Worldcrunch
Donald Trump’s reelection marks a new social coalition that found no voice in traditional political forces, writes Italian historian Giovanni Orsina in daily La Stampa. The utopian-liberal order of the 21st century failed to deliver on its promises and it succumbed to a boisterous, combative new right.
From time to time, testimony of sexual abuse inside the Italian entertainment industry comes out. But inevitably fails to gain much attention, another example of MeToo failing to take off in the traditionally sexist country. There are multiple explanations, though also quieter signs that something may be changing.
At the core, the controversial Italian leader, who died this week at 86, wanted to be liked, loved. That explains many of his choices, including the ones that have left a dark mark on Italy’s history.
A case of mistaken identity for our Naples-based psychiatrist, in the wake of Silvio Berlusconi’s passing.
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s death at the age of 86 reveals his complexity as both a public and political figure — in Italy and beyond. The author, who has tried in vain to write Berlusconi’s biography, sifts through the truth behind the many myths.
Moscow’s new commander in Ukraine has changed the timing of when to strike cities and infrastructure.
Russia’s martial law for the occupied territories of Ukraine is a “pseudo-legalization of looting of Ukrainians’ property,” said another official in Kyiv.
After far-right politician Giorgia Meloni emerged as the top vote-getter in Italy’s election, the question on everyone’s lips is what will her relationship be with the European Union. The risk of her pushing for an Italian exit from the EU is slim.
Russia’s proxies in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions announced that referendums on joining Russia had begun that Ukrainian and Western officials have denounced as shams. [shortcode-Subscribe-to-Ukraine-daily-box] For four days, “voting” will be held at people’s homes “for security reasons,” Russian state-controlled news agency RIA Novosti wrote. On the last day of the “referendums,” on […]
September 3-4 ️ STARTER On Cover Boys, Obituaries And Putin Getting The Last Word There was a time in the not-too-distant past when the choice of who or what was on the cover of a weekly print magazine could be worth the equivalent of seven days of today’s internet #trending topics. And so it was […]
Using pure economic power to reorder the world of soccer was clearly a bad idea, though not necessarily a new idea. Some reflections from a conflicted fan of one particular Italian super squad.
Of Italy’s 58 prime ministers since World War II, you probably don’t remember the name Lamberto Dini. He took office on Jan. 13, 1995, several months after uncertain general election results, as the country grappled with an ongoing corruption scandal and billionaire businessman Silvio Berlusconi“s recent entry into politics. The Italian establishment had turned to […]
With a now-leaderless Democratic Party and no charismatic successor to take over from Berlusconi, his one-time backers may migrate to more extremist parties.
Once upon a time, Italy embraced its own politically incorrect billionaire-turned-politico. And yet the real shift toward Trump-style nationalism came after Berlusconi’s departure.
In the second installment of a new series of articles to get to better know journalists and journalism around the world, Worldcrunch spoke to Anna Masera, public editor of top Italian daily La Stampa, about the differences between Donald Trump and Silvio Berlusconi, foreign media’s focus on the pope and engaging with citizens via social […]
PARIS — Is it over yet? With the U.S. presidential election just days away, people across the globe are as excited to be done with the whole sordid spectacle, it seems, as they are to finally find out who wins. Suspense is building. But so too is a general sentiment of “we just can’t take […]
SPOTLIGHT: EURO 2016 ON EDGE The Euro 2016 soccer tournament starts Friday in France. By some accounts, it is the world’s third biggest sporting event, after the World Cup and Summer Olympics. This year’s contest will last for a month around the country’s biggest stadiums and is expecting to bring 2.5 millions fans to attend […]
Where have you gone, Casanova? A new book surveys the dark side to the myth of the Italian male’s seductive gifts, from ribald ancient Rome to Berlusconi’s bunga bunga. But don’t give up on him yet.
(And why that’s a good thing)
Haven’t finalized your Halloween costume yet? Don’t worry! Worldcrunch has been browsing the news archives of recent months looking for good ideas, bad puns and other ways to abuse the powers of photoshop. Scary, right…??
ROME — Berlusconi’s world has never been at such odds with Berlusconi himself. Nobody could rightly agree with the decision to pull out of the coalition that was providing stability for the Italian government as the country attempts to pull out of a deep recession. You could count on one hand the number of loyalists […]
Take a tour of what the world has been saying this week…
The eldest daughter of the disgraced prime minister controls the family businesses with an iron fist. The question is whether she’ll decide to bring the same passion to politics.
-Analysis- ROME – Countless attempts have been made to separate Silvio Berlusconi’s fate from that of the Italian government and economy. Above all, how can one man’s personal destiny be disentangled from the properly functioning relationships between the powers of the State. In the end, it seems, all attempts at such a separation have been […]
Take a tour of what the world has been saying this week…
-Analysis- ROME – Silvio Berlusconi’s sentence to seven years in prison and a life ban from public office signals the end of his political adventures. More generally, it also marks the end of Italy’s so-called “Second Republic”: the political era that began in 1992 of which the ex-prime minister has been the ubiquitous figure, just […]
Wednesday, May 21, 2014 U.S. UPS RHETORIC AHEAD OF UKRAINE ELECTIONU.S. Vice President Joe Biden threatened Moscow with tougher sanctions if it undermines Sunday’s planned presidential election in Ukraine. “If Russia undermines these elections on Sunday we must remain resolute in imposing greater costs on Russia and we must be equally resolute to invest in […]
A mild-mannered centrist, Enrico Letta has a well-placed uncle.
Worldcrunch In elections, there are winners and there are losers. But what happens when the winner cannot actually claim victory? How can the loser manage to hold all the cards? Both Italy and Israel are famous for getting stuck in just these sorts of Byzantine deadlocks, and coincidentally both Mediterranean democracies are swimming in it […]
Worldcrunch TORONTO – The epitome of femininity and glamour is a pair of high-heeled shoes, but originally, they were actually designed for men. According to a recent BBC report, high heels were worn as a form of riding footwear, with the heel allowing a soldier to stand up in his stirrups securely so he could […]
(Hint: it won’t ever come true)
A Belgium perspective on the urgent risks that Italy’s economic implosion will spread. France could be next.
Beppe Grillo’s protest movement was the winner in Italy’s election that signals a failure of an entire political class.
-OpEd- TURIN – Perhaps we deserve Berlusconi and his lies. Not the Italians, maybe, given as a single citizen is largely powerless in the face of a political system. But the media, especially the television, definitely does deserve him. A brief explanation is required: For the last three weeks, every time I turn on the […]
LA STAMPA (Italy) Worldcrunch ROME– Like every other weekday, 100,000 free papers were handed out in the main metro stations around the Italian capital on Tuesday. But, reports La Stampa, the regular menu of political back-stabbing, soccer trade rumors and crime blotter were missing. In its place were hard-to-believe reports about an Italy and the […]
Barack Obama’s longtime campaign guru David Axelrod has a new client: Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. Axelrod slipped into Rome to meet privately with Monti, 69, a political centrist and longtime university professor and European Union Commissioner, who served one year as caretaker Prime Minister. Monti is now in his first campaign for higher office, […]
OpEd: Prime Minister Mario Monti has announced his resignation, after Silvio Berlusconi sabotages his technical government. Why can’t Italy be a “normal” country?
ROME – For a foreigner who doesn’t understand the Byzantinism of Italian politics, it will seem paradoxical: as of yesterday, the majority that has kept Mario Monti’s government in place is suddenly hanging by a thread, even as the main economic packages were approved by the legislature. And now, elections could be right around the […]