Nur al-Cubicle

A blog on the current crises in the Middle East and news accounts unpublished by the US press. Daily timeline of events in Iraq as collected from stories and dispatches in the French and Italian media: Le Monde (Paris), Il Corriere della Sera (Milan), La Repubblica (Rome), L'Orient-Le Jour (Beirut) and occasionally from El Mundo (Madrid).

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Italy: The Blackshirts are Back







The Prodi government has fallen and blackshirts (see picture at the top of this post) have taken to the streets in Rome. If this scares the pants off you, it should.

Prodi's misery is all the fault of a certain squirrelly character by the name of Clemente Mastella, a right wing Catholic with sympathies for fascist l'Allianza Nazionale party and a friend of The Mob.

Prodi's unwise decision to name him Justice Minister was the result of compromise. The majority governs with a razor thin margin, provided by Mastella's centrist party, the UDEUR, which had demanded the Defense portfolio but received Justice. Mastella's wife, who serves in local government in the south, was recently indicted on corruption charges and Mastella himself has been under investigation for corruption and abuse of power since October.

Mastella resigned a few days ago, setting off such a tumult that there was vote of confidence in the Prodi government. The vote passed in the lower house but failed in the Senate, where the UDEUR abandoned the government. One courageous UDEUR Senator, Nuccio Cusumano, was mobbed and gagged when he attempted to vote to support the government (middle photo). Sorry! The photo is of UDEUR Senator Tommaso Barbato, who was shouting obscenities at Cusumano. Barbato also attempted to assault Cusumano, who collapsed in the commotion and was carried out on a stretcher. The UDEUR does have _some_ integrity. It threw Barbato out of the party that evening.

The Berlusconi-led right is positively gleeful to the point that they popped champagne in the National Assembly.

Dark days ahead.

2 Comments:

Blogger Mr.Murder said...

So panoramic, it plays out like a movie.

It could be black and white, with the black shirts playing such a role.

The thread is so shocking, I took liberty to share it elsewhere, nur-al. Thanks for your efforts.

12:53 AM  
Blogger Nur-al-Cubicle said...

Gee MM, I made a mistake. The fellow who is gagged was hurling insults at Cusumano and later attempted to assault him. Such are fascists -->faith in the fist.

9:12 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home