Word: italianity
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...Then came Gaddafi's suggestion that Switzerland be carved up like a wheel of Swiss cheese. During the G-8 summit in Italy in July, Gaddafi said Switzerland "is a world mafia and not a state," adding that the Italian-speaking part of the country should be returned to Italy, the German-speaking part to Germany and the French-speaking part to France. In an attempt to defuse the tension between the countries as well as to win the release of the two Swiss nationals being held in Libya, Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz traveled to Tripoli in August...
...Call the story "The Decline of the European Democratic Left." The SPD has been trailing Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) by up to 15 points for months. The French Socialists were trounced by Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007 and have never recovered. The Italian left was bested by Silvio Berlusconi last year. And in Britain, the Labour party is staring at near certain defeat at the hands of Tory leader David Cameron in elections to be held by next year. (See pictures of world leaders on vacation...
...expressed serious doubts about the situation in Afghanistan. "Much has to change," Frattini told the daily Corriere della Sera. "There needs to be ... more attention on the people who suffer and on reconstruction. The general vision of the mission must be changed." Frattini wants more emphasis on the approach Italian forces have used to stabilize more secure areas of Afghanistan, working with local leaders to guarantee security and improve services. Still, Italian troops - technically on a peacekeeping mission - are ever more aware that they are effectively fighting a war. (See pictures of the battle against the Taliban...
...Sergio Romano, a Corriere columnist and former Italian ambassador to NATO, says Frattini's concerns echo those expressed in the halls of power across continental Europe. "He's saying what almost all European leaders are saying, either privately or publicly," Romano tells TIME. "There is a rather widespread idea that [the mission in Afghanistan] is not leading anywhere...
...latest attack against Italian troops and the bring-home-the-boys reaction show how quickly the dominoes of the alliance could begin to fall. And like the situation on the ground in Afghanistan, the next turn in Italian politics is virtually impossible to predict...