Berlusconi calls the kettle black

Another one to file under "Only in Berlusconi's Italy". The latest outburst of Il Cavaliere, who should really be nicknamed "Il Buffone", took place yesterday when on an official visit to Athens. He called politicians, in essence, bent thieves who steal their wealth from citizens. Now that is seriously rich from a guy who's probably the dirtiest politician in Europe, and who's only escaped convictions for corruption because Italy's statute of limitations 'timed out' his earlier case. He still has to face corruption charges in Milan, after unsuccessfully trying to force through a bill to make the top 5 political offices (Prime Minister included, naturally) in Italy immune from prosecution, and after many of his henchmen, such as Cesare Previti, have been found guilty and sentenced. The sheer egotism of the guy knows absolutely no bounds. This is the bloke who famously said: "nessuno può paragonarsi con me" (or similar - can't remember the exact quote) - translated as "no-one is my equal".

Sure, politicians are, on the whole, bent self-seeking liars, but for one of the most bent liars of all to say so is hypocrisy of an astonishing order. You just have to laugh...

Hey, marchers, leave them kids at home!

The Italian newspaper La Repubblica today reported a proposal by Forza Italia, the major party in the ruling centre-right coalition, to ban kids of 11 years or younger from street demonstrations. The reason? That they're not capable of understanding the issues, and that participation places their "development" in "danger". In the Italian:

"Un minore di 11 anni non può avere la consapevolezza e la capacità di giudizio necessarie per prendere parte ad una manifestazione - si legge nella proposta di legge - Strumentalizzare un bambino, per qualsiasi motivazione, significa mettere in pericolo il suo sereno sviluppo"

If kids do join a demo, the proposal envisages that the organisers should immediately cancel the event, or alternatively inform their local copshop which will then have the power to stop the march. Parents that take their kids on demos would be liable to a fine of 500 to 2,000 Euros.

Comment is superfluous. File under "Only in Berlusconi's Italy".

Wot, no WMD?

Letter emailed to The Guardian on Mon 2nd Feb. It was published on Wed 4th, but in such a heavily edited and toothless form that it was rendered both anodyne and incomprehensible in print:

Dear Editor

The 'inquiries' to be set up on both sides of the Atlantic into the non-existence of chemical and biological weapons in Iraq are transparent attempts to punt the issue into the long grass, and to allow Bush and Blair to claim: "'twasn't me, guv, it was them spooks wot gave me duff gen". These 'inquiries' will last months, likely years, during which time any debate on the issue will be fobbed off until the great and the good publish their reports, which will inevitably find "intelligence failures" and a few symbolic heads will roll.

The simple truth is that both regimes knew full well that WMD didn't exist, and that the invasion of Iraq was premeditated armed robbery on a grand scale to save the economic skins of both nations. WMD were never any more than a flimsy pretext, but one which the credulous media and publics either side of the Pond swallowed whole. Whilst it's possible, though very unlikely, that Bush and/or Blair sincerely believed there to be WMD in Iraq, the issue of their personal integrity is an irrelevant distraction: the US and UK regimes carefully planned the sacking of Iraq, killing tens of thousands in the process, and no inquiry will hold them to account because the inquirers will be, as Hutton was, drawn from the ranks of the selfsame regimes.

Yours faithfully


Fred Riley