Right-wing American commentator Edward Luttwak (author of Coup d’État: A Practical Handbook, and controversial articles like ‘Give war a chance’ and the heavily criticised ‘President Apostate‘) gave a novel and clear-cut explanation of the credit crunch and its likely effects on the Italian public during a discussion last week on RAI3’s Ballarò. Novel because, unlike most […]
There’s an interesting campaign, launched by the European Women’s Lobby, called ‘50/50 No Modern European Democracy Without Gender Equality‘. The idea is to pressure political parties to put forward electoral lists that with a balanced number of male and female candidates for the next European Parliament elections in 2009, and to persuade Governments to correct […]
The joke that was the decision to press charges against satirist Sabina Guzzanti – in poorer taste than any of Guzzanti’s ‘vulgar’ jabs at Italy’s ruling classes (Vatican included) – has been shelved by justice minister Angelino Alfano. The Italian press, which in its own topsy-turvy way seems to take more offence at satirists like […]
With the speed for which it is world-renowned, the Italian justice system is coming to terms with the words spoken by comedian/activist Sabina Guzzanti from the stage of Piazza Navonna during a protest staged on the 8th of July. It appears that the Procura di Roma will ask the Minister for Justice Angelino Alfano (who […]
The plot thickens. Weeks ago the popular torrent site The Pirate Bay was pre-emptively blocked by the police division in charge of post and communications here in Italy. With a flick of the switch the site became inaccessible (despite the fact, as journalist Alessandro Longo points out that the Pirate Bay has yet to be […]
Newsweek, last week, carried a quite astonishing piece on Silvio Berlusconi’s first 100 days in office. The glowing tribute stopped short of suggesting that Trenitalia now runs on time, but only just (coincidentally, despite the fact that it was a major election issue, Alitalia crops up nowhere in the piece). Astonishing because it may well […]
Maurizio Gasparri, former communications minister and currently senate leader for the Pdl party, didn’t mince his words – for once. Referring to the high-profile decision by German Athlete, Imke Duplitzer, to boycott the opening ceremony – though not the games themselves – Gasparri said today: “The gesturee of the German athlete Imke Duplitzer, who has […]
The American official responded tersely to his interviewer regarding opposition to the ‘star wars’ missile defence scheme in the Czech Republic: “Democracy isn’t about popular decisions. That’s why we have elected officials, who take decisions on complicated matters that may be unpopular”. This week, in an extraordinary lesson on Democracy – one best delivered to […]
A welcome on board to Three Monkeys’ newest blogger – Brendan Coffey – whose Between Boston and Berlin blog is now online. One of Coffey’s first pieces is a thumbs up for the new Christopher Nolan Batman Film – The Dark Knight. The film, though, has a radically different context here in Italy, under the […]
Berlusconi has repeatedly stated his aim to ‘modernise’ Italian democracy, bringing it closer to the American presidential system. In the best tradition of recent American politics then, it was almost inevitable that oral sex would make an appearance.
