Just Misunderstood? Berlusconi and Letizia

05/17/2009 - 07:31

There are a lot of "Italian Mysteries" - strange events in politics and society in general for which no full explanation was ever given and no-one has ever managed to uncover what is going on. There is even a fantastic TV show that tries to figure them out ( http://www.blunotte.rai.it/ ). The latest one, I guess, is "what is the connection between Berlusconi and Letizia?" - the 18 year-old girl whose party Berlusconi attended and gave her a pendant worth 6000 euro.The Times is also trying to get to the bottom of it but they raise more answers that questionshttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6297084.ecestill, takes the mind of the hige debt Italy has and a GDP quickly spiralling downwards - at least someome can still afford nice gifts :bigsmile: The video below (for whoever can follow the Italian) is quite funny (or tragic...) as well!

Topic

Politics

Society

Comment

Can't imagine what a man of his age sees in an 18 year old blonde :steve:

Can't imagine what an 18 year old sees in him.... Possibly money and power, it is the only explanation. His second wife is doing the right thing by getting rid of him. And his first wife is an unknown genius.

'Can't imagine what an 18 year old sees in him.....'A €6000 pendant perhaps? Presumably she was awarded this in recognition of her intelligent and witty conversation :~ ?

Is that what it's called these days....?Actually I presumed she was his illegitimate daughter - am I allowed to say that?

She will want far much more than a pendant.... that's a trinket. We are not talking about Liz Taylor's diamonds or her "Peregrine" pearl.

"Tell me Letizia what is is you an 18 year girl finds attractive about the multi billioniare prime minister of Italy ?"

...and she calls him 'papi'.... :~

At least she does not call him "nonno". How generous of her! She deserves another pendant..... A more expensive one, this time.

So what about the disclosures by the ex boyfriend? Amazing, what is the truth of this. There have been some great UK press editorials lauding the need to report this due to the gagged press in Italy.

while the issue is trivial (yet another powerful man in an unclear affair with a young girl) the fact that mr. b may have not taken it too seriously straight off means that this story was not as carefully managed as others and the holes in the account are way too obvious.the real issue (as ever) is not why he did whatever he did - but why he lied so obviously about it.it is impressive how little the Italian press is doing but thankfully the foreign press will not let go.

Last Sunday, one of the most prestigious Spanish newspapers, the ABC, publishes a most interesting interview with Antonio Di Pietro, founder of "Mani Pulite" a team to investigate political corruption and of the political party "Italia dei Valori" (Italy of Values). The headline says:"This "Berlusconian" Italy is projecting a very negative image overseas".I am not going to translate the whole article, but he talks about laws which always favour the same people, the starlets surrounding him all this against the drama of many families who cannot manage to get to the end of the month. He says that the real situation is not properly portrayed by the media in Italy because " the government wishes to make believe everyone that things are just fine".He further warns about tje possibility of the mafia getting a share of the money which should go to the reconstruction of Abruzzo.Not a very nice picture. We can joke about Letizia and her "nonno" but it is a very delicate situation for a country that neither needs nor deserves this kind of circus. It should be added that this particular Spanish newspaper leans towards the conservative parties and opinions. I was surprised to see this kind of article published by them.

I'm actually glad to hear that someone else is saying that the pictures are fake. When I first saw them shown on the TV they looked so photoshopped it was laughable and I couldn't quite believe that the newsreader presented this as serious evidence that he'd been at the party. And he always makes out that the media is against him, unbelievable................

This is how I see Berlusconi and the media power: Berlusconi created media power - in the sense that media are part of our everyday life.Media create images and words. Images and words create people and their lives. People and their lives create facts and - sometimes - scandals. If scandals end, news will end. If news end, people will stop watching media. If people stop watching media, media will stop working. If media stop working, Berlusca's empire is very likely to collapse.By using the verb "to create", I'm saying that media - tv+radio+photos+newspapers - has the power to recollect videos, words, images and declarations to build facts, events and then present them to the "popolo". At the end of a story created by media, the only thing that one should ask to himself is: it that all true? The sad thing is that very few people do that.

And a very old one at that..Don't believe everything you read in the papers...If Silvio told me it was raining I'd have to go outside and check...

"San Tommaso se non vede, non crede" - told of a person that doesn't believe something without actually seeing it. :)

I don't really have an awful lot of interest in Silvio's sexual doings, whateever they may be, but do have an awful lot of interest, as someone who rather likes Italy, in his relentless attacks on basic principles of democracy and his continuing high levels of popularity.I visit Italy a lot and am shocked by how unconcerned many people are.Recently a person who I thought educated and aware told me that he was "just joking".I don't find a clear and continung attempts at totalitarianism terribly funny.Can anyone on this forum enlighten me and tell me why so many Italians don't seem very bothered?

I do not think that Italians are indifferent about what goes on in the political arena. My opinion is that they have suffered so much that there is a lot of pessimism about the possibilities of a real change. They would need someone honest and truthful to inspire them.