Newsgroup: it.politica
Titolo: Letter to George W. Bush in lingua originale

     Letter to George W. Bush: American people deserve a better guest
            28-02-2006
            Pierleone Ottolenghi *
The bizarre career of Silvio Berlusconi - from crooner to media tycoon and
now prime minister of Italy in personal control of most of the country's
television media - never ceases to amaze. He is currently using every lever
of his media-political empire to help ensure that his bedazzled citizens
re-elect him and his Forza Italia party in the country's general elections
on 9-10 April. As such a moment of historic choice nears, it is natural to
hope that foreign governments will attend to the condition of democracy in
our country with respect and curiosity - but also refrain from any
appearance of partisanship in the great contest. It is especially shocking,
then, to see that the President of the United States, George W Bush, has -
by inviting Berlusconi to address a joint session of Congress on 1 March -
made an astonishing intervention into Italian politics which shows a brazen
disregard of this principle of democratic behaviour. The event, which
leading Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera calls "a mega-electoral gift",
is being played to the full by Berlusconi's many channels of influence to
cover him in uncritical glory as the man who embodies Italy's self-esteem on
the world stage. I am an Italian citizen who, having benefited from five
years' study in leading American universities such as the School of Foreign
Service at Georgetown University and the Harvard Business School (MBA '54)
and service on the European advisory boards of two leading US companies,
owes the United States much. I learned from America about due process and a
culture of respect for legality, qualities sorely lacking in present-day
Italy. When I was a student in the United States in 1951 I watched the then
prime minister of my country, Alcide de Gasperi address Congress. It was the
time of the Marshall Plan. Though not a sympathiser of his Christian
Democratic Party myself, I was moved by his modesty, farsightedness and
statesmanship. It made me proud to be an Italian and appreciative of what
America could stand for. President Bush, or his aides, might not care
(though they should) about the dismal economic realities behind Berlusconi's
circus of political stunts and provocative rhetoric. In his five years as
prime minister, this "pro-business" leader has delivered an abominable
economic performance - indeed, the worst among the larger European
countries. In May 2005, the respected journal the Economist - against which
Berlusconi has sought legal and financial punishment for its detailed
criticisms of his ethics - characterised Italy as "the real sick man of
Europe" during his period in office. But what should concern the eminences
in Washington is the huge ethical-democratic deficit surrounding Italy's
leader. They could find out about it by reading the vast international
literature questioning many aspects of Berlusconi's conduct. The prime
minister himself has been twice legally condemned, and "acquitted" on other
counts, only because the statute of limitations meant charges had to be
dropped (or "de-penalised"). His alleged relationship with the Mafia (in the
2001 election Berlusconi won every single one of Sicily's 61 seats) has also
been closely scrutinised. One of his principal aides and friends, Marcello
Dell'Utri, founder of Forza Italia and a member of Italy's parliament, has
been condemned to eleven years in jail for connivance with the Mafia (he is
appealing). Another of his closest aides, Cesare Previti (a minister in
Berlusconi's first government in 1994, also a current MP) has been condemned
for bribing judges (he is also appealing). Berlusconi's main defence lawyer
is chairman of the judiciary commission of the lower house of parliament;
another of his defence lawyers is a member of this commission. They have
been in the vanguard of efforts to extricate Berlusconi from his legal
difficulties. The "conflict of interest" law whereby Berlusconi had to
resign as chairman of Milan football club whilst continuing to possess one
of Europe's largest media conglomerates has been exposed as a joke. The
easing of limits on media ownership in 2003 (the "Gasparri law named after
the then communications minister) - passed over the strong objections of
President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi - has greatly benefited the
Berlusconi-controlled TV company Mediaset (it has recently announced record
after-tax profits of ?600 million). The electoral alliance Berlusconi
secured to help him win re-election encompasses ultra-fascist splinter
groups some of whose members seem to doubt the existence of gas chambers in
the second world war. Could the thousands of American boys who gave their
lives in the liberation of Italy have died in vain? These examples could be
multiplied. As a friend of America, I want to ask my fellow Harvard Business
School alumnus President Bush: "do you believe you are honouring the US
Congress by honouring a man with Berlusconi's credentials? Do you think it
is appropriate to interfere in the Italian electoral process in this way by
inviting him to address Congress so soon before our national elections?"
Many Italians will, I hope, see this event as so blatantly inappropriate
that it is deserving of a democratic reprimand. They will have their own
chance to deliver a verdict on Silvio Berlusconi in five weeks' time. In the
meantime, now that the Bush administration has made clear its preference, it
would seem appropriate for members of the United States Congress to express
their protest. Normally, foreign heads of government, or state, invited to
address a joint session of Congress are statesmen whose integrity is beyond
any reasonable doubt. The American people, who elect their Congress,
deserve, for their great institution, a better guest.
* Pierleone Ottolenghi, Warburg Italia and Ubs Warburg former president, was
the first Italian Mba at Harvard Business School (1954)

 ha scritto nel messaggio 
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nonnè vatte a fà la dialisi ar cervello ...rincoglionito!!!