Uncategorized

Silvio Berlusconi, A Small Man

By Michael Scherer | @michaelscherer | December 3, 2010 | +

This tidbit comes by way of the Daily Beast, in a story about the Italian prime minister’s friendship with Vladamir Putin of Russia:

At one of their most memorable appearances together, in Moscow, in 2008, a Russian journalist named Natalia Melikova asked Putin about his apparent marital trouble and rumored romance with the young and indecently plastic gymnast-cum-parliamentarian Alina Kabaeva. When asked about the liaison, Putin’s face hardened. “There is not a word of truth in this story,” he said. Berlusconi, giggling, regarded the exchange. When Putin had finished answering, Berlusconi cocked his hands, and, imitating a gun, fired with a silent “Pow! Pow!” at Melikova. It had only been a year and a half since Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist, had been shot in her Moscow elevator, and Melikova was reduced to tears. On the dais, Berlusconi laughed, and Putin nodded.

You can find pictures of the offensive gesture here. Video here. (The press conference took place in Italy, not Moscow.) A few hours later, the Russian newspaper that originally alleged the extramarital affair by Putin was shut down by the Russian authorities.

To quote again the great, late, Nobel Prize winning writer, Jose Saramago, writing about Italian leader: “This thing, this illness, this virus threatens to become the cause of the moral death of Verdi’s country. If a deep vomit doesn’t succeed in ejecting it from the consciousness of Italians, the poison will end up corroding the veins and destroying the heart of one of Europe’s richest cultures. The basic values of human coexistence are trampled daily by the viscous feet of the Berlusconi thing.”

TIME’s Moscow reporter, Simon Shuster, weighs in today with a piece about Putin’s reaction to the latest WikiLeaks release. It is worth a read.

Related Topics: daily beast, jokes about assasination, silvio berlusoconi, vladamir putin, Uncategorized

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  • Paul-no not that one

    Berlusconi sounds like current Beltway fave Chris Christie.
    .
    Why swoon over the fake tough guy from New Jersey and feign shock over a foreign leader?

  • michaelfury
  • Ivy_B

    Because Christie appeals to the latent SM impulses in them. Some of his more famous YouTubed rants are against members of the press.

  • Exiled_At_Home (formerly Neo)

    Oh, for God’s sake, MS. Get off your tepid high horse.
    .
    When Putin had finished answering, Berlusconi cocked his hands, and, imitating a gun, fired with a silent “Pow! Pow!” at Melikova.
    .
    Call me an assh*le, but that is the funniest thing I’ve heard in weeks! The simple fact that a head of state would do something so profoundly politically incorrect gives me hope for this world.

  • Paul-no not that one

    That’s a pretty good point Ivy.
    .
    The only group more cowed by republicans than Democrats are the media.

  • 53_3

    I hereby witness the first correct usage of the term ‘politically incorrect’ I’ve seen in a very long time.
    .
    X
    .
    That said, I wish that MS’s peers were half as funny…

  • http://elvisberg.wordpress.com Elvis Elvisberg

    Man, I have to disagree, Exiled. As Michael points out, journalists are actually murdered in Russia. Had he done it to, say, an American or Spanish or British or Japanese journalist– yeah, funny. But in this context, completely tasteless.

  • formerlyjames

    I agree with Elvis, but it’s still funny to me as being unable not to laugh, and knowing I shouldn’t. The juvenile banter by the so called US diplomats, on the other hand, I find very not funny.

  • Buzz Feedback

    Anchor lady scares me and the Italians still play boring football. ktxhbi.

  • apr2563

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Berlusconi
    .
    Burlusconi is not remotely amusing. He is a mysoginistic plutocrat. He is a combination of Murdoch and Mussolini. His use of censorship and institutional corruption are not laughable.

  • Exiled_At_Home (formerly Neo)

    As Michael points out, journalists are actually murdered in Russia.
    .
    Which is exactly why it is humorous in the first place, in an admittedly morbid kind of way. I guess I am amused when people throw propriety to the wind and point out reality in a way that people fake shock and outrage over. If this scene were in a movie, you’d laugh, because he’s pointing out the realistically plausible demise of someone in a flippant kind of way. Just because it’s real doesn’t detract from its entertainment value, in my opinion. It’s certainly not something to get condescending and offended over, unless of course the idea is just to be overly sensitive to make a point, or to strike out at a target, or to give the appearance of having attained some holier-than-thou idealism the rest of us miscreants just can’t seem to grasp. In any case, I’m rambling now. Lighten up, that’s all.

  • Exiled_At_Home (formerly Neo)

    Liberal democracy is a fallacy. Don’t take it too hard.

  • sacredh

    Exiled, your sense of black humor may be as twisted as mine. What he did was terrible but I did laugh. His comment was so thoughtlessly stupid that it was hard not to react to it. The only thing I’ve heard recently that even comes close is a joke in very poor taste that a friend of my son told us.
    .
    A young boy is being led deep into the woods by a pedophile. The boy says “I’m scared”. The pedophile says “You’re scared? I have to find my way out of here alone.”

  • Exiled_At_Home (formerly Neo)

    Eh, poor taste is underrated.

  • Paul-no not that one

    Chris Christie, actual jerk not the jokey kind from Italy.
    .
    http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/sparks_fly_at_gov_christie_tow.html

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