More Berlusconi than Mussolini
Published:
May 15, 2014 at 8:53am
I really do wish people would stop comparing the prime minister to Benito Mussolini. The only thing which seems to have triggered off this comparison is the fact that both had/have a similar malformation of the jaw. A jaw does not make for an adequate comparison.
A far more accurate comparison, in terms of smirks, body language, facetiousness, inappropriate remarks, the belief that rules don’t matter and off-putting cocky arrogance would be to Silvio Berlusconi.
The only difference is that our prime minister is not lascivious in the pursuit of women and does not make politically incorrect jokes about homosexuality.
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Muscat’s mannerisms and posture mimic Mussolini’s. Then again, so do Berlusconi’s. That makes Muscat a political love child of two rogues separated by decades of history.
Agreed.
This was one of Berslusconi’s party members – the ‘Senatur’ Razzi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vin1ROu1IIU
Although, the ‘Senatur’ Razzi, as corrupt as he is, has admitted several times that he puts his interests first.
“The only difference is that our prime minister is not lascivious in the pursuit of women and does not make politically incorrect jokes about homosexuality.”
Maybe because he is ‘just’ 40 years old. Wait till he is 70.
I will not be around when he is 70 but I am absolutely certain that he will not change one iota on these two counts.
Meantime, Muscat is doing an excellent job of f*cking up the country.
So the end result will be the same, it is just that Mussolini and Berlusconi used different methods to that end.
Mussolini was hailed as “Il Duce”, Berlusconi was respectfully called “Il Cavaliere”, and if Muscat were an Italian leader he would likely be called “Lo Stronzo”.
Berlusconi is witty, although we might agree his witticisms may be homophobic, racist, etc. Joseph Muscat wouldn’t recognise wit if it hit him.
It’s not so much the look of the guy, but more, the method of governance.
It takes me back to the days of the Mintoff era. Mintoff was not stupid but he was surrounded by idiots and minsters were uncontrollable. Bribery and fraud were rampant.
Our new Mussolini knows this, so instead of a rampant free-for-all like the good old days, he and his cronies are emptying the coffers in the face of the public and his supporters are clapping.
I feel sorry for those people who are intelligent enough, but can’t see through this deception.
You don’t have to be a genius to see what’s going on, but there must be a load of idiots around who can’t see it.
So sad.
The common denominator between Mussolini, Hitler, Berlusconi and Muscat is their misinterpration and wrong application of Nietzsche’s Ubermensch.
‘wrong’?
I think Pinocchio suits him best.
He is definitely not Pinocchio, his nose would not fit on such a small island.
I prefer Conchita.
This is what the Maltese Labour Party and the Maltese people need to understand:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=648507068561664&set=a.147210575357985.40541.127897577289285&type=1&theater
Unless the PN gets some serious money, Muscat is going to run circles around Busuttil. Strangely, the people seem not to be turned off by Muscat’s smirks and arrogance.
His propaganda machine pulls in a lot of people. On the other hand, Busuttil can’t seem to get a handful of people to come out to the PN talk.
http://www.britainfirst.org/
Britain First (resonate with ‘Malta tal-Maltin’ and ‘Maltal-ewwel u qabel kollox’) is the most racist and vile movement in Britain. But it could simply be the Malta Labour Party.
Britain needs to understand however what’s breeding the hate.
As does Germany.
I cannot possibly agree with this comparison. For starters Berlusconi, as much as he may not be a model politician, is a successful businessman who, for all his faults, actually made some difficult decisions during his time in power. Muscat is just an upstart, clueless, insufferable peasant – nothing more.
Berlusconi has savoir-faire, albeit with his fair share of gaffes. Muscat does not. He has no charisma. He is just ‘antipatku’ or rather a clueless leader lacking confidence who compensates this lack of confidence with a his snide remarks and uncomfortable fake smiles and stances.
I think it is much better to be compared to Berlusconi than to Grillo.
Berlusconi was one of the most successful and longest serving Italian prime ministers of the last 50 years, along with Craxi and Andreotti. Will this be the case for the present Maltese PM?
[Daphne – What unfortunate comparisons those three names are, David. One is currently doing community service instead of jail, another died in self-imposed exile in Tunis to escape prosecution in Italy, and another was investigated and tried for collaborating with the Mafia. My only comparison was to mannerisms and general attitude and comportment, and to nothing else.]
May I be allowed to put in a word for Giulio Andreotti here.
This great politician’s main purpose throughout a career spanning seven decades was that of keeping the PCI out of government. In this he practically succeeded.
One has to remember that the PCI was the biggest and most powerful communist party outside the Soviet Union.
In order to accomplish his political mission Andreotti collaborated with anyone and with anything.
Yes, Mafia, CIA, P2, Brigate Rosse you name it.
He kept Italy outside the iron curtain.
History will judge whether the end justified the means.
Abbasso il comunismo sempre e dovunque
If Italy hadn’t foolishly kicked out the monarchy they wouldn’t have had that Communism Or Else duopoly. And the entire mess would have been avoided.
The right and most effective counter to Communism is a monarchy, not joined-up republican machinations. Ask the Weimar Germans. Or the Hungarians or Bulgarians or anyone else.
History has already judged Andreotti’s decision. Italy is now a criminal state, thanks to official collaboration by the state with subversive and criminal forces.
Savoia screwed everything when they fled to Brindisi following Mussolini’s arrest with the German high command retaking the capital.
Vittorio Emanuele was also guilty of giving his seal of approval to the regime’s racial laws.
But what resulted unbearable were rumours about Umberto’s homosexuality. Luchino Visconti claimed to have had a long relationship.
Opposition newspapers had long nicknamed the prince ‘Stellassa’, even with Mussolini’s tacit approval.
Nenni, socialist, accused him of pederastia during meetings leading up to the referendum.
You’re also right about the Spanish and the Greeks.
No Anthony, the real leaders were De Gasperi and Moro. Their adversaries in the PC Togliatti and Berlinguer.
De Gasperi signed the treaty of Rome and that of the North Atlantic. Moro was the architect of the compromesso storico with Berlinguer.
Togliatti was very nearly assassinated, issuing a statement from his bed appealing for calm and Berlinguer survived an attempt on his life during a visit to Sofia.
Moro was found dead in a Renault 4.
Badoglio’s armistice was also a bad mistake. If they had just switched sides they’d have saved face. They even lost a region as a result and world history, written by the victors, misjudged Italy’s role in the war.
Today the victors – France and Britain still retain the privileges they gained by assuming the right to carve up the world between just the two of them leaving the scraps for the upcoming powers, not to mention denying the aspirations of the colonies themselves.
Jozef, you are 50% right in that the real leaders were De Gasperi and his sidekick Andreotti.
The fact that Aldo Moro ended up a corpse in the boot of a Renault 4 proves my point.
The compromesso storico was utterly unacceptable for the CIA and for Andreotti.
Hence the tragic ending.
I would like to elaborate but I do not think this is a suitable forum.
I say that history is a parallel reflecting ours. From integration to independence to the republic, Malta’s path followed closely Italy’s capacity to keep all her political spectrum inside the western hemisphere. Even if it was perversely the other way.
The moment the PC cut itself off the Warsaw Pact when Hungary was run over, Malta became the next best thing.
It’s still to be seen what role Malta played in Moro’s assassination. Moro was key to the republic, he also warned against the rise of Ghaddafi.
The greatest absent from Mintoff’s deluge is Berlinguer, Moro’s partner against the BR.
No need to mention where those got their money from.
Actually, Andreotti was found guilty of being associated with the Mafia by the Palermo Court of Appeal but by the time of the verdict, the charge was time-barred.
Neither the prosecution nor the defence appealed the judgment to the Cassation court and so, it became definitive.
But he was not exonerated from the charge. And his close collaborators in Sicily such as Salvatore Lima (assassinated by the Mob) and the Salvo cousins were closely associated with the Mob.
Yesterday I read this sentence in a book:
‘They carried Union Jack flags. Why was it, Lloyd wondered, that the people who wanted to destroy everything good about their country were the quickest to wave the national flag?’
I wonder the same thing about the PL.
Many people who side with the PN are afraid to give any public support to the party. When invited to a PN event, many actually ask whether there will be any cameras filming the event.
This is a vindictive government and many are afraid of repercussions not so much if they are labelled PN, but if they are seen to be actively supporting the party, which the government will interpret as working actively against it.
That’s partly the Nationalist Party’s fault. They still haven’t got round to the idea of support for a policy or a position, rather than a party.
Joseph Muscat understood that perfectly, and banished the word “party”, replacing it with “movement”. It worked.
Actually the PN was the first to employ that at the run-up for the 2003 referendum where people from all walks of life supported the pro-EU policy/position without fear of repercussions.
You’re absolutely right, Neo. The Nationalist Party has managed this before. They only need to relearn what they knew. But first they need to convince themselves once and for all that times are as dire as 2003, or worse. This is 1986, ladies and gentlemen.
Barra! Barra! Barra!
The echo of those words has resounded down the decades. Now they need repeating.
The country needs another movement. A Moviment. A counter-movement to the obscene Taghna Lkoll. We need a Movement of Decent Citizens.
Labour has always been vindictive, even when in Opposition but, in the end, people have to find the courage to stand up for what they believe in, whatever the repercussions.
We like to imagine that we have a heroic past and our ancestors “fought like lions” (I remember this phrase from Laspina’s history book) against the Turks, the French, the Axis and the British. We have saved Europe several times, even winning WWII for the Allies. In truth, however, the Maltese have had it easy, compared to almost everybody else in Europe.
As a people we have no tradition of making extreme sacrifices for our ideals and we think that being given a transfer is the ultimate punishment a person can suffer.
Cuschieri is going to give half of his salary to charity if he gets elected. Ha ha haj.What a joker.
Labour MEP candidate promised to donate half his MEP pay if elected. Populism at its most ugly – giving charity and bragging about it; a trait which is deeply ingrained in the Labour’s mentality.
Cuschieri, whose track record as an MEP is a complete disaster needs reminding:
“When you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honoured by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,…” Matthew 6:2
In simpler terms, Mr Cuschieri you should do good because you want to, not because you want a pat on the back for it – (in your case the vote, Saturday week).
Joseph Cuschieri will not get elected again. Perhaps it would have made more sense had he promised to donate half the pay he will get from his new iced bun after the 24th of May.
Joseph Cuschieri is helping himself not to be elected, to the great delight of Jo.
What a gimmicky way to fish for votes.
This is becoming worrying now. The GWU statement practically condones the violence used by the security guard.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-05-15/news/gwu-calls-on-media-not-to-abuse-of-freedom-5012488194/
Just read on inewsmalta.com that Joseph Cuschieri will be donating half his salary if elected as MEP. Couldn’t believe my eyes. Reducing MEP elections to this level. No wonder Labour never understood the importance of EU membership and were so against it. Is he so desperate? Has he given up on being elected?
“The government intends to publish the power station contract for public scrutiny and is currently seeing what commercially sensitive information it may contain to eliminate it before publication, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this morning.”
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-05-15/news/government-intends-to-publish-energy-contract-5012488192/
Gee, that’s convenient. I wonder what how widely Jo will interpret “commercially sensitive information”.
Another blurring of Party-Government lines
Times report on Smart City visit.
Close to 20,000 square metres of office space has been completed. Visiting the project in Kalkara yesterday, Dr Muscat said the government had met Tecom Investments, the company behind the project, both before and after the election because this was a very important venture for the country.
All Muscat did was flood it with government departments.
Chris Cardona remains the greatest liability. Incredible how he managed to keep away from his portfolio.
Meanwhile, Minister Konrad Mizzi is contradicted by his friends at Gasol plc.
From the “highlights” in the “interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2013” of Gasol plc:
“Award of LNG to Power Project by Malta’s state utility to Electrogas Malta Consortium, of which Gasol is the lead developer”
http://www.gasolplc.com/media/18821/gasol_2013_interim_statements.pdf
According to this statement published by Gasol, a company listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange, Gasol plc is “the lead developer” of the Malta project.
But see what Konrad Mizzi had said in a press conference on 13 October 2013, according to Kurt Sansone of The Times:
“Maltese-Azeri investors clinch gas plant deal, Siemens to be lead developers”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20131013/local/gas-bidder.490079
The Minister had said that the lead developers will be Siemens, which incidentally should be owning only 20% of the consortium as opposed to 30% which will be owned by Gasol plc – a company with apparently no track record.
So a company with apparently no track record will be leading a project involving giant Siemens.
Can a decent journalist ask the Minister – or the prime minister – which version is correct, and whether Siemens Project Ventures is there to build a Siemens power station or to finance a power station built by a Chinese state-owned company which has recently signed a contract with Gasol plc?
And who exactly is Gasol plc fronting? More precisely, who is hiding behind it?
http://hsprod.investis.com/ir/gas/ir.jsp?page=news-item&item=1750796173574144
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, don’t you realise that your political stand on immigration leads to this?
http://video.repubblica.it/edizione/palermo/lampedusa-le-immagini-in-esclusiva-del-naufragio-all-isola-dei-conigli/165876/164365
But, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyGGp3-7t8Q
If Berlusconi speaks highly of Mussolini, it’s not because Berlusconi is a Fascist … it’s simply ENVY!
Mussolini used his physical appearance, stylised his body in fact, to create the myth.
The party’s headquarters, Palazzo Braschi in 1938.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gU_8nHbED6M/T9Ta0-tv8yI/AAAAAAAAE3Q/3fiwP6uDe3w/s1600/palazzobraschi.JPG
http://www.oberlin.edu/images/Art265b/345-0125.JPG
http://www.minerva.unito.it/Theatrum%20Chemicum/Pace&Guerra/ImmaginiMussolini/MussoliniProfiloContinuoDuce.jpg
When art is the regime, and the regime is duce.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-05-15/news/mallias-500000-in-cash-now-safely-in-the-bank-5016813568/
Berlusconi is so arrogant and expects everybody to laugh at his silly and often offensive humour because he owns a multi-billion business enterprise and is used to people bowing down to him no matter what.
Politics came late in life for Berlusconi and he did not adapt very well to the new role as representative of the country.
Muscat was a total nobody before he entered politics so I fail to understand what makes him so snide.
Muscat was rich before he entered politics. Not at Berlusconi level, but he had an excellent start in life. And he’s one of those annoying people who’ve always had everything handed to them: money, job, positions, titles, wife. No wonder he’s snide.
Berlusconi’s funniest:
When they ask me to go home and stay there, they should specify which one of the twenty I own.
Snigger.
Both Muscat and Mussolini became prime ministers at a relatively young age of 38/39, Both had raised people’s expectations to a high degree. Both put more emphasis on appearances rather than substance. Mussolini drove Italy into a cataclysmic disaster. Let’s hope Muscat would not do likewise in Malta.
Berlusconi is a different case altogether. He entered politics to defend his commercial interests and not end up like his great friend Craxi and other businessman who got embroiled in Mani Pulite. He has been doing so for more than 20 years and in the process, has presided over the decline of Italy. He is facing other very serious charges and will probably be convicted again now that he has lost the power to enact ad hominem laws to help him out. A veritable disgrace if ever there was one.
Ever since that very young Italian lad came to be Prime Minister of Italy and leader of the PD, I have been fascinated at that incarnation of our Prime Minister. Suffice to say that one of his own party publicly told him to shut up, roll his sleeves and start doing something for Italy.
People want and need remedial action not rhetorical sermons. Every time I hear and see him speak, the similarity and likeness is so striking that in certain instances they even proclaim the same promises, the same words, the same style. I cannot determine who is imitating who, so much is the likeness.