Sbagliando s'impera

Siamo ormai lo zimbello del pianeta:

Malconcio per gli scandali sessuali e le innumerevoli indagini su presunte scorrettezze finanziarie entro il suo vasto impero economico, Mr. Berlusconi è stato infine costretto all’angolo da fattori esterni all’Italia e fuori dal suo controllo.

Berlusconi Dismisses Resignation Reports – NYTimes.com

Calls by Mr. Berlusconi’s critics for his resignation doubled over the weekend after Italy last week agreed to allow the International Monetary Fund to monitor restructuring steps aimed at containing its ballooning debt and boosting its stagnant economy.

Mr. Berlusconi’s ability to steer Italy, Europe’s third largest economy, has been called into question by a prolonged deadlock in Parliament over the scope of sweeping changes encompassing everything from pensions to privatizations.

Lawmakers from his Peoples of Liberty party have begun to openly criticize Mr. Berlusconi, a censure that would have been unthinkable until a few months ago.

Over the past two weeks, a steady trickle of defectors has left the party. By most counts on Monday, Mr. Berlusconi had lost his majority in the lower house, where he has held on to power for nearly a year with only a handful of votes.

Battered by sex scandals and countless investigations into alleged financial improprieties within his vast business holdings, Mr. Berlusconi was ultimately backed into a corner by factors outside of Italy that he could not control.