ITALY: Berluisconi charged with corruption

The Economist said Berlusconi was not fit for the job of prime minister of Italy. Christopher Jones protests: "With my usual piquancy, I completely disagree and believe that Berlusconi is perfectly suited to the job. And like the vast silent majority of Italians, I believe that the the CASA DELLE LIBERTATE government has done very well indeed and in particular, Gianfranco Fini has done a stellar job. I repeat, smug magazines like the Economist are not fit to judge Berlusconi: you have to live there and speak the language to understand what goes on in Italy -- it is very easy to criticize from an airconditioned office sipping champagne. Quite frankly I can only fault il Cavaliere for his patience and humanity. Others, more radical reformers, have advocated setting up concentration camps for the extreme leftists that dominate every aspect of Italian life -- and now we come to the real problem: how do you reform such people? These Italians have not a shred of respect for authority and couch their laziness and cleptomania behind the hammer and sickle. (Many believe that the Pope is manipulating a leftist comeback. Yapping dogs like Prodi jump when they're told to. I am deadly serious.) Romano Prodi, like Bettino Craxi (a fellow corrupt leftist) is just another example of a breed of crooked politician who loots the state before departing the country. His (Prodi's) mishandling of the privatization of state owned companies (in particular, the bail out and selling of Alfa Romeo) was a scandal for any decent Italian. These so called "judges" (LEGGE IGUALE PER TUTTE? HA! WHAT A JOKE) are all misfits out of the grand old days of the Brigate Rosse and Enrico Berlinguer's PC. Their persecution of Berlusconi is beyond belief -- they are trying to destroy this talented person whose only crime was to love his homeland and make Italy fit for Europe (and he is succeeding). But make no mistake about it, they will probably win".

RH: The Economist correspondents live in Italy and speak good Italian. I have no evidence to dismiss Prodi as a crook. The communists who ran several municipalities were reportedly honest. When Christopher speaks of the law being equal "per tutte", does he mean for all women? Or does he mean "per tutti", for all"?

Ronald Hilton - 5/30/03