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Berlusconi Speaks

Well, it looked like Berlusconi, sounded like the man himself, and as far as I know he has not, as yet, denied speaking, or saying what he said.

What exactly did Italy’s esteemed prime minister go on about? Well two things were mentioned which caught my ear, if I heard correctly that is.

Firstly, Berlusco is going to ban telephone tapping orders unless required in connection with investigations concerning terrorism or organised crime.

This is a move designed, most probably, to help Italy’s politicians avoid their loose tongues being caught uttering embarrassing words, as has happened on a few prior occaisions. Now, any member of a law enforcement authority who orders phone tapping operations which involve people who are neither members of the various mafias or involved in suspected terrorist activities will be prosecuted and thrown into jail for around 5 years. A great way to encourage the police to do their job. Not.

Of course, politicians caught chatting with known members of organised crime syndicates may still be caught out by phone tapping surveillance operations, unless, that is, new Italian laws are worded to exclude dodgy politicos from being mentioned in connection with such investigations. Anything is possible.

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Stop translating in your head and start speaking Italian for real with the only audio course that prompt you to speak.

The other slightly worrying thing which is was mentioned by the man with a short term memory, was the initiation of a nuclear power generation programme in Italy. Why is this worrying? One word: trash.

Yes, down in Naples, the Italian government has proved itself somewhat incapable of managing the disposal of normal domestic waste, as well as not doing a fat lot to prevent the dumping of toxic waste around the countryside near Naples. This post ‘Rubbish in Naples, Dioxin in Mozzarella, and now Toxic Wine‘ talked about one of the consequences of illegal fly-tipping in the area.

Now, if the Italian government is unable to prevent these episodes, who is to say that they will be capable of successfully controlling the disposal of highly toxic nuclear waste? And now that the politicians’ phones cannot be tapped, nobody will ever find out about the skulduggery going on behind the scenes.

What can be hoped is that nuclear power generation technology has now moved on to such an extent that the levels of toxic waste produced are so low as to not prove too much of a threat, even in the event that Italy makes a pigs ear of the disposal of such waste.

However, one also wonders why Germany, which also appears to be resurrecting nuclear power generation, does not want Italy to become part of the 5+1nuclear power generation association…

Why sunny Italy does not whole heartedly embrace clean solar power is anybody’s guess.

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