The End for Berlusconi?

If his life had a soundtrack, it might be the theme from ‘The Godfather.’

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is no stranger to controversy. His entire career, political and otherwise, has been shrouded in it.

Il cavaliere is not only the most powerful man in Italy, he’s also one of the richest. His net worth is said to be about 9 billion (US) dollars. Some of which, was made while he headed up a media company called Fininvest. The company made just over 58 Million Euro for Berlusconi, although no one is really sure how.

Tracking funding sources is pretty well impossible in this case, thanks to several holding companies utilized by the Berlusconi and his accountants.

In 1978, he became a member of a masonic lodge called Propoganda 2, which aimed at putting forward an authoritarian regime to oppose Italian Communists. The group was shut down by parliamentarians in 1981.

He has been accused of having ties to the mafia, and was tried on several occasions on a number of different charges including collusion with the mafia, false accounting, tax fraud, corruption and bribery.

However, in part thanks to his own doing, parliament passed laws to shorten statutes of limitations, so he couldn’t be charged with some of the crimes he’s alleged to have committed.

His most recent follies include everything from joking about President Barack Obama’s skin colour, to racy parties with women who are so young, they could be his grand daughters.

And last May, he was accused of using his influence to spring a teenage dancer from prison after she had allegedly stolen 3,000 Euros in Milan. He told police she was the daughter of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

However, it may be this latest gaffe that is the undoing of the Italian elder statemen.

In reaction to his critics calling him out on this latest scandal, he replied, “better to love women than to be gay.”

In Italy, Berlusconi represents a man who is successful at everything he attempted, no matter what the cost. Some even see his womanizing and derisive ways as a reminder of days gone by when Political Correctness wasn’t even a concept.

But Berlusconi has always called out the Italian media for being closed-minded, and overly critical of his ‘exploits.’

Now, when he is pressed for answers, he, conveniently goes from open minded womanizer, to overt homophobe.

Pot meet Kettle.

I wonder if that’s something the Italian electorate can look past.

Guilty...For Convenience?

Every day, criminals around the world plead guilty to crimes they've committed in order to avoid a nasty sentence.

In most cases, someone commits a heinous crime, like rape or murder, and pleads guilty so they can avoid a death sentence, or life in prison, or 'real' jail time. In fact, in Canada, people plead guilty so they can do no jail time at all; instead, they perform a community service.

But the guilty plea by Omar Khadr at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba strikes a chord with me.

And not for all the usual reasons, either.

For those of you who don't know, Omar Khadr was born in Toronto, raised in Pakistan and Canada, and at the age 15, 9 years ago, threw a grenade killing American medic Christopher Speers.

Now, he has confessed to the crime, and under the plea deal, it looks as if he will do 8 years in prison, only one year in the US, before he will be allowed to transfer to a Canadian one.

Critics say that he should spend life in prison for the 5 terrorist related charges he faces, or even get the death sentence. They say this plea deal is another reason the justice system fails us.

I agree.

But for a completely different reason.

Like many North Americans, I know of the atrocities and horrors our soldiers go into, but refuse the details. And for the most part, I don't want to know details. I like my sleep and dreams peaceful thank you very much.

But in order to understand the Omar Khadr case, one has to look at the sordid details.

Before the now infamous firefight in 2002, US Soldiers were investigating in a different area, looking for a completely different person, when they got word of someone using a satellite phone a few hundred metres away.

9 Americans, including Sergeant Speer, went to the area to investigate.

When one entered the building, it has been reported there was gunfire inside. The Americans, not waiting to see what happened next, fired on the building, and levelled it.

3 soldiers, including a helmetless Sgt. Speer, entered the building where they believe no one was alive.

Let me say that again. They fired on a building to the point where they believed no one could have survived the barrage. What happened to surrendering? Allowing the enemy a safe escape if they should choose so. Did they know there were women and children inside the building as it was reported?

They walked into the building, and a 15 year old Khadr, who was injured himself, lobbed a grenade at his attackers, with shrapnel striking Sgt. Speer in the head. The same Sgt. Speer who went into a combat zone without his helmet on.

That blast signaled more gun fire from the Americans, who killed a militant Al-Qaida member, who was with Khadr at the time.

It was then, that an injured Khadr bent down over his friend, possibly his mentor; a 15 year old kid who had lost the only person he had left in the world at that time. When your surrounded by your enemy, your only ally is your only friend.

He was likely crying over his dead friend who was shot up so fiercely, he probably wasn't even identifiable.

That's when American soldiers took two more shots at the boy terrorist, striking him through the back. He was alone, wounded, and without any of his own kind around. The officer in charge admitted he was going to order one of his charges to kill the boy; put him out of his misery.

From there, he went to Bagram Hospital where it was reported that he was refused medical treatment at times, and pain medication.

He was then transferred to Guantanamo Bay Prison, and, even as a child, was tortured like many others he was imprisoned with. Forced to stay awake for days at a time, even placed in uncomfortable positions where it has been reported that he soiled himself on more than one occasion.

By base psychiatrists and others, he was labelled as having an acute case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. All this, during a time where most North Americans are beginning to think about highschool prom, and what they want to do with the rest of their lives.

Still, through all this, Khadr is made to plead guilty so he can spend most of his sentence in Canada.

And despite all that he has gone through, all that he has seen and done. All that he has been made to do, Khadr is able to look at the wife of the man that he killed. One of the men that likely killed several of his friends, and adopted family, and say, I'm sorry.

Omar Khadr has already done more prison time inside his own mind then society can hand down. 8 years in jail, whether in Canada or the US, is irrelevant.

Oil Wells to be Tapped in Arctic?

Greenland.

Ask the average joe about the arctic nation and you will likely get a shrug or a squinting of the eye denoting your subject knows little about it.

In the odd case, you might get some Menza-type guy or gal who tells you frozen vast wasteland in the North Atlantic, that has very little impact on the world as a whole.

And they would be right. That is until now.

Greenland has recently approved bids for drilling for oil near Baffin Bay at the mouth of Lancaster Sound.

And while I'n not positive to where that is, I do know that it is treacherously close to an area near Greenland's border with Canada where that nation hopes to set up a maritime conservation area.

The idea of putting up deep ocean oil wells in the area is precarious at best. The area that the wells would be put in is known as Iceberg Alley - so I'm told because of the massive chunks of ice that break off of Greenland and float down to the North Atlantic.

It's likely that it was one of these doozies took down the Titanic. Imagine what it could do to an oil well that doesn't move.

Some environmentalists are worried that if their is an oil spill in the region, which seems to be an inevitability, the oil would be caught under ice which could have a detrimental ecological impact for weeks, months, even years to come.

And that's the scary part.

No one is exactly sure how an oil spill would affect the area.

For Canada's part, they say they'll ensure Greenland follows proper safety procedures. Great. A country who can't even keep it's own property from being drilled within 72 hours of the Gulf of Mexico disaster makes me feel terrific about the chances of an oil spill happening in the region.

A colleague of mine said, "You know this oil spill is probably the best thing to happen to Offshore drilling - there's no way Canada will allow that to happen anymore."

You couldn't have been more wrong.

DG

Time Square Bomber a Real Threat?

We now know that Faisal Shahzad is the suspect in the New York Times Square bomb attempt.

We also now know that he was caught on a plane mere seconds away from take off at JFK airport for a possible safe haven in Dubai.

What is left is rumour and innuendo that major newspapers, TV stations and yes, even bloggers haven't been able to sort out.

The Times of India is linking him in Pakistani-Taliban circles, saying he may be a part of terrorist organizations such as Tehreek-e-Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jaish-e-Mohammed. The paper also infers that perhaps the US is covering up some details about his background, because, as they put it, "US-Pakistani relations would sour dramatically if Shahzad is found to have trained in bomb training in Pakistan.."

These reports are contrary to what we are hearing in the mainstream, which talks about the poor bomb-making abilities of Shahzad, calling it amateur, and "not in line with the bomb-making abilities" of terrorists in that region.

Any links to the Taliban cannot be confirmed, and it appears that the US, while not sweeping the issue under the carpet, is attempting to make Shahzad look like a modern day Gomer Pile. An American citizen who never had issues with the US until lately, when he stopped paying his mortgage.

Not paying his mortgage? What could be MORE American?

TOI also points to the fact that Shahzad's uncle was a Major-General in Pakistan - certainly that is proof that he wanted harm to be done to those in Times Square.

The newspaper suggests that having a high ranking uncle would have allowed Shahzad to undergo terrorist training without much trouble. Not that anything in what I'm hearing that would suggest he's had any training at all.

Shahzad is facing terrorism and weapons charges in the US, but what amounts to a handful of cherry bombs he bought from a corner store wouldn't have done any damage whatsoever.

And if you are to believe what the mainstream media is feeding us, this Gomer Pile was also 'bright' enough to have tried to this a couple days earlier, but forgot the keys for the pathfinder 'bomb' car and the getaway car.

The Pakistanis meanwhile, portray Shahzad as a naturalized American - and not a Pakistani at all.

Although when hard pressed, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi says it could be the Taliban retaliating for American drone attacks.

So - is it naturalized American turned terrorist, or bumbling Connecticut man loses his marbles?

What's your call?