Pressure on Berlusconi as party quits cabinet

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5688633&cKey=1113565840000

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's Union of Christian Democrats (UDC) party has decided to withdraw fromPrime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's cabinet, European Affairs Minister Rocco Buttiglione said on Friday.

The move was an apparent bid to make Berlusconi resign and then form a new government with a newpolicy programme in the wake of a humbling defeat in regional elections earlier this month.

Berlusconi, who is determined to serve a full five years in office, has said he would not accept a majoroverhaul of his government which was formed in 2001.

"The leadership of the UDC has approved a document to withdraw its team from the government andreiterates that the party secretary should work for the creation of a new government ... headed byBerlusconi," Buttiglione said after a UDC meeting.

more

[TahitiNut]

1. "His" government? "He would not accept"??

These posturing, populist plutocrats are an abomination on the face of our planet! :grr:

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

2. Well, too bad Silvio!

If the parliament moves to a no confidence vote, then Berlusconi will be forced to accept reality.

[rocktivity]

3. What's Italian for "Tom DeLay"?

:evilgrin:
rocknation

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. Tomaso DeLayolli? (nt)

[Telly Savalas]

4. He's not sweatin' it. Milan beat Inter in the Champions League.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

5. Before or after the riot and the molotov cocktails?

:D

[On the Road]

6. Berlusconi in a Corner as Ally Quits Italy Government

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian coalition party announced on Friday it was quitting the government in a move that will likely force Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to resign and seek a fresh mandate from parliament.

---snip

The gathering political crisis was triggered by local elections earlier this month where Berlusconi's allies lost 11 of the 13 regions up for grabs in a sign of voter discontent over months of economic stagnation.

---snip

Berlusconi must now decide whether to try to forge ahead with the three remaining major coalition partners or start talks with the UDC on the formation of a new administration. Alternatively he could resign and refuse to head a new government. Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi would then have to decide whether to call a snap general election or else try to put together an alternative administration.

Piero Fassino, leader of the main opposition party, the Democrats of the Left, called on Berlusconi to resign. "The decision by the UDC to withdraw its ministers creates a political crisis that cannot be hidden or disguised," Fassino said in a statement. "The prime minister must resign today."


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&ncid=574&e=7&u=/nm/20050415/wl_nm/italy_dc

[Jack Rabbit]

7. !!

Aznar
Berlusconi
Blair
Bush
Howard

[On the Road]

8. Sure Hope So --

I thought the Italians were more leftist than to put up with a Berlusconi for so long.

On Edit:And Blair is only going to win by touting his replacement.

[cliss]

9. Is that Berlusconi praying?

What we are witnessing is a breakdown of the established order. The half-century of US hegemony is dismantling before our eyes.

Those nations who do not understand the new dynamics are taking the risk of tying their fortunes to a sinking rock. I would say some countries are learning the hard way that being cronies with the US is not necessarily synonymous with success.....as Berlusconi is finding out.

In fact, to openly claim that he is supporting the US war in Iraq has made him radioactive, is costing him the support of his people, and has caused the deaths of several Italians, including hostages.

The new paradigm is made up of China, India, Venezuela, South America. Europe is waiting to see what will happen.

[On the Road]

10. Yes, Here's the Caption:

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi attends a special Mass for Pope John Paul II's health conducted by Cardinal Camillo Ruini in Saint John Basilica in Rome, April 1, 2005. A junior Italian coalition party announced on Friday it was quitting the government in a move that will likely force Berlusconi to resign and seek a fresh mandate from parliament. (Alessia Pierdomenico/Reuters)

[Doctor_J]

13. Russia will throw in with the new power too

We're in some difficulty. I wish * hadn't pissed everybody off

[Zorra]

11. Go ahead and let the door hit you really hard on the way out, you

corrupt right wing fascist enemy of all life on earth.

Good for the Italian people.

Now, if only Americans would wake up and kick Buh and the neocons to the curb, the world might finally begin evolving out of the neanderthal era.

[loudsue]

12. If the U.S. media would REPORT the research on the stolen election

we could FINALLY kick our assturds in office to the curb! It seems like, all across the world, when FAIR elections are held, the right wing "conservatives" are being shut out. THE PEOPLE DON'T WANT THEM, but those damned computerized voting machines sure do!

Paper and pen is the ONLY way to vote, and the paper votes should be counted by ONLY politically neutral observers.

There are just some areas in which high tech solutions are inappropriate, and vote counting is #1 on that list.

:kick::kick::kick:

[Zorra]

14. So very true.

:hi:

[Al-CIAda]

15. Yes, honest elections are now RIGGED here. we're screwed.

[Jack Rabbit]

17. BBC Link: Fini tells Berlusconi to call for a confidence vote

From the BBC Online
Dated Friday April 15 11:17 GMT (4:17 am PDT)

Berlusconi loses coalition ally

A key coalition partner of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi - the centre-right Union of Christian Democrats - is leaving the government.

The party said changes were needed after the coalition's crushing defeat in regional elections this month . . . .

The party said before the announcement that it would continue to support the government in parliament . . . .

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini urged Mr Berlusconi to call a vote of confidence in his government.

As long as the Christian Democrats continue to support the government in any confidence vote, Berlusconi will survive until elections are held next year. Then we'll see his back.

[Moderator]

18. kick to combine

[chlamor]

19. Italian Government in Danger of Collapse

Italian Government in Danger of Collapse

By  Sabina Castelfranco
Rome
15 April 2005

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi talks on his mobile phone as he enters by car into his office in Rome, Friday
Italy's longest post-war government risks collapse. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is in trouble after two small parties withdrew their support from the governing center-right coalition.

The centrist UDC party, which has four ministers in government, was the first to decide to withdraw its support from the center-right government. Then, the new Italian Socialist party, which has only two minor government posts, followed its example.

The parties had called on Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to resign and form a new government following heavy losses in regional elections earlier this month. Mr. Berlusconi refused and the parties pulled out.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-04-15-voa30.cfm

[wakeme2008]

20. First Spain,,, now Italy

oh Blair,,,, things are not looking too good with your friends....

[blogbear]

21. When it rains it pours!

[Radio_Lady]

22. chlamor, I thought the Pope was president -----> > > > >

Do most Americans know ANYTHING about Italian politics?


Thanks for posting -- very interesting! In peace, Radio Lady

[newscott]

23. And so the worm turns

Unlike in the US where you just rig your way to power.

[whistle]

24. It's the economy stupid.....right wing governments have done....

...sweet fuck all for working people, made the wealthy even richer and strangled working and middle classes for way too long.

[asjr]

25. And an talian discovered our country! He also brought

right wing politics to us.

[whistle]

29. Leo Strauss is the latest poster boy for the right wing and...

...he was an Austrian/German I believe.

<snip>
Leo Strauss and the Straussians

Until quite recently, Leo Strauss and his disciples were considered (insofar as anyone took any notice of them) just a particular variety of conservative intellectuals, with a special interest in political philosophy and American constitutional history. Now we are beginning to discover that something peculiar has been going on all this time.The greatest peculiarity of Straussianism is that there is such a thing. Not a single other "conservative" thinker has inspired a following remotely comparable, in size, continuity, and influence, to that of Leo Strauss. There is a Straussian school as there is no Weaveran or Burnhamite or Meyeran or Kendallist or Voegelinist school. And this school has its own interests, ideas, and purposes, which are clearly distinct from mainstream conservatism, however close to their collective chest they play their cards. The Straussians are also the only group of "conservatives" ever to amount to anything in the academic world. They have reportedly been gradually, quietly infiltrating and taking over political-science departments, making that discipline characteristically theirs, as Marxists have done with sociology, and libertarians with economics.

<snip>
The problem with this (in the Straussian view) is that it exposed philosophy once more, and ultimately prostituted philosophy itself into the service of common men. The esoteric tradition was forgotten, and with it philosophy as such. At the same time, philosophy inadvertently exposed men to certain hard truths, truths too hard for them to bear: that there are no gods to reward good or punish evil; that no one's patria is really any better than anyone else's; that one's ancestral ways are merely conventional. This leads to nihilism, epitomized by the listless, meaningless life of bourgeois man, or to dangerous experiments with new gods -- gods like the race and the Fuehrer.

Strauss, an ethnic Jew and refugee from Nazi Germany, looked at the regnant liberalism of mid-century America, and saw the Weimar Republic: morally weak, incapable of self-preservation. His prophecy was fulfilled by the ignominious collapse of the liberal establishment, both political and academic, in the face of the New Left.

Now, this unique interpretation of Western history depends on the existence of a "hidden agenda" in the history of philosophy. If there was, in fact, such an esoteric tradition, it has escaped the attention of most scholars. Of course, that might only prove how well-hidden it is ... which goes to show how seductive esotericism can be, once you start flirting with it. But in the end, what really matters is the philosophical questions Strauss raised, whether or not he was correct in ascribing them to the historic philosophers.

<more>
<link> http://home.earthlink.net/~karljahn/Strauss.htm

[lovuian]

26. Bush took down the Coalition of the Fools!!!

Spain now Buceloni soon Australia and before we know it Blair too

Not a popular war at all!!!

[Zorra]

27. Will Buh invade Italy to save Berlusconi, his fascist ally? Oh, yeah...

no oil.

[chlamor]

28. Lot's of Oil

Olive Oil and Cheney has plenty of snake oil to trade.



:bounce:

[rocktivity]

30. What's Italian for "Am I shit out of luck, or what"?

If you threaten to pull your troops in Iraq if the U.S. doesn't turn over the car that reporter and agent were shot in, Berlusconi, you MIGHT be able to pull this out...

:headbang:
rocknation

[Voltaire99]

31. Out you go, sleazeball

Nothing like watching a fascist get his comeuppance. :-)

[RFKHumphreyObama]

32. Please let this be true

IMO Berlusconi is an Italian version of Rupert Murdoch and a right wing ideologue of the worst kind. Quite frankly the fact that he has been able to change the laws to prevent himself being to be tried on various allegations and the fact that he is running a government while controlling a significant proportion of the media makes him very dictatorial and frightening indeed.

Plus Bush needs to lose an ally in Europe. Aznar's gone, now Berlusconi can go with him