Berlusconi and the New World Order

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has been on quite a roll lately.  In an interview this week with Al Jazeera that will apparently be broadcast in full tomorrow, the Italian PM once again demonstrated his willingness to accomodate Islamic opinion (and Italy's Center-Left voters) in any way he can.

As quoted in this story, the Italian PM announced that the United States should close its prison at Guantanamo Bay as soon as possible.  Although Berlusconi's remarks merely echo sentiments expressed last week by Kofi Annan and the EU Parliment, there is something particularly loathsome about Berlusconi, our supposed ally, sticking it to us on Al Jazeera.  If required to choose between our "gulag" at Guantanamo and any Middle Eastern prison, is there any doubt whatsoever which one Berlusconi (not to mention his Al Jazeera interviewer) would pick?

According to news reports, the Berlusconi interview was not without its humorous moments.  Recognizing that certain aspects of Western culture, such as political satire, aren't compatible with Islam, the Italian PM assured Al Jazeera's audience that West would stop the monkey business:   

"Satire must not be disrespectful. In this case, the Danish cartoons have deeply affected the feelings of the faithful and for this reason we cannot but condemn them.....In the West satire is free, even when it concerns religion and the pope, but it is impossible to apply the same standards to other populations and other religions."

I'm going to give the PM the benefit of the doubt about this remark and assume that he is not suggesting that the meaning of the word "satire" be changed to better suit Islamic sensibilities. Western values, however, would seem to be negotiable.  Indeed, rather than wasting time with some namby-pamby middle ground that discourages speech offensive to any religious sensitivity, the quoted passage suggests that Berlusconi has accepted the one-sided rules that govern the new world order. 

Meanwhile, and as discussed by Paul Belien at Brussels Journal, Italian prosecutors are considering whether Roberto Calderoli, the Italian official forced to resign last week over his flamboyant support for the Danish cartoons, can be charged with "contempt of religion."  If found guilty, Calderoli will be imprisoned until he public recants heliocentric theory - oh wait, my mistake - that was Galileo. Still, it's nice to know that the Italians didn't get caught up in that whole "enlightenment" fad and start throwing away perfectly good blasphemy statutes.