Berlusconi's fools

   

Cynicism accompanied by self-righteousness and snobbery gave Berlusconi a victory during the G8 meeting. When Berlusconi chose l'Aquila as the site, their carping began. Heads of governments would be subjected to impossible summit conditions, they barked. After shocks would shake the summit into a disaster, they cackled. Berlusconi could not be trusted to run a decent summit in Rome, let alone in the rubble of earthquake-wrecked l'Aquila, they howled. In the end, the G8 meeting worked for Berlusconi because the hecklers had it all wrong. The G8 is an arcane club of despots and demagogues dressed up as democrats. But they, including Berlusconi, learned from Mussolini that when the world is watching, they must make the trains run on time. Berlusconi pulled it off and his arrogant journo-hecklers played the fool. Italy cannot free itself from Berlusconi until critics face facts.