Italy vs Google - 2 (Is it still Berlusconi's fault?)

Seattle Times editorial page editor Ryan Blethen on “the already puzzling case” of Google versus Italy (see my previous post for details):

The cynic in me wonders if Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi left fingerprints on the case. He owns nearly all of the country’s private media and as prime minister influences Italy’s public media. Berlusconi’s critics worry that he is pushing for

America, A Big Historical Perspective

~ “LETTERS FROM AMERICA” - by The Metaphysical Peregrine ~

We’re often caught up in our own little corner of time, our own historical corner, cultural corner and geographic corner. Sometimes it’s good to step back and see the larger picture.

Often here in America, we beat ourselves up; think we’re at the end of our influence, that our destiny was a flash in the historical pan. Wars and rumors

Italy vs Google

Bad news, as you probably already know, from the front line of Italy’s contemporary fight for freedom: three Google executives, charged with defamation and invasion of privacy, were convicted by the court of Milan for failing to prevent publication on the search engine of a video that showed a boy with Down’s syndrome being bullied by four students at a Turin school. The video was posted in 2006

This Iranian regime is worse than the Shah’s

Don’t miss this interview with the 73-year-old Iranian cleric and politician Mehdi Karroubi (Chairman of the parliament from 1989 to 1992 and 2000 to 2004, and a presidential candidate in the 2005 and 2009 presidential elections).

A disciple of Khomeini—since the age of 24 he fought at his side against the Shah—and one of Iran’s opposition Green Movement leaders, he now says that


[t]he Shah’

Beyond chauvinism

Let’s talk once again about soccer, ahead of tomorrow’s Champions League match at San Siro between Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan and Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea. First of all I have got to confess that I don’t like Mourinho at all. In my very personal experience, he is a most singular man, because, though I am not a huge soccer fan, he sometimes has the power to make me almost a hooligan … against

Nothing less than the Infinite

Hold tight, folks, what this post is all about is nothing less than “the Infinite.” Which is also the title of a famous poem by Giacomo Leopardi, one of the greatest Italian poets ever. A poet which, for mysterious reasons, is not as well known in the English speaking world as it ought to be, in my humble opinion, but this is a secondary issue—what matters most is a fundamental philosophical/

To be free or not to be free, that is the question (for Tibetans)

To be free or not to be free, that is the question for Tibetans. Well, no, actually: perhaps the real question, for them, is “How to enjoy the freedom of being not free?” At least, that’s what I think one has to look at the whole Tibetan thing after reading this. Or, better still, just don’t free Tibet (great post!). To free or not to free, that’s the real question! Sometimes you have to laugh

The fall of the Dutch government--but what have they lost?

So the Dutch government collapsed—after more than 15 hours of talks that lasted until early this morning, and acrimonious exchanges throughout the week—over disagreements on whether or not to extend troop deployment in Afghanistan. The (former) ruling coalition was made up of Christian Democrats (center-right), Labour and the small Christian Union party.

To make it short, Jan Peter Balkenende,

See you Wednesday

I'll be off until Wednesday. Have a good time until then ...;-)

Cars, Appliances and Cell Phones

~ “LETTERS FROM AMERICA” - by The Metaphysical Peregrine ~

What happens when the government buys car companies? For one, they are in competition, and in this case our government has borrowed taxpayer money (on credit since we don't have the money) to buy GM (aka 'government motors') and Chrysler, and they're losing money. The fix? Something only the power of government can do, destroy its very

Philosophy of Freedom

Perhaps unexpectedly, some ten days ago, during his visit in Israel, Silvio Berlusconi said he hopes to bring the Jewish State into the European Union. “I have been hoping that for a long time now,” he also said. Yet, it’s an undeniable fact that under Berlusconi’s leadership, Italy has become one of Israel’s strongest allies in Europe. And this after decades of a pro-Arab tilt by previous

The real history of the Crusades (repetita juvant)

The Crusades are one the central and most important aspects of medieval history. But, as I have already pointed out here (and here), they are also one of the most mischaracterized aspects of the entire history of Western civilization. Often misunderstood by historians and, consequently, by media and public opinion, Crusades and Crusaders—even before September 11, when they became a topical

La Montanara (The Song of The Mountains)

With this I complete my trilogy of non-political posts of middle winter—it’s a good thing to every now and then get political toxins out of your life…

This time I am pleased to pay tribute to a traditional choir song from the Alpine valleys of Northern Italy: La Montanara (The Song of the Mountains), which celebrates the mountains and the “sweet little dwelling-place / Of Soreghina, the

The Roman Centurion’s Song

Once a Brit, always a Brit? This may be true—at least for a certain kind of people, I guess, and even if one was previously from elsewhere. I mean, some time ago a Brit friend of mine was amazed at my being a lover of Britain. He couldn’t understand why on earth I liked Britain so much, after having grown up in Rome, studied in Venice and San Francisco, California, and traveled a lot around

Paolo Maldini's new adventure

This blog is almost certainly a bit too “serious,” I know, at least insofar as politics is (still) a serious matter and not (yet) an entertainment show, as someone might suspect… That’s why this time I want to talk about …fashion—which may not be the most important issue in the world, but nonetheless, apart from its intrinsically ephemeral nature, it’s an important sector of the economy and a