An Italian judge on Tuesday ordered Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial on charges he paid for sex with a 17-year-old Moroccan girl, then tried to cover it up.
Berlusconi has stood trial on a number of business-related charges, but this is the first time the 74-year-old billionaire businessman is being tried for personal conduct.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2011/02/15/berlusconi-judge.html#ixzz1E2bnu7ld
From the story:
The trial is to begin April 6, and will be heard by a panel of three judges, all of them women.
How do you say "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" in Italian?
How do you say "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" in Italian?
How do you say "you are now officially totally screwed"?
This guy needs to resign and save Italy from the embarrasment of convicting a sitting prime minister as a sexual predator.
Prosecutors say Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi paid for sex 13 times with Karima El Mahroug, also known as Ruby, when she was still 17, reports say.
They have filed a document requesting indictments against three of the prime minister's associates for allegedly soliciting prostitutes for him.
They allege that 33 women took part in erotic parties at his villa near Milan.
Mr Berlusconi, who faces trial on 6 April, has condemned the latest allegations as "without sense".
He denies having sex with an under-age prostitute and abuse of power. Ms Mahroug denies having sex with the Italian leader
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12757073
[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15708729]Don't let the door hit you on the way out:[/url]
Silvio Berlusconi has resigned as prime minister of Italy, after dominating the country's politics for 17 years.President Giorgio Napolitano accepted his offer and is likely to appoint technocrat Mario Monti his successor.
Mr Berlusconi lost his majority amid an acute debt crisis that threatens the eurozone. He promised to go once MPs had approved new austerity measures.
Crowds celebrated outside the presidential palace, shouting "buffoon" as he entered.
'EU is Showing its True Nature as a Dictatorship' (and vid)
http://rt.com/news/eurozone-crisis-greece-italy-119/
"What is so frightening about what is happening now as the European Union and the euro enter their death agonies, is the way in which the European Union is showing its true nature as a dictatorship.."
... Italy celebrates:
http://www.unita.it/italia/fotogallery-festa-dimissioni-1.351804
http://www.unita.it/
as one comment says:
Finalmente l´italia é stata liberata della testa del serpente diabolico, ora occorre disfarsi di tutto il corpo riconducibile alla testa avvelenata del re berlusconi !!!
The New Statesman remembers his gaffes!
[quote]1. On his love of Italy:
In a few months... I'm leaving this shitty country of which I'm sickened. (July 2011)
2. On women:
When asked if they would like to have sex with me, 30% of women said, 'Yes', while the other 70% replied, 'What, again?' (April 2011)
3. On the L'Aquila Earthquake victims:
Of course, their current lodgings are a bit temporary. But they should see it like a weekend of camping. (April 2009)
4. On how tough it is to be a billionaire:
I am without doubt the person who's been the most persecuted in the entire history of the world and the history of man. (October 2009)
5. On his own sexual abilities:
I only managed to do eight of them, I couldn't manage any more...You just can't get round to all of them. But this morning I feel great, I'm pleased with my stamina. (November 2009)
6. On Barack Obama:
Handsome, young and also suntanned. (November 2008)
7. On his personal sacrifice:
I am the Jesus Christ of politics...I am a patient victim, I put up with everyone, I sacrifice myself for everyone. (February 2006)
8. On his own record in office:
Only Napoleon did more than I have done. (February 2006)
9. On Mussolini:
Mussolini never killed anyone. Mussolini sent people on holiday in (internal) exile. (September 2004)
10. On balding:
I have little hair because my brain is so big it pushes the hair out. (2001)
I see Berlusconi as a modern day version of Caligula!
This applause by progressive folks at the European billionaires forcing out one of their own, because he wasn't doing their bidding (or they needed a sacrificial lamb), is quite a display of gullibility - never mind scoffing at the sovereignty of the peoples involved. This reminds me of Nycole Turmel's enthusiastic press release at the death of Gaddafi.
Maybe we should also ridicule Papandreou, now that the natural rulers of the world have turfed him?
And I can hardly wait till Sarkozy goes down. Wow will we be regaling!
Its not that Berlusconi wasn't willing to do anyone's "bidding" its that we wasn't willing to do ANYTHING except have his bunga-bunga parties.
Unionist, we have to be critical, as leftists in Italy are, since Berlusconi was booted out by the EU on behalf of capital. But people are happy to see the back of such a buffoon. http://videos.tf1.fr/jt-we/demission-de-berlusconi-joie-et-colere-dans-l...
"people are happy"
... yes, but after they elected him and re-elected him and re-elected him over 2 decades...
Italy's electorate knew what it was getting, but signed on again and again.
Unionist, we have to be critical, as leftists in Italy are, since Berlusconi was booted out by the EU on behalf of capital. But people are happy to see the back of such a buffoon. http://videos.tf1.fr/jt-we/demission-de-berlusconi-joie-et-colere-dans-l...
I'm sure they're happy, lagatta - some of them, anyway - though they'd probably be happier if he had been removed by their choice and act, rather than that of the bankers. I believe in sovereignty, even if people make dumb choices. My views are closer to this:
[url=http://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/italy-and-greece-rule-b... and Greece: rule by the bankers[/url]
Democracy should be put above markets, said Papandreou. Berlusconi said that the appointment of a government of technocrats would be “an undemocratic coup” that ignored the 2008 election result. But it is still happening. [...]Democratically elected governments in both countries should announce together that they are defaulting on all public sector debt held by the private sector. If that busts their banks (as it would), they should be taken over with customer deposits protected and then run as public enterprises directed to lend to industry and households to boost investment and consumption. Instead of slipping into a debt spiral that leads to economic recession (or continued depression as much of Europe is already in), recovery could be kickstarted by state-led investment. Of course, this is anathema to Europe’s capitalist leaders and capitalist sectors because it would threaten the profit-based economy they preside over. So instead, we shall have the bankers rule.
Democratically elected governments in both countries should announce together that they are defaulting on all public sector debt held by the private sector. If that busts their banks (as it would), they should be taken over with customer deposits protected and then run as public enterprises directed to lend to industry and households to boost investment and consumption. Instead of slipping into a debt spiral that leads to economic recession (or continued depression as much of Europe is already in), recovery could be kickstarted by state-led investment. Of course, this is anathema to Europe’s capitalist leaders and capitalist sectors because it would threaten the profit-based economy they preside over. So instead, we shall have the bankers rule.
Where will they get the money? Print it? And how long will industry hang around without money?
You make it sound like profit is a sin.
The Day Democracy Died in Europe - by Craig Murray
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2011/11/the-day-democracy-died-in...
"In Europe, today is one of those symbolic days as the former Vice President of the European Central Bank is imposed on the Greeks by the Germans, as their Prime Minister, and as former EU Commissioner Mario Monti is forced upon the Italians.."
The West's Tragedy of Capital - by Pepe Escobar
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/11/201111875829175119.html
"For the 'irresponsible citizenship'...the exercise of political rights is just a ceremony of renouncing political will and will to govern, to place it in the hands of a new caste of private proprietors of politics, which attribute to themselves the knowledge of sophisticated and impenetrable techniques of ruling and governing..."
Where will they get the money? Print it?
Don't be silly. Haven't you heard of direct deposit? And debit and credit cards, and cheques? No need to print money. Oh by the way, where did the German and other banks get the money to lend to Greece? [b]Earn[/b] it? 
And how long will industry hang around without money?
Excellent question. Just one puzzle - doesn't money come from industry producing and selling things of value? Or am I mixed up, and it's money that creates industry? I should probably just read the news services instead of trying to figure this all out by myself.
You make it sound like profit is a sin.
Well, lending money for interest is surely frowned upon by both the Old and the New Testament. So I think I'm safe in saying [watching out for lightning] that that particular kind of profit is indeed a sin. What do you think?
But in the new world of investment capital's rule, how does one plan for travel and winters in the south if you can't realize 10 per cent per annum on that investment?
(Even while the pension funds out there on main street struggle to break even these days.I suspect that's the key to understanding their acceptance of bankers as "leaders." The idea of maybe a little life before death.)
The Banksters Are 'Stealing Governments'
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=27644
"The 'Shock Doctrine' is clearly at work again. Look at Italy's new leader's credentials:
Mario Monti is the first chairman of Bruegel, a European think-tank founded in 2005, and he is European chairman of the Trilateral Commission, a think-tank founded in 1973 by David Rockefellar. He is also a leading member of the Bildeberg Group. Monti is an international adviser to Goldwyn Sachs and Coca Cola Company.."
Shock Doctrine was a time-specific device to move peoples toward market dependency.dAs you have noted, Rockefeller was spreading the good news to Italy in a pacific way in 1973, even as THE Shock Doctgrine was being applied in Chile - as described by Naomi Klein.
The people of Italy are quite dependent on the market, and the only shock to them would be the failure of their banked savings to support them in their old age. Italians are notably able to "make do" thanks to the sanctity of extended families, but there are limits to this principle.
'Zombie Bankers' To Drag Europe Into 'Banker Hell' - Keiser (and vid)
http://rt.com/news/eurozone-crisis-bankers-politics-307/
"It seems bankers are taking over politics in Europe, financial analyst Max Keiser told RT, adding that this trend could lead to global banking domination.."
Vampires rather than Zombies methinks
