Berlusconi on the New Crusades Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - Peter Bell A refreshing blast of honesty about the motivations behind the new Crusade emerge from Europe's cradle of Crusades, Fascism, and the recent spate of agents provocateur turned loose during the Genoa demonstration. Predictably, the liberal commentators rounded not on the Crusade itself, which Berlusconi is describing fairly accurately, but on Berlusconi for being "inflammatory" and "divisive" - that is, by warning the Muslims that Rome has not forgotten what it started, nor that it would like to finish it. What it started, of course, was a conviction of its own innate superiority and a desire to inflict that superiority on all within striking distance. In general, these people are at their best when unpolished. Berlusconi was no doubt well-pleased by the Bush team's early, repeated references to this Crusade by that name. Eventually, the grown-ups stepped in and closed President Bush's copy of the Hungry Crusader and had him start in on a new text. But Bush's speech, seeping with appeals to Christian piety and closing with an invocation of a God who would choose a side - Our Side - in the Cosmic Wrestling Foundation Smackdown to come was without serious question an evocation of Crusade ideology: smug superiority, join with us or be put to the blade, that sort of thing. It's nice also to see that while Bush decided not to mention Communism, Berlusconi addressed that oversight in his remarks, proclaiming vanquished a politics which still has a good following in his own electorate! During the Medieval Crusades, the church often recommended that the local Jews be rounded up and slaughtered preparatory to departing for the Holy Land. Perhaps in this Crusade, we can hope that our Gallant Knights Erring will phone up the local red squads, reactivated today under the guise of "antiterror" squads in California, and find a few Commies to Kill for Christ on their way out. A festive - and ethnically correct - update of a fine tradition. As the Jews were killed largely on the grounds that they rejected Christ as Messiah, it seems that the Communists ought to be put to the blade for their similar stickiness over the modern Holy Trinity, Nixon, Kissinger and Greenspan. -- Peter -------------------------------------------- AP via the new york times - Sept 26, 2001 Berlusconi Comments Cause Stir by the associated press ROME (AP) -- Breaking ranks with allies reaching out to the Muslim world, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday said Western civilization is superior to Islam. He also said he hopes the West conquers Islamic civilization. The conservative billionaire's remarks were instantly disavowed by more moderate politicians in Italy, who called them both ill-timed and offensive. Berlusconi made the remarks, which were broadcast on Italian television, after talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the crisis sparked by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. He told a news conference, "We must be aware of the superiority of our civilization, a system that has guaranteed well-being, respect for human rights and -- in contrast with Islamic countries -- respect for religious and political rights, a system that has as its values understandings of diversity and tolerance." He also claimed Western civilization is superior because it "has at its core, as its greatest value, freedom, which is not the heritage of Islamic culture." Berlusconi went on to say that he trusts "the West will continue to conquer peoples, like it conquered Communism," even if it means a confrontation with "another civilization, the Islamic one, stuck where it was 1,400 years ago." His comments came as many Western leaders were taking pains to avoid antagonizing the Muslim world and forge a worldwide coalition against terrorism. President Bush, for example, met Wednesday with American Sikhs and Muslims at the White House and issued yet another appeal for religious tolerance. The reaction in Italy to Berlusconi's comments was swift and sharp. They were denounced by a number of Italian politicians as irresponsible and inflammatory. Piero Fassino, a prominent member of the center-left opposition, called the comment "mistaken and, above all, inopportune." "We're in a very delicate phase in the life of the planet. We need to unite the world against terrorism. And one of the conditions is to unite religions, to have civilizations and cultures cooperate," said Fassino. An outspoken businessman, Berlusconi has only limited foreign policy experience, despite a brief, previous turn as prime minister in 1994. The allies in his conservative coalition include the often xenophobic Northern League and the once neo-fascist National Alliance. Italy is home to at least 500,000 Muslims, many of them immigrants from North Africa. The prime minister plans to visit Washington soon for talks with Bush on the terrorism crisis. A member of NATO, Italy has pledged its full cooperation. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Attacks-Berlusconi.html ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrc-09.27.01-13:54:57-7555