Word: italianizer
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There was barely time to mourn the dead. Less than 12 hours after a suicide attack in Kabul killed six Italian paratroopers, clear signs were already emerging in Italy that the country may no longer be willing to commit to the long haul in Afghanistan...
...Still, Berlusconi's almost instant reference to a possible troop pullout was the centerpiece of a day of impassioned, often contradictory reactions from the highest levels of the Italian government. It followed the nation's worst day of military casualties since a November 2003 car-bomb attack in Nasiriyah, in southern Iraq, killed 19 Italian soldiers. That death toll was cited when Italy eventually pulled out of Iraq in 2006, but at the time of the Nasiriyah attack, Berlusconi held firm to Italy's military commitment and ironclad alliance with then U.S. President George W. Bush. (See Berlusconi's worst...
...With the center-left opposition all but nonexistent in Italy's Parliament, everyone is on the lookout for potential Judases within the ruling majority's ranks. And as far as the Italian media are concerned, Gianfranco Fini, president of Parliament's lower house, is filling that role nicely. The local paper in Bologna, Il Resto del Carlino, like others in Italy, offers daily updates on a brewing feud between Berlusconi and Fini, the most powerful right-wing politician from this traditionally left-leaning city. Last week, Fini demanded "more democracy" within the center-right coalition and lashed out at Berlusconi...
...Northern League party and Catholic pols who dream of creating a new centrist movement. All of the major figures on the right have too much riding on Berlusconi, who paradoxically grows in power even as the scandals seem to weaken his moral authority. In some ways, Berlusconi is the Italian political equivalent of Bank of America or AIG: he is simply too big to fail. Too many who have carved out their slice of power would risk losing it all in the monumental shakeout that would follow Berlusconi's exit from politics. And even in that unlikely scenario, the Prime...
...Berlusconi can be measured as the sum of his appetites and ego. They are what have helped make him the most influential Italian of his generation. But his often uncontrollable desire to persuade and seduce - rather than the petty calculations of his foes - is the one thing that could bring everything crashing down around...