BERLUSCONI

Berlusconi is an idiot. Read especially Henry Farrell's comments here, echoed in part by Josh Chafetz's comments here and here. As the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reports, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder began his speech in the German parliament today by claiming that Berlusconi's remarks were "unacceptable" and that he expected an apology. The highest circulation German tabloid, the right-wing Bild Zeitung, has this article on the subject, which blurs the line between reporting and editorializing by claiming that the remarks "have caused outrage in Europe!" (the exclamation point is theirs). Papascott has a few comments and links.

The NYT headline is "Italian's Sharp Tongue Punctures Image of United Europe," and you know that there are more than a few chuckles going around the Bush administration at this story. Presumably these kinds of references to a common European past were not what Habermas and Derrida had in mind when they argued that the common experience with the destruction of WWII and the Holocaust must help form a unified European identity.