The everyone-in-the-world-hates-America line breaks – again (AP):
Conservative leader Silvio Berlusconi appeared headed for a return to power as Italian premier, with projections on Monday giving his bloc a solid lead in both the house and the Senate.
RAI state television projected Berlusconi’s bloc taking 164 Senate seats, ahead of 139 for center-left leader Walter Veltroni’s Democratic Party and allies. The Senate has 315 seats.
In the lower house, projections showed Berlusconi’s bloc with a 6 percent lead over Veltroni’s.
Under Italian electoral law, whoever has the plurality for the lower house vote will win 340 of the 630 seats; therefore, Berlusconi is on track to win solid majorities in both houses.
Silvio (he much prefers going by his first name) had a brief stint in power in the 1990s, then was elected in January 2001. During his five years as Italian Prime Minister, he was one of the staunchest allies of the United States in the Wahhabist-Ba’athist-Khomeinist War. Two years ago, he battled the Italian left to a near-draw (he lost the lower house vote by 0.11%, and actually won more votes for the Senate, but the left managed to win a one-seat majority) despite an economic downturn that would have wiped out any other leader (the left, of course, was unable to turn Italy around, and thus has been bounced).
There’s a good chance that Italy may be ready to put troops into the fight in Afghanistan again (while a bunch of NATO countries are in Afghanistan, only the U.S., Britain, Canada, and the Netherlands have troops in serious harm’s way, though France will soon send some). Simply put, the spirit of Fabrizio Quattrocchi (National Review Online) lives on in the country he left behind.
UPDATE: It turns out the lefties Silvio turfed had caused NATO some serious headaches. In March of 2007, they pushed the Afghan government to release 5 high-ranking Taliban prisoners in exchange for an Italian taken hostage by the terrorist ex-”government” (RFE/RL). Further kudos to the Italian people for turfing these clowns.
May 26, 2008 at 11:13 pm |
[...] forcing the local people to help them at gunpoint (The Australian). However, thanks to the wisdom of the voters of Italy, more help is on the way [...]
March 9, 2009 at 9:39 pm |
[...] if Obama ever slights Silvio . . [...]