Posted 20th May 2001

Italians Vote For Money Italy has once again selected a millionaire media-politician, who happens by coincidence to be very pro-USA. "Mr. Berlusconi skillfully worked the byzantine Italian business world to establish himself as an American-style capitalist. And he rarely misses an occasion to praise the United States, the superpower he credits with helping Italy fend off a Communist victory in 1948. "I am on whatever side America is on," he said in an interview last winter. "Even before I know what it is." He added more earnestly: "How can I not be? I can never forget how the Americans saved us after the war. America is freedom." Mr. Berlusconi went on to describe how he came to envy American patriotism during a visit to Disney World. "I visited the pavilion of your history," the Hall of Presidents, "and it was very moving," he said. "The Americans there all cried." And then he added, laughing, "I cried too." "President Bush sent a warm congratulatory telegram today but Germany's chancellor, Gerhard Schr–der, was more guarded. And the French foreign minister, Hubert VËdrine, warned Mr. Berlusconi that Europe "would pay close attention to what the government is, and to what it is doing." Mr. Haider was one of the first to react, offering congratulations and his support." Quotes from NY Times.