounding him. He said of Vladimir Putin: "I have never had any doubts that he is anything less than democratically minded." Putin and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, Berlusconi added, were "a gift from God" to Russia.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep...itler-joke

[David Guyatt]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0M2e-td-_c

[Jan Klimkowski]

Nothing to see here. Move on.

Silvio Berlusconi ally was link to Sicilian mafia, judges rule

Judges say Italian prime minister handed over 'enormous sums of money' to Cosa Nostra for protection
John Hooper in Rome The Guardian, Saturday 20 November 2010

The man who spearheaded Silvio Berlusconi's entry into politics was also an intermediary between the media magnate and the Sicilian mafia, judges in Palermo ruled last night.

In a lengthy written judgment on one of the Italian prime minister's closest associates, the judges said that before entering politics Berlusconi paid "enormous sums of money" to Cosa Nostra for protection and later handed over funds to safeguard his network's relay stations on Sicily.

Their conclusions dealt a stunning blow to Berlusconi, and came as reports surfaced that one of his ministers was planning to step down. Maria Carfagna, the 34-year-old former topless model turned equal opportunities minister, failed to deny the reports after they began to circulate.

The judges of the appeal court in Palermo were giving the reasons behind a decision in June to partially uphold the conviction of Marcello Dell'Utri, a senator and the man who in 1993 organised Berlusconi's first party, Forza Italia (Come on Italy!).

In a 641-page document, the three judges wrote that, until the year before, Dell'Utri had also been a "specific channel of communication" between the tycoon and Cosa Nostra. They said his role was one of mediation between the mob and Berlusconi. Initial extracts from the document did not make clear whether they considered the future PM to have been a victim or a beneficiary of his relationship with the mafia.

But certain passages appeared to imply that he was both. The judges accepted as credible the account of a mafioso turned state's evidence who testified that Berlusconi had received three Cosa Nostra godfathers at his office in Milan in 1975 to arrange for protection for himself and his family after receiving threats.

But, they added, "between the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s … sums of money began to reach the organised crime syndicate from Fininvest [the firm at the heart of Berlusconi's business empire]" that were no longer just for protection "but also for the installation of TV relay stations on Sicily" at a time when Berlusconi was expanding his TV network.

A spokesman for the prime minister's party described Dell'Utri's conviction as unjust, but did not comment on its implications for Berlusconi. Laura Garavini, chief representative on the parliamentary anti-mafia commission of Italy's biggest opposition group, the Democratic party, said the judgment offered confirmation of "the very dark shadows hanging over the construction of Silvio Berlusconi's vast business empire, which was decisive too for the subsequent birth of Forza Italia."

On 29 June , judges in Palermo reduced Dell'Utri's sentence from nine to seven years and upheld his conviction for associating with the mafia – but only prior to 1992. That drew the sting from claims by former mobsters and others that Forza Italia had, in effect, been sponsored by the mafia.

Last night's judgment authoritatively places Berlusconi at one end of a chain that leads through Dell'Utri to Cosa Nostra. The prime minister has in the past vehemently denied any connivance with organised crime. His supporters have argued that the allegations against him are motivated by mafia fury over the progress made by his government in combating organised crime. This week, police arrested prominent Camorra mobster Antonio Iovine in Casal di Principe near Naples. Iovine was the acting boss of a gang that figures prominently in Roberto Saviano's global best-seller, Gomorrah.

Berlusconi's spokesman said last night he had no comment over the ruling.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov...lian-mafia

[David Guyatt]

Smirk...

Wikileaks: Hillary Clinton meets 'feckless’ Berlusconi for first time since released cables

Hillary Clinton has faced Silvio Berlusconi for the first time since the Italian Prime Minister, was dismissed as “feckless, vain, and ineffective as a modern leader” in US State Department cables released by WikiLeaks.

Hillary Clinton with Silvio Berlusconi Photo: REUTERS

The decision to select Mr Berlusconi as one of only three out of thirty eight national leaders with whom the US Secretary of State held a one-to-one meetings at the Summit, underlines the urgency with which the US feels it needs to repair the relationship with Italy.

“No one has supported America the way Berlusconi has through the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations,” Mrs Clinton told the Italian leader, adding that the US has “no better friend.”

:puke:
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[David Guyatt]

Smirk...

Wikileaks: Hillary Clinton meets 'feckless’ Berlusconi for first time since released cables

Hillary Clinton has faced Silvio Berlusconi for the first time since the Italian Prime Minister, was dismissed as “feckless, vain, and ineffective as a modern leader” in US State Department cables released by WikiLeaks.

Hillary Clinton with Silvio Berlusconi Photo: REUTERS

The decision to select Mr Berlusconi as one of only three out of thirty eight national leaders with whom the US Secretary of State held a one-to-one meetings at the Summit, underlines the urgency with which the US feels it needs to repair the relationship with Italy.

“No one has supported America the way Berlusconi has through the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations,” Mrs Clinton told the Italian leader, adding that the US has “no better friend.”

snip...

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[Jan Klimkowski]

Hillary can relax. She's way too old for Berlusconi's, ahem, tastes....

However, I'd appreciate some unredacted diplomatic cable gossip about precisely what the Blairs got up to with Berlusconi at his villa:

Cherie: 'Our best night ever was during freebie holiday in Berlusconi's Sardinian villa'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:06 PM on 05th June 2008

Cherie Blair has given an extraordinary interview to an Italian magazine, revealing that her and Tony's summer holiday with PM Silvio Berlusconi provided one of her best nights ever.

The "freebie" break four years ago raised eyebrows as Mr Berlusconi, who is facing corruption charges, entertained the Blairs with a spectacular fireworks display.

At the end of the colourful extravaganza the message "Viva Tony" was spelled out in rockets as the Blairs clapped enthusiastically.

Cherie told the latest edition of A magazine: "There is no doubt that between my husband and Silvio Berlusconi there is friendship and trust."

Referring to Mr Berlusconi's villa, on the island of Sardinia, she said: "I have never had an evening like the one I had in Sardinia."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...z16sdZfeDX

:puke:

[Peter Lemkin]

Without casting aspersions, I would just like to note, that many of you who were quite 'negative' on the Wikileaks leaks are making good use of them - implying [to me] that they were not quite as insignificant as you first postulated.....

I'd agree that the ultimate source[s] and significance of the Wikileaks revelations are not yet known [I'd guess it will be many months until we have a clear idea [and I fear the demise of Assange in the interim], but we are a cynical lot and sometimes TOO cynical for our own good...or the good of the betterment of the world polity......:itsme:

[Jan Klimkowski]

Without casting aspersions, I would just like to note, that many of you who were quite 'negative' on the Wikileaks leaks are making good use of them - implying [to me] that they were not quite as insignificant as you first postulated.....

I'd agree that the ultimate source[s] and significance of the Wikileaks revelations are not yet known [I'd guess it will be many months until we have a clear idea [and I fear the demise of Assange in the interim], but we are a cynical lot and sometimes TOO cynical for our own good...or the good of the betterment of the world polity......:itsme:

Peter - my view is unchanged:

This material has been through several middlemen, including most notably Assange and Wikileaks, and then three MSM organs - Der Spiegel, NYT and The Guardian.

It is clear that either Wikileaks or the MSM organs have referred certain cables to the national security state and abided by government requests for non-publication or redaction. (Eg the cable about North Korea that has been withheld at the reqeust of the Obama adminstration.)

So, the original leak has been heavily diluted before any publcation.

Then add to the mix the fact that:

i) these are SECRET not TOP SECRET cables;

ii) the natural tendency of diplomats to talk in diplomatic lanaguage (even if this is often bitchy and gossipy);

iiii) the tendency of career civil servants, ambassadors, the military etc to adhere to the group mind think around matters such as the reality of Al Qaeda and the danger of the Iranian nuclear programme.

The ultimate consequence is the current damp squib: diverting, but of no threat to the Volkland Security elites and their bogus War on Terror.

However, the wikileaks information is being feverishly spun by MSM to serve elite interests.

I'm happy to provide a little counterbalance and highlight the stench of moral hypocrisy evident in these leaked diplomatic cables.

[David Guyatt]

I'd be delighted to have my caution/cynicism proved wrong Pete.

So far nothing earth shattering - "world changing" as trailed by Wikileaks.

But it is early days. Time will tell.

Meantime, I await with interest the release of Vatican cables due in January and the Bank dump also due next year.