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Berlusconi. Any chance of him doing time?

He is in trouble again:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/29/silvio-berlusconi-office

A scandal over Silvio Berlusconi's relationship with a teenage Moroccan girl took on legal and political overtones today when a senior police officer confirmed that the Italian prime minister's office had intervened on her behalf when she was detained on suspicion of theft, claiming she was the granddaughter of the Egyptian president.
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Today Fini, who butchers mentioned earlier in this thread, got involved:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/01/silvio-berlusconi-must-resign-fini

Speaking on Sunday night, the speaker of the lower house of parliament, Gianfranco Fini said that if Berlusconi were shown to have intervened "it would be time to step down". Fini's rightist National Alliance was allied to Berlusconi's party for 15 years until the two merged to become the Freedom People (PdL) movement in 2009.
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'sfunny, but reading this thread, I've got a sneaking, grudging admiration for the sheer shamelessness and brazenness of Italian politics in general, and Berlusconi in particular.:o:D
 
The stain really should go now, he is going to end up challenging Bush for crown of 'top credibility killer' at this rate, although I suppose in many ways he surpassed Bush long ago. Look at what the git has been saying now:

The Italian prime minister refused to apologise for his fondness for young women and denied doing anything improper, and said at a motorcyle show in Milan: "As always, I work without interruption and if occasionally I happen to look a beautiful girl in the face, it's better to like beautiful girls than to be gay.

"You should be completely reassured about the government and about the fact that it's a government that still has a majority that intends to govern until the end of its term," he said.
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Hideous. I know I shouldnt expect too much but I could hope that when the business press start calling the regime dead, its a sign the end really may be near:

Italian newspapers have begun speculating that the scandal could bring down Berlusconi's fragile centre-right coalition. In a front-page editorial, business daily Il Sole 24 Ore wrote: "One point is certain. The Berlusconi government is paralysed. Virtually dead, you could say, due to the loss of credibility by its leader."
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/02/berlusconi-beautiful-girls-gay-ruby
 
"It's better to like beautiful girls than be gay"

:facepalm:

How do people like that, who seem to revel in their ignorance, get to govern???
 
Ultimatum from Fini now, but does it have teeth?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/07/silvio-berlusconi-gianfranco-fini-ultimatum

Addressing supporters after a tumultuous week that saw Italy's prime minister on the receiving end of sex and drug allegations, Gianfranco Fini warned that he would withdraw his followers from the government unless Berlusconi resigned to form a new administration with new policies. Initial signs were that Berlusconi would refuse to do so, but would instead challenge Fini to bring down the government in parliament.

The man who for 15 years stood at Berlusconi's side delivered his ultimatum in the course of a wide-ranging speech in which he criticised, and even ridiculed, the administration's performance. Using language that appeared to leave an unbridgeable chasm between the two men, Fini, a former neo-fascist, accused Berlusconi of heading "the government of pretending everything is going well".

He made no direct reference to the latest controversies over the prime minister's private life. But in an unmistakable allusion Fini spoke of "moral decay" caused by a "loss of decorum and rigour in the behaviour of those who, as public figures, are required to set an example".
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chilango said:
Hmmm.

Fini getting a lot of coverage here.
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Well if thats where the balance of power lies at the moment then its not surprising really is it? Ive not been following Italian politics for all that long but I guess we should be careful what we wish for, if the clown Berlusconi goes then there are plenty of other dangerous swine ready to do the work of the right.

Another bit fom the Guardian article:

He, by contrast, wanted to offer Italy a new, more tolerant and moderate brand of conservatism that would avoid "distinguishing between blacks and whites, between Christians, Muslims and Jews, between heterosexuals and homosexuals, [or] between Italians and foreigners".

Soon after the 2008 general election, Fini began a realignment of his position, the sincerity of which remains a subject of debate in the centre-left opposition.
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Im not bloody surprised the sincerity of his realignment remains the subject of debate! I tend to find Italian politics fascinating in a very disturbing way, and I can only imagine what prolonged economic woe may do to the picture there. Can anybody point me to some articles that would help work out what shape the left are in there these days?
 
When I stayed with my girlfriends family I had to endure a week lecturers on the vitrues of Berlusconi, and how all the negative stories in the UK are seeded by left wing italian papers.

They seemed to admire him because he 'got things done', they don't seem to care how.
 
elbows said:
but I guess we should be careful what we wish for, if the clown Berlusconi goes then there are plenty of other dangerous swine ready to do the work of the right.
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There is no opposition on the Left to speak of.

There is the PD which I guess is the main Left of Centre grouping now, took a battering in the last elections and are not regarded as a credible challenge to PdL at the mo outside of local contests.

Further left, most of the Commies now seem willing to work together, but their vote has vanished. There's also motley alliance of the far-left, greens and social democrats behind Puglia governor Ventola. Again a tiny share of the vote.

Only the forces behind Fini or the Lega Nord have the weight to topple the PdL.

Unless the men of honour step in again...
 
Can almost hear the political obituaries being typed right now.

The reign of Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is facing deep personal and political problems, has left a sour taste in the mouths of Italians plagued by economic problems, natural disasters, cultural destruction and his sex scandals.

The telltale signs of the end of a regime are here for all to see.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/9209907.stm
 
Maybe.

He'll still own the media.

If early elections are called I can't, as things stand, see the Left winning (though I hope I'm wrong), so it'll need to be yet another lash-up between the Lega, the (post) fascists and what's left of Berlusconi's Party. Probably with a different figure head, Fini most likely.

I don't see this as a good thing.

Fini will be credible, hard-line and lacking the clownish mistakes of Berlusconi.
 
chilango said:
Maybe.

He'll still own the media.

If early elections are called I can't, as things stand, see the Left winning (though I hope I'm wrong), so it'll need to be yet another lash-up between the Lega, the (post) fascists and what's left of Berlusconi's Party. Probably with a different figure head, Fini most likely.

I don't see this as a good thing.

Fini will be credible, hard-line and lacking the clownish mistakes of Berlusconi.
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Fini was chucked out of the PDL in July, and has set up a new party, Future And Freedom For Italy, consisting for the most part of old MSI and Alleanza Nazionale mates. After trying to find out more about the student protests and whatnot, the name that keeps popping up as a potential new PDL leader is Michela Vittoria Brambilla, a former tv journalist on one of Berlusconi's stations. Berlusconi's no confidence vote is on the 14th and he's set to lose. I don't think Fini will be head of any new alliance, he doesn't have enough support on the right and could be too provocative for the left, so he'll probably be most effective creeping about pulling strings in the background. You're in Italy, help us out here. :o
 
Fini is the name that keeps cropping up, and has done for a couple of years. He is, believe it or not, credible regardless of his associations with fascism. Enough Italian voters are happy with that legacy. Brambilla is not someone I know about...

Interestingly the BBC is pushing Vendola of Ecology and freedom as a contender. Sure, he as an individual has a fair whack of credibility, popularity etc, but his Party is pretty insignificant.
 
chilango said:
Fini is the name that keeps cropping up, and has done for a couple of years. He is, believe it or not, credible regardless of his associations with fascism. Enough Italian voters are happy with that legacy. Brambilla is not someone I know about...

Interestingly the BBC is pushing Vendola of Ecology and freedom as a contender. Sure, he as an individual has a fair whack of credibility, popularity etc, but his Party is pretty insignificant.
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Vendola, for all his abandonment of any kind of genuine radicalism, is very popular in Puglia. He's also a very effective communicator, aftyer all an openly gay communist who got elected to the Governosrhip of one of the most 'conservative' Catholic and historically right-leaning regions has to have had some good tactics as regards communications. The BBC article points to the comments made by Berlusca about 'sleeping with beautiful women is better thqan being gay', I, and Italian mates of mine do to, think it was a deliberate and calculated jibe against Vendola. Whether it works is another thing. Vendolas biggest help is the split in the PD's-the first right-wing split from the PCI-which could give him a major bargaining position as the 'leader' of a centre-left alliance. The as yet lack of inidcation from the likes of Veltroni the former mayor of Rome may also help. It will be interesting to see how Vendolas former comrades-a number unhappy at his using the Rifondazione to get elected and then splitting-will move in any future 'alliance'.
 
Silvio Berlusconi accused of buying MPs' votes.

The government's survival hangs on two motions of no confidence in the chamber. There, Berlusconi and his allies appeared to lose their majority as far back as July when followers of the formerly neo-fascist Fini split away from the PdL .

In recent days, at least four deputies have changed sides, including one who had earlier put his name to one of the censure motions. Several other members of the lower house who had been expected to vote with the opposition have signalled they too could side with the government on Tuesday.

The most recent defectors were from the vehemently anti-Berlusconi Italy of Principles (IdV) party. The prosecution service announced its investigation after a formal complaint was submitted by the IdV's leader, Antonio Di Pietro, himself a former prosecutor.
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How in Jaysus name is he still there? No other Western Pol would survive even 1% of the scandals surrounding the shit-coloured,hair-transplant wearing,teenage- girl bothering corrupt aul cunt
 
Votes of confidence this week. Rumour that he'll "resign" prior to defeat in the 2nd vote, but end up still in charge.
 
Fini has come out and said that the reason Berlusconi's so desperate to stay in power is because he fears he'll face trials if he's forced out. The government is fucked no matter what Tuesday's result is.
 
Fight!

132820308-c0c10e43-f8bd-4844-9a62-9701434d3355.jpg
 
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