Mussolini heir closes in on centre of power

From Richard Owen in Rome





GIANFRANCO FINI, the Italian “post-Fascist” leader who once described
Mussolini as “the greatest statesman of the 20th century”, attained
international respectability yesterday when he was named Italian Foreign
Minister.

The appointment is likely to enhance Signor FiniÂ’s chances of eventually
becoming Prime Minister. Signor Fini, 52, who took one of the biggest
gambles in Italian postwar politics by transforming the neo-Fascists into a
mainstream conservative party ten years ago, replaces Franco Frattini, Italy
Â’s new European Commissioner. His appointment had been rumoured for weeks
but had been held up by wrangling within the centre-right coalition of
Silvio Berlusconi over tax reforms.

Signor FiniÂ’s party, Alleanza Nazionale, which is the second largest party
in the coalition after Signor BerlusconiÂ’s Forza Italia, has long demanded a
greater role in government.

Signor Fini — dapper, able, urbane and ambitious — had made no secret of his
desire to be Foreign Minister. He is expected to take a higher profile than
Signor Frattini, a Berlusconi protégé.

There are lingering suspicions about Signor FiniÂ’s record, both in Europe
and on the Italian Left. Apart from his remark about MussoliniÂ’s greatness,
in a 1994 interview with La Stampa, Alleanza Nazionale retains some features
of Fascist social and economic thinking in its emphasis on family values,
nationalism and the role of the corporate state.

On the other hand, its democratic and European credentials are not in
question. Last year Signor Fini took even his detractors aback by proposing
that immigrants from outside the EU should have the right to vote in local
elections. He has twice visited Israel in the past year to make amends for
Fascist anti-Semitism, and has backed the controversial Israeli wall on the
West Bank.

In 1996 he told The Times that the legacy of Fascism had been overcome, that
Europe need not fear the re-emergence of a strong man at ItalyÂ’s helm, and
that a verdict on Mussolini was “best left to the historians”.

In 2002, when he was named the Italian delegate to the EU Convention
drafting the new European Constitution, he retracted his remark about
Mussolini. Sergio Romano, a former ambassador and ItalyÂ’s foremost
commentator on foreign affairs, said that Signor Fini had “crossed the
desert” and had a “definitive” opportunity to put the past behind him.

Signor Fini joined the Italian Social Movement (MSI), the ideological
descendant of MussoliniÂ’s Blackshirts, as a young man, becoming its youth
leader at 24 and its national secretary in 1987, at 35.

Although Fascism is banned by the postwar Italian Constitution, MSI members
made the Fascist “Roman salute” at rallies and had a reputation for street
violence. In 1994 Signor Fini stunned the rank and file by declaring that
this legacy had to be abandoned, renaming the party the Alleanza Nazionale,
or National Alliance. Diehard neo-Fascists who formed breakaway splinter
groups have recently been joined by Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter
of Il Duce, who has become increasingly critical of Signor Fini.

Signor Fini, who on a trip to Auschwitz in 1999 was pelted with eggs and
snowballs by demonstrators, also condemned “the shameful chapters in the
history of our people” while in Israel and denounced the 1938 Fascist “race
laws” as “disgraceful”.

Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, called him “a good and friendly
leader”, adding that it was “time to look to the future, not the past”.

Signor Berlusconi, 68, has been in power for a record 3½ years, but faces
coalition squabbles, falling opinion poll ratings, strikes and allegations
of corruption.

FROM FAR-RIGHT FIREBRAND TO FIERCE FRIEND OF ISRAEL

1952: born in Bologna

1975: graduates with first-class degree in psychology from La Sapienza
university, in Rome

At 24 becomes youth leader of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), descendant
of MussoliniÂ’s Blackshirts

Journalist on Il Secolo DÂ’Italia, the neo-Fascist paper


1983: elected councillor for the MSI in Latina, a town south of Rome created
by Mussolini

1987: becomes MSI party leader and elected to Parliament


1992: embarrassed when supporters mark the 70th anniversary of MussoliniÂ’s
March on Rome by wearing black shirts and giving the fascist salute


1994: transforms the MSI into moderate Alleanza Nazionale (AN), retaining
the MSI symbol — a flame — but jettisoning the Mussolini legacy at party
congress at Fiuggi in January 1995


1994: takes AN into the short-lived centre-right Government of Silvio
Berlusconi

May 2001: becomes deputy Prime Minister when Berlusconi and the centre Right
return to power

January 2002: appointed Italian delegate to the EU Convention drawing up the
European Constitution

November 2004: becomes fourth Foreign Minister since 2001, after Renato
Ruggiero, who was pressurised to resign, Berlusconi himself, who took the
post as an interim measure, and Franco Frattini

Married to Daniela. One daughter. Keen fan of Lazio football club and
forceful opponent of racist violence on the terraces













Copyright 2004 Times Newspapers Ltd.

Condoleezza Rice

Thursday, November 18, 2004


Now that Condoleezza Rice has been nominated to be the next U.S. secretary
of state, the whole world seems to be noticing that President George W. Bush
is stuffing his second-term cabinet with yes men and women. It's worrisome,
although when the president did have dissident voices in the top tier of his
administration, he did a very thorough job of ignoring them. Optimists can
regard the new team as a more efficient packaging of the status quo.

Our concern about Rice is not that she makes the president feel comfortable.
It's that as national security adviser, she seemed to tell him what he
wanted to hear about decisions he'd already made, rather than what he needed
to know to make sound judgments in the first place.

That was particularly true regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Rice, who appeared so often on the Sunday morning talk shows and even on the
campaign trail that she sometimes seemed more like a press secretary than a
national security adviser, was the one who told Americans that Saddam
Hussein was actively pursuing nuclear weapons. And she ominously warned that
"we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."

Her staff knew that the evidence behind those claims was extremely dubious
at best. Rice was either ignoring facts that were right in front of her,
unable to screen out the bad intelligence, or deliberately misleading the
American people. In any case, she failed in her duty to keep the president
from seizing upon the same unreliable intelligence to defend his policy of
preventive war with Iraq before Americans and the world.

As secretary of state, Rice is going to be first and foremost a loyal
servant of Bush's agenda and worldview, and that does not bode well for
those who were hoping for a more nuanced approach to American diplomacy.
Much more worrisome is where the people around her and directly under her
will be getting their marching orders. Stephen Hadley, who will become
national security adviser after four years as Rice's loyal second, has ties
to Vice President Dick Cheney, as do other officials who have been mentioned
for possible top jobs at the State Department. If Rice surrounds herself
with ideologues who adopt Cheney's my-way-or-the-highway attitude toward the
rest of the world, she'll be undermining herself and the United States'
national interests from Day 1.

Rice, a former academic, has no real background in managing a vast
bureaucracy or in hands-on diplomacy. But she has other attributes that
could serve her well in her new job. Unlike Colin Powell, Rice seems willing
to travel constantly. That's a critical requirement for a secretary of
state. Diplomacy is a world of formal positions and personal relationships -
breakthroughs almost always occur when players at the highest level meet
face to face. And when Rice negotiates in her new job, she will not only
have an exalted title, but will also have all the power that comes from
having the president's trust and attention.

The greatest service Rice could do for the United States, the world and
Bush's legacy would be to focus her considerable energies on encouraging a
permanent peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. This is the
real key to long-term stability in the Middle East, and opportunities to
achieve it have opened up with the death of Yasser Arafat. If Bush could do
what President Bill Clinton tried so hard to do, but failed, it could be an
achievement that would overshadow many of the foreign policy disasters of
the first term. And Rice would have proved beyond argument that she deserved
the president's - and the American people's - trust because of qualities far
more important than knee-jerk loyalty.





Copyright © 2004 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com

Tutti «dottori», la passione italiana e' salva

Il titolo spettera' anche a chi ha preso la laurea breve in tre anni. Chi
prosegue gli studi sara' Âdottore magistrale»

di BEPPE SEVERGNINI

I posteggiatori non sbaglieranno più, quando grideranno «Piano, dottore!»
durante la retromarcia. L'annuncio «Dottoressa, le stanno portando via la
macchina», in un ristorante, provocheràà una sommossa: solo la cameriera
resterà dov'e'¨, e forse nemmeno lei. Visti gli stipendi dei neo-laureati,
infatti, è¨ probabile che molte giovani italiane decideranno di servire
spaghetti e contorni. C'è¨ da registrare una novità , gravida di conseguenze
sociali. La novità è¨ questa: la revisione del decreto che ha istituito il
percorso universitario detto «3+2», approvata dalla Corte dei Conti e in
attesa di pubblicazione sulla Gazzetta Ufficiale, introduce nuove qualifiche
accademiche. Il titolo di «dottore» spetterà ai possessori della laurea
triennale. Chi prosegue gli studi e consegue la laurea magistrale e il
dottorato di ricerca avrà diritto, rispettivamente, alla qualifica di
«dottore magistrale» e di «dottore di ricerca».



Inaugurazione dell'anno accademico all'università Cattolica di Milano
(Newpress)
NUOVI DOTTORI - Prepariamoci, dunque: la Penisola verrà attraversata da
raffiche di sdottoreggiamenti. Il titolo - sogno dichiarato di milioni di
mamme, cruccio segreto di tanti che hanno abbandonato lÂ’università - verrÃ
rilasciato con più generosità . Chi sognava di ridurre l’uso pubblico delle
qualfiche accademiche è servito. Festa grande, invece, tra quanti si sono
iscritti all’università soprattutto per ottenere un titolo di studio (scopo
raggiunto in soli tre anni, venticinque per cento di sforzo risparmiato).
Tutto bene, quindi? Siamo giunti alla pacificazione sociale nel segno del
«dottore»? Temo di no: il sottile classismo italiano troverà altre strade. I
dottori di ricerca, che esistono anche negli altri Paesi, scopriranno che il
titolo (sudato) è troppo comune, e cominceranno a farsi chiamare PhD, all’
americana: così, giusto per non fare confusione. Anche i dottori
magistrali - quelli che completano il 3+2 - vorranno distinguersi.
Stamperanno «Dott. Mag.» sul biglietto da visita, magari: così qualcuno li
scambierà per magistrati, che fanno sempre una certa impressione.

DOTTORI MAGISTRALI - Non è finita: se si è capito bene, il titolo di
«dottore magistrale» spetterà anche a chi «ha conseguito la laurea con gli
ordinamenti didattici previgenti al decreto 509/1999». Penso a molti
fuori-corso degli Anni Ottanta, laureati a calci del sedere sotto ricatto di
genitori esasperati, improvvisamente insigniti del titolo di «dottore
magistrale». Se hanno un po’ di senso dell’umorismo, dovrebbero ridere. Non
escludo, invece, che corrano a farsi la carta intestata. Ci aspettano
giornate interessanti. Con tre diverse categorie di «dottori» (più i medici,
poveretti, che hanno studiato sei anni, più specialità , per ritrovarsi con
un titolo inflazionato) la nazione barocca darà il meglio di sé. Le persone
importanti nasconderanno il titolo accademico (e poi cadranno malamente,
accettando d'essere chiamate «vip»). Il dottor Rossi di Milano e il dottore
(con la «e») Russo di Napoli metteranno in cornice il diploma di laurea in
giurisprudenza, perché si veda che è stato conseguito prima del 1999.
Ragionieri e geometri penseranno di rivolgersi alla Corte Costituzionale:
come, e noi? Ma più di tutti si divertiranno gli stranieri. Già da tempo
erano convinti che il prefisso «dott.», davanti al nome di una persona,
indicasse che quella persona era italiana. Ora hanno la prova definitiva. Un
tempo eravamo «il bel Paese là dove il sì suona» (Dante Alighieri). Oggi,
dopo i condoni e le riforme accademiche, siamo «il Paese (un po’ meno bello)
là dove riecheggia il dott.». Potrebbe essere un progresso, ma non siamo
sicuri.


10 novembre 2004 - Corriere.it

Archaeologists fear 'looters' charter'

John Hooper in Rome
Tuesday November 9, 2004

The Guardian

Archaeologists were yesterday aghast over a plan by MPs loyal to Silvio
Berlusconi to legalise the private ownership of archaeological treasures in
Italy. One called the measure a "looters' charter".
At present, all antiquities found in Italian soil are deemed to be the
property of the state and are meant to be handed over to the authorities.

But under the proposed legislation, treasure hunters who declare their finds
can keep and own them if they pay the state 5% of the object's estimated
value.

Supporters have argued that it would bring to light previously hidden
treasures.

In an article for the newspaper La Repubblica, Salvatore Settis, rector of
the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, said he feared "a gigantic treasure
hunt all over the country" if the measures were approved.

Filippo Coarelli, professor of Roman Antiquities at the University of
Perugia, called the plan "an incitement to theft". He added: "Since there
appears to be no limit on the time during which artefacts can be amnestied,
you could rob today so as to sell tomorrow."

Lord Renfrew, professor emeritus of archaeology at the University of
Cambridge and a former director of the Illicit Antiquities Research Centre,
said: "It sounds like a looters' charter." He added: "Italy has a very good
tradition of looking after its antiquities. This legislation would be a slap
in the face for those in the administration who work for the conservation of
its heritage."

Italy suffers a thriving industry of tomb robbing and is the source of
thousands of illicitly sold artefacts.

In the 1990s, it was estimated that art and antiquities worth around £150m
were exported from Italy each year, but the trade is so secret no one really
knows its true dimensions. In 1996, in one of the largest antiquities
seizures, police in Geneva recovered 10,000 artefacts worth an estimated
$35m (£18.8m) that had been smuggled out of Italy.

This month, the Art Newspaper published an interview with a robber of
Etruscan tombs who said he averaged a break-in every 10 days.

The proposed guidelines are contained in two amendments to the 2005 budget,
which is being debated in the Italian parliament. Both were drafted by
members of Mr Berlusconi's governing Forza Italia party.

The amendments would give the job of pricing and taxing newly declared
antiquities to the officials who are already responsible for Italy's vast
archaeological heritage.

If they failed within a reasonable time to value an artefact, the holder
would automatically become the legal owner.

Once legalised, the artefact could "be the object of contractual activity",
according to the text of one of the amendments.

Earlier this month, one of the signatories of the amendment said that it
would help the "emergence of archaeological items in private hands".

An archaeologist working in Italy who spoke on condition of anonymity said:
"Anyone who works in this sector knows the [officials] are already
overloaded. You can imagine the flood of requests this would bring and the
difficulty the [officials] would have in coping with them."

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004