The Truth About Italy: James Walston replies

BY JAMES WALSTON | SEPTEMBER 21, 2010

James Walston replies: 

Dante was indeed very concerned about discord in Florence and did suffer personally. He was also an authority on the consequences of lack of leadership, consensus and moral authority. Hence my use of his quote.

Italy's problem today is not that there are political factions or parties. Italy and Italians are as capable as any other country of discussing issues; the medium-term problem is Silvio Berlusconi's massive conflicts of interest -- unique to Italy and unacceptable in any other western democracy -- and the ensuing concentration of power in the executive (not unique in the west but more pronounced and long lasting). These two factors have rendered a good part of Italy government "courtiers" rather than servants of the state. The point of my article was that it is the wholesale corruption of the institutions which is the "vulgarity", the prostitution of ideas and minds not the "tabloid" sex.

Commenting on the laws passed to prevent the prime minister's trials coming to verdict or the indictment of other politicians is a "partiality" shared with most of the western press, left, right and center; it is hardly "gossip". In these fundamental issues, Italy is out of step with the standards of the rest of western democracies. This is a concern for us all.

In the immediate past, moreover, Italy has indeed been without a helmsman with even Berlusconi's own newspapers commenting on his lack of leadership.

The growth figure that Ambassador Terzi quotes refers an increase after striking declines in previous years and in any case should be analyzed together with other figures. However, whichever figures the ambassador cares to use, it is undeniable that Italy has been in relative decline for almost the last two decades (eight years of center-right under Berlusconi, seven years of center-left under Prodi and others, the rest technical or centrist).

As far as the record of Italy's peacekeepers across world is concerned, I wholeheartedly support Ambassador Terzi's affirmations and have said so in the past. They do sterling work in the Balkans and in Lebanon and as well as in Afghanistan -- all are missions given almost universal support by the Italian Parliament and initiated by both center-right and center-left governments.

 SUBJECTS:
 

ESDEETEE

12:31 PM ET

September 21, 2010

you a communist, sir

Esteemed Mr. Walston,
as per the consolidated tactic of our Lord and Master, Mr. Berlusconi, you will be known as a communist from now on.
(For stating the truth, BTW)

 

GEPPY52

7:20 PM ET

September 21, 2010

don't worry about your job.....

not just you dear Mr. Walston but I think even the newspaper for which you write will be considered subversive and communist. However, you are a lucky man because mr.berlusconi (he doesn't deserve a capitol letter) is always available to handle a fair amount with his enemies. Just see what is now happening in the Italian Parlamento (House of Representatives) where mr.b is trying "to buy" Representatives from other political party !!! And the Italian people should be considered equally lucky, seeing this person losing support in the Country.

 

ERASMO2010

5:06 AM ET

September 26, 2010

much ado about nothing

The article of Mr. Walston (who presents himself as an University teacher) is a prominent example of the decadence both of American Universities and perheps of muc esteemed Foreign Policy magazine as well. It is just a summary of the nonsensical bullshit that you can find in Italian leftist newspapers and magazines, without any critical assessment or serious analysis. It is spotted by disinformation as for example it is clearly showed by its very superficial assessment of the so called P3 connection (an inquiry that is already been partially denied by the Italian Supreme Court and is still unsubstantiated). If were not for its prude title ('The bordello State') nobody would have cared. In any case, both in the States and in Europe, no serious person will take it seriously, because it is just a caricature of reality that finds its ground on the stereotyped prejudices about Italians and in the old habit of Italians to divide in two enemies' camps (since "guelfi and ghibellini", white and blacks), and to look for foreign aid to win the internal battle. An old habit of which Dante himself was both a witness and a victim. To put it seriously and briefly, since Mr. Berlusconi entered on politics in 1994 and won the elections there has been a continuous effort to subvert the people democratic will (expressed by the democratic votes in the polls) by means of biased prosecutors and newspapers. The same thing happened in many cases during the 1992-94 Mani Pulite ("Clean hands") operation (read on this "The Italian Guillotine", written by an American serious diplomat). The attempt to subvert the people will by non democratic (i.e. by biased judiciary-mediatic) means has been repeating since, after the Berlusconi's victories in 2001 and in 2008. The man is not a saint (and he himself doesn't hide that and doesn't care to look a saint). But do we need saints to rule a country? Therefore the article of Mr. Walston can be defined as hipocritical (in all the sens of the word) and does not give an answer to the main question: why the majority of Italians (who mainly don't write to FP) are voting for Berlusconi in spite of the slanderous internal and international campaign against him? Are they corrupted? Are they stupid? Are they all manipulated by the Berlusconi's media? In Italy fredom of press is over? Come on. Such anwers are childish and ridiculous as everyone can see reading Italian newspapers or watching the State television where Berlusconi is, even too often, criticized and even slandered (particularly at the eve of elections). I admit that Italy, as always, is a very peculiar study case. But, exactly for this reason, it requires fine tuned analysis that could be useful for other countries including the Usa: for example as far as the growing political power of the prosecutors in many countries of the world, where they are supposed to be neutral and they are not). But I am afraid that Mr. Walston is not endowed with the necessary intellectual finesse to help in these task. Is FP willing to go more in deep and seriously? I think FP should do it soon, after the unfortunate publication of Walston's caricature called " The Bordello State".

 

ANTONELLO DESSANTI

12:01 AM ET

October 18, 2010

@erasmo2010

You said that Mr. Walston who presents himself as an University teacher while I don't know what you pretend to be. I'm not interested.
I'm instead curious in of your statement regarding the P3 investigation. You state that is partially denied and still unsubstantiated. Where did you get this information? From the same judges involved in the case or do you have other sources?
I'm asking also because few old men are suffering and probably concerned for this investigation. You should let them know that have nothing to worry. Or not?
And, by the way, the number of votes for Berlusconi in 2008 were 27%, far from being the majority of the Italians (http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risultati_delle_elezioni_politiche_italiane_del_2008).
If you did not know, it's not your fault. You probably have been brainwashed without noticing it.