Silvio was in St. Petersburg the weekend that his buddy Vladimir Putin decided to take preventative measures against opposition protesters. His verdict? Illegal protests that the police had to clear in order to guarantee traffic circulation – a situation completely blown up by the media.

Meanwhile, back in Silvio’s studios in Italy, the disney-like newscast of TG4’s Emilio Fede aired, where Fede described the crackdown on protesters blithely: “some people were arrested, and then later released.”

Somewhere along the official TG4 party line, communication broke down. The cameraman and reporter in Moscow and St. Petersburg sent back footage of burly riot police cracking skulls.

A satirical investigative show Striscia la Notizia, has a habit of getting film of Fede off-air between the newscasts. While the above footage was being shown, he went into a justifiable rage. Above the pictures the reporter had the cheek to mention arrests. Fede explodes ‘who is this guy? He doesn’t know a $!£% about politics’.

Need we say anymore?