In Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, "a conservative media mogul, ran the country with a pro-US foreign policy that included Iraq peacekeeping" was ousted by the anti-war crowds and replaced with Lefty Romano Prodi. The Ultra-leftists had demanded Italy's complete withdrawal from anything even remotely connected to the United State's involvement in the WOT. Prodi came into power and did exactly that, withdrawing troops from Iraq. However, he apparently angered some by not withdrawing Italian peace-keeping troops from Afghanistan.
A vote was held in the Italian Senate to pass the leftist policy -- Mr. Prodi's policy; and it got 158 votes -- 2 votes short of the 160 it needed to pass. It didn't pass, and unless Prodi is able to quickly scrape together a new coalition, this could spell the return of Silvio Berlusconi.
THEY'VE been branded "traitors" and "bastards" and worse. But the two left- wing senators who brought down Italy's prime minister, Romano Prodi, on Wednesday night say they didn't mean to do it.
"Maybe if I knew my vote was so fundamental, I would have reflected a bit," said Fernando Rossi, a 60-year-old communist, sounding apologetic.
He and the other senator, a Trotskyite with the Communist Refoundation Party, tried their best yesterday to deflect blame. But with left-of-centre newspapers screaming headlines like: "They betrayed 19 million voters", it was a hard sell.
"First off, I didn't vote against it. I abstained," said a defensive Franco Turigliatto, who says he will quit the Senate. "Second, it wasn't me who was the determining factor."
Romano Prodi has only been in power 9 months.
Mr. D'Alema, a former communist himself, said ultra-leftists were trouble for a centre-left government like Mr Prodi's that governed with a razor-thin one-seat majority in Senate. "What do you expect, if you put Trotskyists in parliament? This is the least that could happen."
We didn't mean it, profess Prodi's 'traitors' by PHIL STEWART AND VICTOR SIMPSON
2 comments:
The only connection I see is that Nancy Pelosi is of Italian descent.
The Italians change governments like we Americans change underwear.
But, FWIW, yeah, it could be a sign of things to come here.
It is apparent that oh so many Euro nations are as "divided" as we are. A very delicate and thin sliver of a balance between left and right - a margin of opinion directly related to the latest terrorism news.
I wonder if, when the US left can't ram their dangerous, pacifist policies down the voters' throats, they will also say "we didn't mean it"?
I'll be holding my breath...
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