Berlusconi and Qaddafi

This year is the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, a year in which the world should be celebrating all that is great about Italian heritage and culture. Instead, newspapers are filled with stories of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi hosting orgy parties, patronizing an under-age
prostitute, and refusing to repudiate a dictator that massacres his own citizens. In a time of global economic weakness, internal economic challenges in Europe, revolutions along Italy's periphery in North Africa, and NATO struggles in Afghanistan, it is the wrong time for a country as important as Italy to have a leader that has become a national disgrace and a global embarrassment.

IN BED WITH QADDAFI: For years, Berlusconi cultivated a close relationship with Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi. Time Magazine assessed that "of all the mutual back-scratching among Europe's rich democracies and North Africa's strongmen, Italy's dependency on Gaddafi stands apart." The relationship was so cozy that, according to Bloomberg News, "Berlusconi shut down the city's biggest park in June 2009 to allow the visiting Libyan leader and his entourage of all- female bodyguards to set up camp by the 16th-century Villa Doria Pamphili." The relationship brought immense economic benefit to both countries. The longest underwater pipeline in the Mediterranean runs from Libya to Italy. "Libya is Italy's largest supplier of oil, providing for roughly a third of the country's energy consumption. The dictator's government owns a substantial share of the Milan stock market. ... Libya also provides a critical market for its northern neighbor's struggling construction firms. And, since 2008, when Italy agreed to invest $5 billion in Libya, Gaddafi has kept a tight grip on the attempts by his citizens and other African migrants to take ships northward on the Mediterranean." Yet Berlusconi has refused to use this leverage to put significant pressure on Qaddafi. When turmoil erupted in Libya, and Qaddafi's forces massacred innocent protesters, "Berlusconi was reluctant to criticize his ally. The premier said Feb. 19, four days after anti-government protests began, that he did not want to 'disturb' Qaddafi and had not called him," reports Bloomberg. Piero Fassino, of the opposition Democratic Party, described the Italian government's response to the bloody repression as one of "deafening silence." Berlusconi "eventually put out a late-night statement on Feb. 21, in which he condemned the 'unacceptable' use of force by the military regime."

AN EMBARRASSMENT TO ITALY: Italy is a very important and influential country in world affairs. It has the seventh-largest economy and the ninth-largest defense budget in the world. It is a founding member of the European Union and is a member of vital global forums like the G-8 and G-20. U.S. forces continue to inhabit bases in Italy and nearly 4,000 Italian troops fight in Afghanistan. Now with crises and instability in North Africa and continuing European economic turmoil, the active involvement and leadership of Italy is critical. Instead, Italy will have a leader in power during this time of turmoil that will be busy defending himself against charges of sex-trafficking and patronizing under-age prostitutes. The Economist noted that "the indictment of Mr Berlusconi...will condition Italy's politics for months to come." This is an embarrassment. As the struggle to advance women's rights and to stop sex trafficking continues around the world, the leader of Italy has become a global symbol of misogyny and sexism. A backlash against Berlusconi is growing in Italy. The Economist reported "on February 13th an estimated half a million demonstrators filled squares in Italy and abroad to protest against Mr Berlusconi, his government and, at least implicitly, the extent of gender inequality in Italy." His close ties with and comments on Qaddafi prompted Democratic Party leader Dario Franceschini to say, "for years he boasted about his special relationship with Qaddafi. ... We'd love for him to tap that now and stop the bloodshed." Reuters reported that "other legislators said they were 'disgusted' by the comments and that Italy, as Libya's closest Western ally, should be taking the lead in condemning violence by Libyan forces to quell the uprising against four decades of Mr Gaddafi rule. One newspaper headlined its story 'Don't disturb the slaughterer.'" As New York Times columnist Roger Cohen opined, "In his own way the aging multibillionaire Berlusconi...has aped the manners of the very Arab despots the peoples of Egypt and Tunisia and Libya and Bahrain have risen to oust. Like them he has confused self and nation, entranced by the cult of his personality."

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