Silvio, you're a saddo. Now just go away

For legal reasons, the Observer is unable to show you photographs taken of a party held by the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, at the now notorious Villa Certosa in Sardinia. I will now give you a moment to count your blessings.

The photos, which appeared in Spanish newspaper, El País, reportedly depict a party for a Czech delegation involving Berlusconi, topless women, and, it is alleged, a naked man leaning over a swimming pool in "a state of arousal". Former Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek has confirmed he appears in the photograph, but says: "It has been modified and the picture is not authentic." Does anyone see any reason to disbelieve him?

For his part, Berlusconi, already under investigation for using state aircraft to fly scantily clad guests around, already in trouble for the 18-year-olds, the endless parade of "friends in thongs" (etc, etc), is suing El País, claiming the photos invaded his privacy and discredited him on the eve of the European parliamentary election. Truth is, whatever happens with Italian voters this weekend, isn't it time for the rest of us to cry: "Give it up, Silvio, dirty goat of European politics, the world has had enough"?

Please understand, this isn't knee-jerk outrage - if anything, the impulse has always been to find Berlusconi pathetic, yes, but also good value, a talking point. It was especially funny when the Blairs went over for that infamous villa freebie, sucking up to their dear chum Silvio, looking a fine figure of a man in his bandana or a dead ringer for Carlos Santana's gran, whichever way you chose to look at it.

This seems to have been Berlusconi's main selling point, with Italians, and others, that he was some kind of superannuated "lovable rogue", a true character who would never allow himself to be diluted by anything so pedestrian as political correctness. Even the codenames he gave himself for the villa parties ("Daddy", "Papi") hinted that here was a man concerned only with a benevolent style of "dictatorship".

However, when you think about it, what exactly is so lovable about a rich, powerful older man surrounding himself with half-naked girls? Where is the real sense of character in all this narcissism? Indeed, just as the married roué in the pub who flirts non-stop is funny at first, as time goes on, this sort of thing gets wearing, annoying and really rather creepy.

Like it or not, "sexual continence as a political issue" did not expire along with Bill Clinton's presidency. After all, the Italian PM is one of our most powerful European dignitaries, someone with enough influence to start or stop wars; is it too much to ask if every time you clap eyes on him the Benny Hill theme music doesn't instantly pipe up in your head? Too much to hope that the villa where he spends his "downtime" doesn't compete with the Playboy mansion for "Most pathetically cliched, middle-aged, sexual fun park"? There you go; if nothing else, Berlusconi is guilty of making Bacchanalian excess look sad.

Enough is surely enough? It's as if everything that could go wrong with a middle-aged white guy has gone wrong with Berlusconi. He's become grubby; a walking midlife crisis in Vilebrequin beach shorts. And he's 72! To which some might cry, well, good on him. Where's the harm? But I would argue there is plenty wrong, just as there was with the Clinton-Lewinsky episode. For, in this context, what appears to be a show of virility and potency is arguably a complete lack of control, not to mention a sense of omnipotence, of shocking contempt for people they believe to be beneath them.

This is why Berlusconi should finally go - not because "he can't keep it in his pants", but because, just like Bill, he can't be bothered to, and clearly does not regard himself in any shape or form answerable to the "minions" who voted for him. In this way, Berlusconi has become the personification of power gone rancid. Indeed, you think we've got it bad with Brown - look over to Sardinia and reflect on what some countries are lumbered with.

As for Berlusconi, perhaps it would be best all around if, at some point in the European elections, he were to be quietly injected with bromide and dragged discreetly to one side. In political and libidinal terms, it could be viewed as a mercy killing.

Barbara Ellen - The Observer - Sunday 7 June 2009

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/07/barbara-ellen-berlusconi-photographs

LES POUPÉES RUSSES DE SILVIO BERLUSCONI

Une polémique dans la polémique. Depuis que sa femme l’a quitté, lassée de son «penchant pour les jeunes filles mineures», Silvio Berlusconi enchaîne les polémiques. Cette fois, une nouvelle affaire issue des enregistrements des présumées conversations privées qu’il aurait eu avec l’escort-girl Patrizia D’Addario a fait irruption : celle d’une prétendue trouvaille archéologique.

Chloé Oget - Parismatch.com PEOPLE-MATCH | VENDREDI 24 JUILLET 2009

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Le quotidien italien «L’Espresso» a publié hier de nouveaux scripts de conversations intimes qu’auraient tenus Silvio Berlusconi et l’escort-girl Patrizia D’Addario. Dans l’un de ces entretiens polémiques, Silvio Berlusconi vanterait -outre ses performances sexuelles- sa villa de Sardaigne, immense demeure comportant lacs artificiels et faux volcans. Emporté dans la description de sa propriété sarde, le Premier ministre âgé de 72 ans aurait déclaré que «30 tombes phéniciennes datant de 300 ans avant Jésus-Christ» y auraient été découvertes. Seulement voilà, alors que selon la loi italienne, les découvertes archéologiques doivent être signalées aux autorités qui décideront ou non de fouilles, les services du patrimoine italien basés en Sardaigne ignorent tout de ce site phénicien.

Suite à la parution de cette conversation, l’opposition est immédiatement montée au créneau, exigeant que Silvio Berlusconi rende des comptes sur cette découverte présumée devant le parlement. «Nous voulons savoir si elles (les tombes, ndlr) existent ou non, et si c’est le cas, si elles ont été signalées», a déclaré Andréa Marcucci, un député démocrate. La Fédération nationale des archéologues a quant à elle fait savoir qu’elle ignorait l’existence du site en question, et a souligné que s’il existait, il serait susceptible de révéler plusieurs aspects de civilisations anciennes installées en Sardaigne.

SILVIO BERLUSCONI A LESOUTIEN DE SON PARTI

Ne se prononçant sur les tombes phéniciennes, le ministre Italien des Affaires étrangères, Franco Frattini, n’a toutefois pas hésité à venir en aide à son Premier ministre. Lors interview accordée à la BBC, ce dernier a en effet estimé que les accusations auxquelles Silvio Berlusconi faisait face –le Cavaliere nie avoir jamais payé pour des relations sexuelles- n’étaient «absolument» pas vraies. Franco Frattini a également affirmé que ce sont «des journalistes qui ont payé cette escort-girl, cette prostituée, pour qu’elle fasse des déclarations publiques contre le chef de l’état», ajoutant que «payer quelqu’un pour faire des déclarations est un comportement immoral».

Le parti de Silvio Berlusconi, le «Peuple de la Liberté» a également fait part de son soutien au Cavaliere. Daniele Cappezone, porte-parole du parti, a qualifié l’histoire de «tentative (de la part des journaux visés : «La Respublica» et «L’Espresso», ndlr) pathétique de réanimer une campagne médiatique qui est déjà moribonde». Cette dernière a aussi estimé que ces quotidiens n’avaient qu’à «prendre des vacances», chose dont ils «ont de toute évidence besoin».

PATRIZIA N’EN DÉMORD PAS

Mais dans un communiqué publié par la presse italienne ce vendredi, Patrizia D’Addario revient sur les déclarations du ministre des Affaires Etrangères, et dément formellement avoir été «payée par des journalistes». «Le ministre des Affaires étrangères affirme que plusieurs escort-girls ont été payées par des journalistes afin de lancer de fausses accusations contre Silvio Berlusconi», écrit-elle, en ajoutant qu’elle l’invitait à «apporter des preuves à ses affirmations, ou alors à s’abstenir le cas échéant» si toutefois elle était visée par ces paroles.

Ne se laissant atteindre par les attaques de la sphère politique, Patricia D’Addario a également fait savoir qu’elle répondrait à chaque «déclarations publiques et reconstructions de la part de journalistes à [son] égard […] par des actions en justice», et qu’elle avait pour habitude de toujours enregistrer ses conversations avec des clients.

http://www.parismatch.com/People-Match/Politique/Actu/Les-poupees-russes-de-Silvio-Berlusconi-115536/

Can St Padre Pio save Berlusconi?

Bess writes:

He has admitted, as we report, with considerable understatement that he is "not a saint" … and now The EarthTimes refers to a story in la Repubblica that Silvio Berlusconi, shamed by the revelation of orgies at his private villa is thought to be planning a pilgrimage of atonement after the Summer holiday. He is also said to be planning to sell Villa Certosa, scene of his wild exploits, before in what might justifiably be viewed as a desperate bid to recoup his shattered reputation, embarking on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Padre Pio, one of Italy’s best-loved saints. St Padre Pio, a Franciscan mystic who died in 1968, is famous for having suffered the stigmata, or physical wounds of Christ. He claimed to have had a vision at the end of the First World War in which Jesus appeared to him and pierced his side, and is also said to have had the gift of bi-locating. St Pio is associated with radical spiritual conversions. Could be just the spiritual makeover Berlusconi needs??

POSTED BY BESS TWISTON-DAVIES ON JULY 22, 2009 AT 12:11 PM |

Bess Twiston Davies works for the Times Register section and is a regular contributor to the Faith page and Times Online. She studied Hispanic studies and English at Sheffield University and has a journalism diploma from The Robert Schuman Institute, Angers, France.

http://timesonline.typepad.com/faith/2009/07/berlusconi-considering-pilgrimage-to-atone-for-orgies.html

Sex tapes force sober summer on Berlusconi

After fresh revelations about his private life, Italy’s leader Silvio Berlusconi is taking action to restore his dignity

From The Sunday Times

July 26, 2009 John Follain in Rome

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AS Silvio Berlusconi ate breakfast with a prostitute in his bedroom after a wakeful night last November, she complimented him on his sexual stamina.

A younger man would not have lasted so long, purred Patrizia D’Addario, because “young people are under a hell of a lot of pressure”.

The alleged postcoital conversation of Italy’s 72-year-old prime minister was captured on tape by D’Addario, 42, and a partial transcript was published in L’Espresso magazine last week.

Barack Obama had been confirmed as the victor of America’s presidential election. But at Berlusconi’s Rome residence the prime minister seemed preoccupied with advising his guest to “touch yourself often” and saying premature ejaculation runs in families.

After another week of excruciating disclosures about the billionaire Berlusconi’s peccadillos and predilections between the sheets – and with the promise of more embarrassments to follow from further tapes – it was hardly surprising that his aides were anxious to restore some of his shredded dignity.

With his popularity slipping below 50% for the first time, they let it be known that he wants to put the scandal behind him and is planning a “sober summer”.

Berlusconi will stay away from his estate in Sardinia, which he has considered selling after paparazzi caught him in the company of beautiful young women on previous holidays. Instead, he will prepare the way for a comeback after the summer break by supervising construction projects in L’Aquila, in central Italy, which was badly damaged by an earthquake in April. Berlusconi hosted the G8 summit there earlier this month.

In an attempt to woo the Catholic church, several of whose cardinals have lambasted him for setting a poor moral example, Berlusconi also intends to visit the shrine of Padre Pio, a hugely popular saint, in southern Italy.

It will make a stark contrast with the exchanges recorded at the Palazzo Grazioli, Berlusconi’s home in the capital.

Two other transcripts leaked last week had him telling D’Addario to wait for him in “Putin’s bed” and wanting her to have sex with another female friend of his.

Gianpaolo Tarantini, 34, a businessman from Bari in southern Italy who has been accused of abetting prostitution by paying women to attend Berlusconi’s parties, was quoted as briefing D’Addario before she met the prime minister in October.

“He doesn’t use condoms, you decide,” the transcript said. “But he won’t take you as an escort, you understand? He takes you as a friend of mine.” He added that, if all went well, Berlusconi would “settle up” in some way.

That first evening Berlusconi gave D’Addario a running commentary as he showed a film of his Villa Certosa estate on Sardinia’s Emerald Coast. He boasted about its various delights, including “the prime minister’s ice-cream shop”.

“It also makes sorbets. Look, how wonderful, this is where they make ice-cream!” he said. He then mentioned a lake whose swans he had removed during the summer, “because we want the water to be clean so we can swim there”.

Other treasures include a fossilised whale, meteorites (which he may have confused with megaliths) and a pizzeria.

D’Addario decided not to stay that first night and said Tarantini paid her £850 for attending the dinner.

The prostitute has given prosecutors investigating Tarantini audio tapes from that evening and from the night of November 4-5 which she says she spent with Berlusconi. She also filmed the bedroom with her mobile phone.

The prime minister, who has dismissed her account as “trash and lies”, tried to laugh it off last week with a joke: “It’s true: I’m not a saint.”

Apart from the blow to his personal reputation, the political impact of the affair is taking its toll.

Dario Franceschini, leader of the centre-left Democratic party, the biggest opposition group, claimed Berlusconi could fall this autumn, weakened by declining popularity, coalition tensions and the government’s failure to deal with the economic downturn.

“He’s imprisoned himself in a reality show that he created,” Franceschini said.

Few commentators believe the prime minister’s position is in any immediate danger. But critics have accused him of hypocrisy in consorting with D’Addario while drafting morality legislation and a bill that would throw prostitutes’ clients into jail.

One poll last week showed Berlusconi’s approval rating falling to 49%, for the first time, against 53% in May. Berlusconi, who commissions his own polls, claimed his rating had risen to 68%.

Over the weeks ahead he is expected to project a “can-do” image from L’Aquila. He is anxious to fulfil a promise that thousands of local people made homeless by the earthquake would be out of their campsites and into new housing by the autumn.

As for his pilgrimage to Padre Pio’s shrine, Berlusconi is likely to face further embarrassment regardless of his prayers. An informed source said the audio tapes made by D’Addario last for four hours. So far only about a quarter has been leaked.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6727684.ece

Mildly contrite Silvio Berlusconi woos the church with a nod and a wink

Italians might scarcely countenance it, but the braggadocio is slipping just a little.

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By Nick Pisa in Rome
26 Jul 2009

Over the next few weeks, Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's libidinous prime minister, is to play a role little seen in his testosterone-fuelled repertoire to date: the penitent.

Faced with a drip-feed of ever more lurid revelations about his private life, he has undertaken a mission to finesse his tainted image. The hope is to show Italians that he can act the responsible, devout leader just as well as the cavorting, septuagenarian playboy.

Mr Berlusconi is therefore resisting the temptation of spending his Summer holiday at his Sardinian retreat, scene of some of the orgiastic bacchanals that have got him into trouble in the past. Instead, in a reprise of one of his most successful domestic policy successes, he will spend his break overseeing construction in Abruzzo, the central Italian region struck by an earthquake in April.

It is an astute gesture by a man whose populist instincts are better honed than any other European leader. There is also sense in avoiding the Villa Certosa, a 300-acre estate that lends itself to moral turpitude with its whirlpool baths and hidden coves.

Taking his new-found asceticism a step further, there is growing talk that the prime minister will even pay homage at the shrine of one of Italy's most revered stigmatics, St Pio of Pietrelcina.

"The Lord accepts all and as the Lord said: "I have come for sinners not the just,'" a Cappuccin friar at the shrine near Foggia in southern Italy, told La Repubblica.

Observers suggest that through these stunts, the prime minister is seeking the propitiation of Italy's conservative Catholics, the only community that has viewed Mr Berlusconi's antics with a degree of disapprobation.

Even before the release of an audiotape recording Mr Berlusconi's nocturnal encounter with a Bari escort girl, Patrizia D'Addario, the Vatican had spoken censoriously of the need for greater sobriety in the government.

Italy's leading Catholic newspaper, Avvenire, yesterday condemned the prime minister in some of its most strident language yet.

Still, Mr Berlusconi is hardly donning sackcloth. With conservative Catholics lacking a significant political force to defect to, most observers reckon that Mr Berlusconi is only slightly chastened.

He still enjoys popularity ratings unrivalled in much of the European Union, and for many Italians the revelations have elicited either indifference or admiration.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/5907914/Mildly-contrite-Silvio-Berlusconi-woos-the-church-with-a-nod-and-a-wink.html

Berlusconi's antics deserve our censure

• Editorial
• The Observer, Sunday 26 July 2009
• Article history

As a political defence goes, it has the merit of being irrefutable: "I'm no saint," said Silvio Berlusconi, Italian prime minister, in response to an ongoing scandal around the release of tapes purporting to capture him having sex with a prostitute.

While Mr Berlusconi is, in the words of one opposition leader, trapped in his own reality TV show, the affair needn't stop him from continuing to serve as PM.

Plenty of reasons have been cited for his apparent immunity: the scandal burnishes the macho credentials that appeal to some of his supporters;Italy is used to corruption; enough voters prefer stability and brazenness under Mr Berlusconi to instability and hypocrisy under past premiers.

Besides, Mr Berlusconi has weathered scandals that include allegations far more sinister than cavorting with call girls.

While it is true that Italian politics has its own peculiar dynamics, cultural exceptionalism does not excuse rotten government. The real scandal is the way the story has been suppressed.

Mr Berlusconi controls enough Italian media outlets to stymie negative reporting. Where he does not directly own newspapers and TV stations, he owns companies that control advertising revenue. News of the sex scandal has been limited to a few websites and one major newspaper - La Repubblica. Mr Berlusconi has described its coverage as "subversive".

Meanwhile, in the entirely hypothetical event that some evidence of serious wrongdoing should emerge, Mr Berlusconi is safe from prosecution under a law he himself introduced.

Does it matter if Italian democracy is warped in this way? It is certainly sad to witness. But more important, Italy is still an influential power - currently chair of the G8 and a major player in the EU with a big economy inside the euro zone. Fellow European countries should be less forgiving of a partner who brings their club into such disrepute. Would other EU leaders tolerate, in a country applying for membership today, a situation where civil society is so flagrantly bent to the will of the prime minister? Surely not.

Mr Berlusconi may try to protect himself from criticism inside Italy; he should not enjoy any such immunity abroad.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/26/editorial-silvio-berlusconi-eu-scandals

Berlusconi the statesman, not the playboy

By Guy Dinmore and George Parker in L’Aquila
Published: July 10 2009

Silvio Berlusconi’s gamble to host the G8 summit appears to have paid off. From scandal-plagued playboy to international statesman: after three days of presiding over the international gathering Mr Berlusconi has silenced his critics and soothed his allies, at least for the moment.For the 72-year-old billionaire prime minister, the three-day summit of 40 heads of government and international organisations concluding on Friday was as much a success for what did not happen.Aides were clearly relieved that none of their worst fears materialised – no aftershocks from the April 6 earthquake disturbed proceedings; no prosecutors announced investigations into well-publicised allegations that prostitutes were procured last year for his lavish parties; and no reporter, Italian or otherwise, had the temerity to ask Mr Berlusconi about his personal life. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor well accustomed to Mr Berlusconi’s pranks – he once played peek-a-boo from behind a pillar – greeted him with a kiss. Gordon Brown gave a big hug and Barack Obama was gracious in his praise for the organisation.By playing up the spartan nature of the accommodation in the finance ministry police college, expectations were lowered and no one complained. The people of L’Aquila – more than 60,000 have lost their homes and 22,000 are in tents – were flattered to be the centre of world attention.European diplomats did moan that Mr Berlusconi had been “incredibly late” for some meetings, leaving the punctilious German chancellor “steaming” over poor time-keeping.The summit was “reasonably well-organised”, one diplomat said.“ The accommodation and the food were modest and that was exactly the right thing.” After weeks of salacious reports (all denied by Mr Berlusconi) about his friendship with an 18-year-old would-be model and accounts by call girls of party and bedroom antics, the media mogul’s outlets were also exultant.“ The summit results are extremely positive. I have received compliments from all participants and some have told me it has been the best G8 they joined,” the prime minister said on Friday. Yet senior diplomats remain concerned, on security grounds, about trusting a head of government who allegedly has entertained call girls, some reported to be east European. Mr Berlusconi said he believed one woman, whom he said he did not know was an escort, had been paid to set him up.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

Italians listen in to closed G8 talks

By Guy Dinmore in L’Aquila and Marco Pasqua in Rome
Published: July 8 2009

Whenever G8 leaders gather for their annual talks, an elaborate ritual unfolds to ensure that the conversations within this elite club are kept confidential.
There will be no recording or note-taking of their deliberations, and each head of government is accompanied by just one aide, the “Sherpa”, who is allowed to communicate with those outside the closed room only through a digital pen.
Their huddle is projected on a video to aides outside the conference room, without sound. Their mouths are digitally blacked out.
It is a process that has been respected each year – only once, in St Petersburg in 2006, when a microphone picked up an exchange between then US president George W. Bush and Tony Blair, British prime minister at the time, has part of their conversation leaked out – and the Italian presidency insists that there is no change in procedure this time.
But the Financial Times has learned from a senior official, who requested anonymity, that Italian aides did listen to Wednesday’s proceedings through headphones from nearby rooms.
A document obtained by the FT, written earlier by a member of the organising team, urged discretion. “Pay attention not to tell the other delegations about our facility, otherwise they will all want it and that is not possible,” it read.
Plans to install the secret link caused concern among some Italian officials, who said it amounted to spying.
The purpose of the audio link appeared to be to transmit quicker advice, via the Sherpa, to Silvio Berlusconi, chairman of the talks.
Marco Ventura, spokesman for the prime minister’s office, flatly denied there was an audio link.
“What they say remains in the room. There is no channel of communication between the leaders and the outside, except for the digital pens,” he said. “There will not be any sort of secret channel between the president of the G8 [Mr Berlusconi] different from the others.”
Asked if there had been talk of a special link, Mr Ventura did not comment.
Even more strange, a witness said, was the presence in the high-security area of Bruno Vespa, a veteran ­television host favoured by Mr Berlusconi, most recently in explaining his friendship with an 18-year-old model which led his wife to ask for a divorce. Mr Ventura denied Mr Vespa had been able to listen to the confidential talks.

.Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/85cf4374-6bed-11de-9320-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=1491273a-66fd-11de-925f-00144feabdc0.html

Silvio Berlusconi has been railing against this 'small newspaper'. What is his problem with the Guardian?

Alexander Chancellor
The Guardian, Thursday 9 July 2009
Article history

Reported by the Guardian as having made such a hash of preparations for the G8 summit in L'Aquila that Italy's continued membership of that elite group of nations was now in doubt, the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, dismissed the story as "a colossal blunder by a small newspaper". His foreign minister, Franco Frattini, then chipped in with a personal hope that the Guardian would be "expelled from the great newspapers of the world" - as if "great newspapers" were a club that this "small newspaper" had somehow joined under false pretences.

One wonders in any case which newspapers Frattini would admit to the club, given that most European papers (including all the Italian ones not owned by the prime minister) are as critical of Berlusconi as the Guardian has been, and that even the revered New York Times yesterday accused the Italian government of "inexcusably lax planning" for the summit. If the New York Times does not qualify as a "great" newspaper, it must be a very exclusive club indeed.

In its own leading article yesterday, the Guardian condemned the Italians as a whole for continuing to give almost 50% support to Berlusconi despite all the scandals - private and public - in which he has been involved. It said that "until Italians start demanding serious standards from their leaders, the country is perhaps not the best venue for serious world summits". This, in my opinion, is a little unfair.

It should be remembered that Berlusconi came to power in the first place on a wave of popular disgust with the corruption and incompetence of feuding coalition governments. He held out the hope not only of honest rule (his huge wealth was seen as one reason to trust in his incorruptibility) but also of a strong and united administration. And if, despite everything, he retains widespread popular support, it's because he seems to have delivered the latter; and because, on the honesty question, people have no more faith in the integrity of his accusers than they do in his.

It is true, as he himself never tires of pointing out, that most Italians do like him and admire his energy and self-confidence. They would like to go on supporting him, but that doesn't mean that they will. His "frequenting of juniors" that caused his wife to divorce him, and the escort girls that he flew in to attend his weekend parties in Sardinia, have not damaged him as much as they would, say, Gordon Brown; but they have already knocked several points off his opinion poll ratings and will knock even more if the Catholic church becomes more open in its disapproval of his behaviour. And were he to be found guilty of any sexual impropriety, of which there is admittedly no evidence so far, he would be finished. But if you're in a hurry to see the back of him, the best thing to hope for is another earthquake during the summit in L'Aquila, where there was an encouraging little earth tremor only yesterday morning.
Also in yesterday's New York Times, the columnist David Brooks lamented the absence of dignity in American life. By this he meant the lack of the reticence and dispassion that used to govern the behaviour of public figures in the US. He cited the example of Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina who, when caught having sneaked off secretly to Argentina to visit his mistress, indulged in "rambling self-exposure even in his moment of disgrace". He also cited Sarah Palin's press conference announcing her resignation as governor of Alaska in which, as he stiltedly pointed out, she showed herself "unfamiliar with the traits of equipoise and constancy, which are the sources of authority and trust". Well, she was ghastly; that's for sure.

But what attracted me to Brooks's column was his choice of a little book by George Washington as a guide to how dignified behaviour should be. This is a list of 110 "rules of civility and decent behaviour in company and conversation" that Washington had jotted down as a 13-year-old boy in Virginia, and of which for many years I have possessed a copy. These were not Washington's original thoughts. The rules had appeared in various forms and in various languages since the end of the 16th century when they had been circulated among the Jesuits, who were then educating the children of the nobility all over continental Europe. But as a guide to good behaviour they are still remarkably appropriate.

They tell you "in the presence of others, sing not to yourself with a humming noise; nor drum with your fingers or feet"; "if you cough, sneeze, sigh or yawn, do it not loud, but privately"; "jog not the table or desk on which another reads or writes"; "if anyone comes to speak to you while you are sitting, stand up". And they are not merely rules for polite behaviour. Many of the others are simply about modesty and reticence and treating others with decency, compassion and respect. For Washington, says Brooks, they were a "dignity code" that he took very seriously and tried to follow throughout his life. They were what gave him his moral character and made him a hero in the eyes of many. What struck me reading through them again, however, was that there is hardly a single one that Berlusconi would not break.

• This week Alexander has been busy picking raspberries and broad beans in his fruit and vegetable patch: "They all appear in a rush and are too many to eat at once, so they have to be frozen instead. This means that you spend most of your time eating frozen produce even when you grow it at home, which is rather sad."

Carla Bruni snubs Silvio Berlusconi’s Rome tour for G8 wives

From The Times
July 8, 2009

Lucy Bannerman in Rome

He has already played host to showgirls, hostesses, a teenage model and a prostitute. For once, however, there was no question over the suitability of Silvio Berlusconi’s latest round of female guests.
The official party of first ladies, including Michelle Obama and Sarah Brown, is expected to arrive today for a three-day visit to Rome and the earthquake-stricken city of L’Aquila.
The traditional gathering of leaders’ spouses has come under scrutiny this year after Veronica Lario, Mr Berlusconi’s wife, announced in May that she was seeking a divorce, partly because she could not stay with a man “who frequents minors”.
An online petition by four Italian academics also urged the spouses to boycott the summit on account of Mr Berlusconi’s “offensive” behaviour towards women.
Carla Bruni, the Italian-born wife of the French President, who has a history of clashes with Mr Berlusconi, announced yesterday that she would not be attending the official G8 events in Rome. She will, however, visit the summit venue of L’Aquila.
The official programme begins this morning when Mrs Brown shares an audience with the Pope and some of the other spouses at the Vatican.
They will be accompanied by two female government ministers, including Mara Carfagna, the former nude model and Miss Italia contestant, who Mr Berlusconi appointed as Equalities Minister.
Ms Carfagna, a 33-year-old law graduate from Sicily, will be representing the Government, according to official sources. She also represents a reminder of past controversies.
Two years ago Ms Lario demanded — and duly received — a public apology after Mr Berlusconi, 72, told Ms Carfagna that he would “marry her tomorrow, if I weren’t married already”.
After meeting the Pope, the wives will join the Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, and his wife, Isabella Rauti, for lunch before visiting the Musei Capitolini.
They will have afternoon tea with Clio Napolitano, the wife of the Italian President, who has replaced Ms Lario as the official hostess.
Ms Bruni, however, will travel to L’Aquila on Thursday afternoon, where she will visit a hospital and tour the tents housing those who lost their homes in the earthquake. She will return to France on Friday morning.
Relations between the model and the billionaire soured earlier this year after Mr Berlusconi reportedly boasted to her husband, Nicolas Sarkozy, that he “gave” him his wife. Mr Berlusconi denied the comment.
Ms Bruni was said to have remarked that she “was happy she had become French” after Mr Berlusconi’s gaffe about President Obama’s “suntan”.
Also absent will be Joachim Sauer, the husband of the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the only man in the group of spouses.
Michelle Obama, who will be travelling with her daughters, Sasha and Malia, will meet the Pope at a private reception with her husband on Friday.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6662861.ece

Oh, That G-8

Editorial
Published: July 7, 2009

Expectations are low as this year’s Group of 8 summit meetings open Wednesday in the earthquake-damaged Italian city of L’Aquila. That is not for any lack of urgent problems, like a faltering global economy and Iran’s unchecked nuclear appetites. A successful summit also could give a much-needed push to international negotiations to address global warming and revive earlier promises to help the world’s poorest nations.
But inexcusably lax planning by the host government, Italy, and the political weakness of many of the leaders attending, leave little room for optimism. If this session is going to justify the time and effort, President Obama will have to lead the way. It is time for him to turn the diplomatic credit he has been earning over the past six months into diplomatic capital.
He must renew the push on Germany to invest more in economic stimulus. At the last major summit, the April Group of 20 meetings in London, Mr. Obama decided, for the sake of international unity, not to press hard. Three months later, the world economy is still weakening and only a concerted effort from both sides of the Atlantic can bring early recovery.
Mr. Obama also must press his fellow leaders to restrain dangerous protectionist impulses. To do that, he must pledge to restrain those impulses in Washington, starting with his own party.
He will need to begin leveraging his more nuanced approach toward Iran to build the kind of unity against nuclear adventurism that predictably eluded George W. Bush. Mr. Obama’s offer to engage with Tehran is welcome but still only half a policy. It needs to be reinforced with firm commitments by the other G-8 economies, Russia included, to apply tough and meaningful sanctions if Iran refuses to constrain its nuclear appetites.
If there is one issue on which the United States lags behind the Europeans, it is climate change. There is general agreement on long-term emissions targets, but Europe is rightly urging swifter and larger emissions reductions by 2020. Mr. Obama would do well to listen and push Congress toward more adventurous short-term reductions when he returns home.
The recession has hit the world’s poorest countries hardest. Fortunately, many rich nations, despite their own economic troubles, increased aid commitments last year. Mr. Obama promised to double the United States’ aid budget by 2015. But aid from G-8 countries is still $25 billion short of the $105 billion a year they committed to by next year, measured in 2009 dollars. This week’s summit should pledge to meet that goal — and each country should announce a specific contribution for this year and next.
Traditionally, the host sets the tone, theme and agenda for these gatherings. But Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has directed most of his political energies in recent weeks to try to fend off newspaper charges that he patronized paid female escorts and entertained minimally clad under-age women. Showmanship: perhaps. Leadership: no.
Other attendees have been less colorful, but not much more helpful. Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, has dragged her feet on applying badly needed stimulus to Europe’s largest economy. Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain, who helped rally support for African development at the 2005 summit hosted by his predecessor, Tony Blair, has stumbled badly since taking over and is keeping a low profile. Taro Aso, Japan’s prime minister, is equally unpopular at home and afflicted by a particularly narrow nationalist worldview, even by parochial Japanese standards.
Canada’s prime minister, Stephen Harper, leads a weak minority government. President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia labors under the shadow of his mentor and prime minister, Vladimir Putin — no believer in international cooperation. France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is politically dominant at home but, more than two years into his tenure, seems to have no coherent international agenda.
Every nation represented at L’Aquila has a clear interest in a stronger and faster economic recovery, stopping Iran from building nuclear weapons, slowing global warming and helping the world’s poorest nations prosper. It is up to Mr. Obama to remind and energize them.

A version of this article appeared in print on July 8, 2009, of the New York edition.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/opinion/08wed1.html

Berlusconi ’serene’ ahead of G8 summit

“Everything is ready. I feel completely serene.”
Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s three-time prime minister and billionaire media mogul, is confident in the success of the G8 summit he is hosting this week in the quake-ravaged city of L’Aquila.
For Berlusconi, 72, it will be the third G8 summit he has chaired, following Naples in 1994 and Genoa eight years ago. No other leader of the rich countries’ club has such a distinction and this summit will be the biggest to date, bringing together a total of 39 heads of government and international institutions.
The summit venue is the college compound of the Finance Ministry police, a cross between a military barracks and university campus about two km outside L’Aquila which was devastated by an earthquake on April 6. Nearly 300 people in the city and surrounding villages were killed and about 60,000 are still homeless, more than 22,000 living in government-provided tents.
The three-day summit starts on Wednesday but world leaders have already started arriving in Rome. China’s Hu Jintao attended a business conference on Monday where 38 agreements reported to total $2bn were signed between Italian and Chinese companies, including car-maker Fiat and Generali, Italy’s insurance giant breaking into the Chinese pensions market.
Whether everything is really ready in L’Aquila is not clear. The media centre for some 3,500 reporters was to open on Monday but has been put back a day. But sidewalks have been covered in green carpeting and approach roads resurfaced. A blanket security presence will keep away any disgruntled tent people or anti-global protesters.
Almost daily aftershocks have added to the logistics nightmare of shifting the venue to L’Aquila from the original site at La Maddalena, a small island off Sardinia that had presented its own serious accommodation problems.
Italian media report that under Plan B, world leaders could be evacuated and flown to Rome in the event of another major tremor measuring more than 4.0 on the Richter scale, but only if the summit complex showed signs of damage. The April 6 quake measured 6.3. A tremor of 4.1 shook the area last Friday, sending people back out into the streets.
“There is no risk,” Mr Berlusconi told Il Giornale, a newspaper owned by his brother. “Even if there was another shock, the guests would be completely safe.”
Mr Berlusconi is in serious need of a smooth and successful summit seen to produce concrete results. Communiques on climate change and food security could yield tangible progress. Italy is spearheading an effort, backed by Germany, that is intended to lead to a systematic working out of “global standards” for international business and finance. Ethics has become a buzz-word.
Iran could also come in for a tough verbal lashing although Mr Berlusconi has back-tracked since he earlier indicated he expected sanctions to be imposed, even though the G8 is not the right forum for such decisions.
At home and abroad, the prime minister’s standing has been seriously damaged by a series of scandals surrounding his private life that began when his wife, Veronica Lario, accused him of “frequenting minors” over his unclear relationship with an 18-year-old would-be model. Since then it has emerged that prosecutors are investigating whether a businessman in Bari suspected of corruption also procured prostitutes for the prime minister. Several women have gone public with their salacious tales.
Mr Berlusconi calls it all garbage and lies concocted by the left-wing “walking corpse” opposition. Despite repeated claims that he is completely unmoved by the media furore, his office has threatened to sue foreign newspapers, specifically those belonging to the Murdoch group, if they published photographs of his private parties.
Known for his attention to logistical detail, Mr Berlusconi has overseen preparations in L’Aquila led by Guido Bertolaso, the government’s Mr Fix-it who heads the civil protection agency which is also in charge of earthquake relief.
A basketball hoop has been specially installed for Barack Obama, US president, outside his accommodation block numbered P1.

July 6, 2009 by Guy Dinmore
http://blogs.ft.com/news-blog/

Summit for Silvio

Published: July 6 2009

Silvio Berlusconi has been through a torrid time in recent weeks, amid a spate of allegations about his relations with younger women. But on Wednesday the Italian prime minister will hope to draw a line under his problems when he hosts world leaders at the G8 summit in the Italian city of L’Aquila. The G8 is declining as an institution, eclipsed by the higher standing of the G20. But the G8 presidency still gives its incumbent the opportunity to grab parts of the global agenda and drive through change. Mr Berlusconi, more than most leaders in the developed world these days, needs to look as though he is making the most of the opportunity.

For weeks, stories about the 72-year-old Italian leader’s private life have been an utter embarrassment. But Mr Berlusconi’s reputation on the global stage has fallen for reasons that go well beyond recent headlines. After all, he has long had a reputation as a controversial and unpredictable figure. However, when the Italian premier was last in government – from 2001 to 2006 – the Bush administration needed to court him because Washington was in conflict with the two big players on the European continent: French president Jacques Chirac and German chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Today, all has changed. France and Germany both have strongly pro-American leaders. So Barack Obama does not have to be anything like as tolerant of Mr Berlusconi as his predecessor was.

Mr Berlusconi cannot be completely ignored, of course. He has a direct electoral mandate to govern (something that could not be said of Gordon Brown). Italy is a strong partner for the US in Afghanistan and is taking in Guantánamo detainees. But on many aspects of policy, he irritates Italy’s allies. On development aid and climate change – two key G8 issues – he appears to have no interest. On Iran, Italy has flip-flopped from the softest to the toughest of stances. On Russia, the US is tired of the way Mr Berlusconi presents himself as an interlocutor between Moscow and Washington. The notion is absurd.

On Tuesday in L’Aquila, Mr Berlusconi must raise his game. The omens are not good. The first time he presided over the G7 or G8 was in Naples in 1994 when he was issued with a court summons. The second time was in Genoa in 2001 when the summit was almost wrecked by protests. On Wednesday, Mr Berlusconi will be hoping for third time lucky. The rest of us can be forgiven for keeping expectations low.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c06921ec-6a55-11de-ad04-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=1491273a-66fd-11de-925f-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

Calls grow within G8 to expel Italy as summit plans descend into chaos

While US tries to inject purpose into meeting, Italy is lambasted for poor planning and reneging on overseas aid commitments

Preparations for Wednesday's G8 summit in the Italian mountain town of L'Aquila have been so chaotic there is growing pressure from other member states to have Italy expelled from the group, according to senior western officials.

In the last few weeks before the summit, and in the absence of any substantive initiatives on the agenda, the US has taken control. Washington has organised "sherpa calls" (conference calls among senior officials) in a last-ditch bid to inject purpose into the meeting.

"For another country to organise the sherpa calls is just unprecedented. It's a nuclear option," said one senior G8 member state official. "The Italians have been just awful. There have been no processes and no planning."

"The G8 is a club, and clubs have membership dues. Italy has not been paying them," said a European official involved in the summit preparations.

The behind-the-scenes grumbling has gone as far as suggestions that Italy could be pushed out of the G8 or any successor group. One possibility being floated in European capitals is that Spain, which has higher per capita national income and gives a greater percentage of GDP in aid, would take Italy's place.

The Italian foreign ministry did not reply yesterday to a request to comment on the criticisms.

"The Italian preparations for the summit have been chaotic from start to finish," said Richard Gowan, an analyst at the Centre for International Co-operation at New York University.

"The Italians were saying as long ago as January this year that they did not have a vision of the summit, and if the Obama administration had any ideas they would take instruction from the Americans."

The US-led talks led to agreement on a food security initiative a few days before the L'Aquila meeting, the overall size of which is still being negotiated. Gordon Brown has said Britain would contribute £1.1bn to the scheme, designed to support farmers in developing countries.

However, officials who have seen the rest of the draft joint statement say there is very little new in it. Critics say Italy's Berlusconi government has made up for the lack of substance by increasing the size of the guest list. Estimates of the numbers of heads of state coming to L'Aquila range from 39 to 44.

"This is a gigantic fudge," Gowan said. "The Italians have no ideas and have decided that best thing to do is to spread the agenda extremely thinly to obscure the fact that didn't really have an agenda."

Silvio Berlusconi has come in for harsh criticism for delivering only 3% of development aid promises made four years ago, and for planning cuts of more than 50% in Italy's overseas aid budget.

Meanwhile, media coverage in the run-up to the meeting has been dominated by Berlusconi's parties with young women, and then the wisdom of holding a summit in a region experiencing seismic aftershocks three months after a devastating earthquake as a gesture of solidarity with the local population.

The heavy criticism of Italy comes at a time when the future of the G8 as a forum for addressing the world's problems is very much in question. At the beginning of the year the G20 group, which included emerging economies, was seen as a possible replacement, but the G20 London summit in April convinced US officials it was too unwieldy a vehicle.

The most likely replacement for the G8 is likely to be between 13- and 16-strong, including rising powers such as China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa, which currently attend meetings as the "outreach five" But any transition would be painful as countries jostle for a seat. Italy's removal is seen in a possibility but Spanish membership in its place is unlikely. The US and the emerging economies believe the existing group is too Euro-centric already, and would prefer consolidated EU representation. That is seen as unlikely. No European state wants to give up their place at the table.

Julian Borger, diplomatic editor guardian.co.uk, Monday 6 July 2009

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/06/g8-considers-expelling-italy

Silvio Berlusconi's absent wife causes a headache for G8 summit

From The Times
July 4, 2009

Silvio Berlusconi’s domestic troubles have caused a serious headache for planners of next week’s G8 summit.
Normally the wife of the Prime Minister would be the host for a series of events for the spouses of the leaders — but Mr Berlusconi’s better half has filed for divorce and so Clio Napolitano, the wife of the Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano, has been asked to step into the breach.
She will take Michelle Obama and Sarah Brown and the others on tours of the earthquake region around L’Aquila, host meals for them, and perform other duties expected of the hostess. "The wife was not available, the other women in his life appear to be less than suitable, the president's wife has stepped up to the plate," a summit insider said. "Protocol will be observed."
The scandals involving Mr Berlusconi have caused “complications” and “lowered expectations”, according to another summit source. A petition launched by Italian female academics appealing to the First Ladies not to attend the summit because of Mr Berlusconi’s “offensive” behaviour towards women has garnered more than 12,000 signatures, including those of the astrophysicist Margherita Hack and the writer Dacia Maraini.
Even the former Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie, once on close terms with Mr Berlusconi, are distancing themselves from him, with Mrs Blair recently revealing on Italian television that her husband had made her stand between himself and the Italian leader when they visited his Sardinian villa in 2004 because Mr Berlusconi was wearing an "embarassing bandanna" to hide a hair transplant.
Mr Berlusconi has tried to rescue the situation by announcing “unconfirmed” plans for the First Ladies to be received en masse by the Pope. However, the Vatican has confirmed only a papal audience for President Obama and his family next Friday, the third and final day of the summit. Sarah Brown will visit the headquarters in Rome of the World Food Programme — while if any of the leaders bring their children, there is a safari planned for them to see the bears in the Abruzzo national park.
Mrs Napolitano, at least, is likely to prove a stimulating hostess. A former labour lawyer from a left-wing family who married Mr Napolitano in 1959, she is noted for her strong social conscience and down-to-earth sense of humour. She once overheard a teenage girl exclaim, on seeing her husband: “It’s the President, I feel faint!” She observed, drily: “Calm down my dear, he’s hardly Brad Pitt.”

Richard Owen and Philip Webster
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6633106.ece