I found this article noteworthy as it departs from WSJ's previous attitude of "straight reporting" without getting into the story.

Of course events in Italy are moving fast. The Vatican has adopted a harsher position day by day. The document concerning the accusations against Boffo has turned out to be false- all of this is the subject of my next diary which I am completing in light of on-going events.

I strongly recommend James Walston's article in today's Times. Walston is a professor at the American University in Rome and knows his subject well.

[...]

Since returning to power last year, Mr Berlusconi has given himself immunity from criminal prosecution while in office and countered President Napolitano's powers to check the constitutionality of Bills. The institutional opposition, like the courts and President, have been trussed like oven-ready capons and most of the media is directly or indirectly controlled by the Prime Minister. If anyone dares to squeak, they are threatened directly.

His foreign policy claims move between the comical and the megalomaniacal. His impatience and sense of omnipotence in business carried over to his political life, which now allows him to ignore reality and to create his own.

Today, though, he acts like a man out of control. Even though he is one of the richest men and among the world's political leaders, he seems disappointed and frustrated. No amount of wealth can make him young or handsome, force the Vatican to accept him, give him the influence of Mr Brown, Mr Sarkozy or Ms Merkel, or even bestow on him the status of established wealth like the Agnellis. So he overreacts against any criticism.

But the gap between his reality and everyone else's is widening. Various medications may take their toll and his happy smirk can no longer hide the anger that boils to the surface when he is crossed.

The minors and the prostitutes have cracked the image but, if he falls, it will be because no amount of spin can disguise his economic mismanagement. The unemployment and hardship that Italians are likely to face this autumn, for which he is largely responsible, will be the reality check that counts.