The choice of L'Aquila to host this week's summit of world leaders has highlighted Italy's failure to help the victims of the quakeSilvio Berlusconi switched the location of the G8 summit to the city of L'Aquila as a way of focusing world attention on Italy's most disastrous earthquake for 30 years. But as Hu Jintao, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, touched down in Rome yesterday, the first of 40 world leaders to arrive for the summit, residents were sceptical that the presence of so many grandees on their doorstop would do them much good. More than 300 people died, 1,500 were injured and 70,000 made homeless by the quake that struck exactly three months ago. In the days that followed the disaster, Mr Berlusconi, not yet embroiled in the sex scandal that is now dogging him, took personal charge of the rescue effort, visiting the city and meeting survivors each day.
Silvio Berlusconi switched the location of the G8 summit to the city of L'Aquila as a way of focusing world attention on Italy's most disastrous earthquake for 30 years.
But as Hu Jintao, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, touched down in Rome yesterday, the first of 40 world leaders to arrive for the summit, residents were sceptical that the presence of so many grandees on their doorstop would do them much good.
More than 300 people died, 1,500 were injured and 70,000 made homeless by the quake that struck exactly three months ago. In the days that followed the disaster, Mr Berlusconi, not yet embroiled in the sex scandal that is now dogging him, took personal charge of the rescue effort, visiting the city and meeting survivors each day.
Point is, I am deeply convinced that there are some people in Europe, in the US, in the Vatican and in Italy's ruling elite who are pretty fed up with this state of affairs. Berlusconi is a non-credible leader in the international scene, too ready to sign deals on the side with russia, lybia and other dodgy friends, to be liked by most of the EU and by the US. Also, Italy's un-democratic evolution is setting too much of a dangerous precedent in a country that is amongst the founders of the EU, not to frighten the other main European partners. As for the Vatican, its honeymoon with Berlusconi has ended when they realized that his inability to manage the economic crisis and his unwillingness to tackle tax evasion is depriving the church of a lot of money (the Church gets 8 per thousand of Italian tax income, which is currently plummeting); and in Italy, if you hit the church where it hurts, ie in the wallet, you are politically dead. Finally, the industrial elite has finally cottoned on that a country that is losing international prestige, run by a self-serving PM and half a parliament composed of people who are directly employed by him is going to seriously hurt them in the long run. Small enterprises love Berlusconi's promise of less taxes and less controls, but large businesses worry about their ability to sign international deals, to attract international investments, to issue credible debt (for example, the de-penalization of accounting fraud in Italy is a major deterrent for international investors). All in all, I think that the tide has turned against Berlusconi - not in the street, but in the palaces of power.
The Church got 8 per thousand. One of the recent changes has been to let the taxpayer direct it to a charitable organization of his choice. I suspect this has upset the Church more than tax evasion, something that they have not been completely innocent of themselves.
France and Brazil have urged a bigger role for the International Labour Organisation in a reshaped global economic system that would also see more influence given to developing countries in the United Nations Security Council. REUTERS - France and Brazil urged a bigger role for the International Labour Organization in a reshaped global economic system that would also see more influence given to developing countries in the United Nations Security Council. "Everywhere in the world, employees are asking for more justice, more security. They must be heard," French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in a joint column published in France's Liberation daily and Brazil's Folha de Sao Paulo on Tuesday. "International organisations must take account of the social effects of the current crisis. The role of the International Labour Organization must be very much strengthened," they said, according to a text of the column released in advance.
REUTERS - France and Brazil urged a bigger role for the International Labour Organization in a reshaped global economic system that would also see more influence given to developing countries in the United Nations Security Council. "Everywhere in the world, employees are asking for more justice, more security. They must be heard," French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in a joint column published in France's Liberation daily and Brazil's Folha de Sao Paulo on Tuesday. "International organisations must take account of the social effects of the current crisis. The role of the International Labour Organization must be very much strengthened," they said, according to a text of the column released in advance.
Catching up is always a lot easier (and looks a lot more impressive) than pulling the whole thing.
And given that we're pulling in an unsustainable direction, and they seem keen to overtake us in that same direction, we'll see who crashes in that particular wall first... In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
While US tries to inject purpose into meeting, Italy is lambasted for poor planning and reneging on overseas aid commitmentsPreparations for Wednesday's G8 summit in the Italian mountain town of L'Aquila have been so chaotic there is growing pressure from other member states to have Italy expelled from the group, according to senior western officials.In the last few weeks before the summit, and in the absence of any substantive initiatives on the agenda, the US has taken control. Washington has organised "sherpa calls" (conference calls among senior officials) in a last-ditch bid to inject purpose into the meeting."For another country to organise the sherpa calls is just unprecedented. It's a nuclear option," said one senior G8 member state official. "The Italians have been just awful. There have been no processes and no planning.""The G8 is a club, and clubs have membership dues. Italy has not been paying them," said a European official involved in the summit preparations.
Preparations for Wednesday's G8 summit in the Italian mountain town of L'Aquila have been so chaotic there is growing pressure from other member states to have Italy expelled from the group, according to senior western officials.
In the last few weeks before the summit, and in the absence of any substantive initiatives on the agenda, the US has taken control. Washington has organised "sherpa calls" (conference calls among senior officials) in a last-ditch bid to inject purpose into the meeting.
"For another country to organise the sherpa calls is just unprecedented. It's a nuclear option," said one senior G8 member state official. "The Italians have been just awful. There have been no processes and no planning."
"The G8 is a club, and clubs have membership dues. Italy has not been paying them," said a European official involved in the summit preparations.
The U.S. no longer "needs" a lobotomized berlusconian Italy. The present government is one of those mummified vestiges of extreme rightwing Israeli politic that was so convenient for the Cheney White House in dealing with Iraq. It is now nothing more than a rural night club act with Khadafy as a happy hour comedian.
Berlusconi will attempt to get his photo opportunities while his utterly mediocre Minister of Foreign Affairs, Franco Frattini, will give away concessions at bargain basement bankruptcy sell-outs just to get his Optimus Poffarbacco on the front page.
Once that is done, our hero will rush to the Vatican to get a cheesy smile photo session with Ratzinger.
Berlusconi must go. He's no longer useful. The world has other priorities. He's decrepit. Europe needs another Italy, certainly not this charade of sleazy racists and wannabe fascists.
Italy is in dire need of a political earthquake.
The case has been covered by all the major Italian dailes: Il Sole 24 Ore, il Corriere della Sera, la Stampa.
Berlusconi must go.
Last time we we're all laughing so loud and giggling like little girls that half the pub kept staring at us.
("And then there is this mayor in Catania who has his office in the luxury hotel and is B's potence advisor...") Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
As 15,000 police and troops threw a three-kilometre security cordon around the town of L'Aquila where the G8 summit opens tomorrow, the Government of Silvio Berlusconi was frantically drawing up plans for an alternative venue if the mountainous Abruzzo region is struck again by a powerful earthquake. Even though Italy said that the G8 leaders would be completely safe, they will be briefed on emergency evacuation plans when they arrive, with 12 helicopters on standby to fly them to Rome if necessary. In an interview with the newspaper Il Giornale -- which he owns -- Mr Berlusconi said that there was "absolutely no risk" to the leaders since the venue, the Finance Police barracks at Coppito outside L'Aquila, built in 1992, was earthquake-proof. Mauro Dolce, of the civil protection agency, said the barracks had been built to withstand even a 5.8 magnitude tremor like the one that killed 300 people on April 6 and left 60,000 homeless. "For the situation to be dangerous there would have to be an earthquake that has never happened at L'Aquila in living memory," Mr Dolce said.
As 15,000 police and troops threw a three-kilometre security cordon around the town of L'Aquila where the G8 summit opens tomorrow, the Government of Silvio Berlusconi was frantically drawing up plans for an alternative venue if the mountainous Abruzzo region is struck again by a powerful earthquake.
Even though Italy said that the G8 leaders would be completely safe, they will be briefed on emergency evacuation plans when they arrive, with 12 helicopters on standby to fly them to Rome if necessary.
In an interview with the newspaper Il Giornale -- which he owns -- Mr Berlusconi said that there was "absolutely no risk" to the leaders since the venue, the Finance Police barracks at Coppito outside L'Aquila, built in 1992, was earthquake-proof. Mauro Dolce, of the civil protection agency, said the barracks had been built to withstand even a 5.8 magnitude tremor like the one that killed 300 people on April 6 and left 60,000 homeless.
"For the situation to be dangerous there would have to be an earthquake that has never happened at L'Aquila in living memory," Mr Dolce said.
And while we're at it, the best thing Obama or his wife can do is to visit the surviving victims of the train explosion in Viareggio.
The leaders of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations will meet in the earthquake-hit Italian town of L'Aquila from Wednesday to discuss the global financial crisis and climate change. The summit is aimed at aiding the reconstruction of the town and the world financial system -- but the prospect of progress on either is slim. The backdrop is replete with symbolism. Many houses in the central Italian town of L'Aquila, hit by a devastating earthquake in April, are little more than rubble. Tens of thousands of people in the region live in tent cities in conditions made even more miserable by the heat. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during a speech in the village of Onna near L'Aquila in April after the central Italian region was devastated by an earthquake. Like L'Aquila, the world economy and global financial system are in ruins. And like in L'Aquila, the reconstruction efforts in the financial markets lag far behind the ceremonial declarations. This shattered town is hosting the G-8 summit of the world's leading economies beginning on Wednesday, and its inhabitants have little hope that the meeting will bring any fundamental improvement to their lives. Expectations that the summit itself will yield much progress are similarly muted.
The leaders of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations will meet in the earthquake-hit Italian town of L'Aquila from Wednesday to discuss the global financial crisis and climate change. The summit is aimed at aiding the reconstruction of the town and the world financial system -- but the prospect of progress on either is slim.
The backdrop is replete with symbolism. Many houses in the central Italian town of L'Aquila, hit by a devastating earthquake in April, are little more than rubble. Tens of thousands of people in the region live in tent cities in conditions made even more miserable by the heat.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during a speech in the village of Onna near L'Aquila in April after the central Italian region was devastated by an earthquake. Like L'Aquila, the world economy and global financial system are in ruins. And like in L'Aquila, the reconstruction efforts in the financial markets lag far behind the ceremonial declarations.
This shattered town is hosting the G-8 summit of the world's leading economies beginning on Wednesday, and its inhabitants have little hope that the meeting will bring any fundamental improvement to their lives. Expectations that the summit itself will yield much progress are similarly muted.
all together now:
'couldn't happen to a nicer guy!'
when he went to viareggio last week to grab photo-ops near where the propane carriage of a train exploded, killing and wounding many people, (because of a rusty axle, some say), he was booed heartily by the people, quite astounding to behold.
then someone told me that part of tuscany is very leftish politically.
his wings are melting, sky sat just passed mediaset in adrev.
say bye bye blackbird
maybe getting kicked out, or seriously slapped down on the world stage at the G8, surrounded by betrayed homeless citizens to contrast with his dickiness, well, we can dream.
there's only one way down for creeps that unholy, and that's hard...
CHTANG
couldn't... when famiglia christiana can't be seen as supportive, it's all over but the cryin... ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
Nicolas Sarkozy: Alliance for Change
The summit meeting which is taking place in L'Aquila, Italy, at which the Group of 8 (Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States) is joined by South Africa, Brazil, China, India, Mexico and Egypt, will be the first since we realized the extent of the financial and economic crisis we are facing. This crisis highlights our degree of interdependence. It calls for leaders to promote a collective response, based on shared values and responsibilities. It also compels us to assess the performance of our international institutions and to rethink current global governance structures. The need to reform global governance did not spring from the crisis. Well before its outbreak, the multilateral system was conspicuously unrepresentative and lacking in coherence. The ability of international institutions to respond to the serious challenges of today's world needs to be reinforced and their mandates reviewed.
The summit meeting which is taking place in L'Aquila, Italy, at which the Group of 8 (Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States) is joined by South Africa, Brazil, China, India, Mexico and Egypt, will be the first since we realized the extent of the financial and economic crisis we are facing.
This crisis highlights our degree of interdependence. It calls for leaders to promote a collective response, based on shared values and responsibilities. It also compels us to assess the performance of our international institutions and to rethink current global governance structures.
The need to reform global governance did not spring from the crisis. Well before its outbreak, the multilateral system was conspicuously unrepresentative and lacking in coherence. The ability of international institutions to respond to the serious challenges of today's world needs to be reinforced and their mandates reviewed.
