We live in dangerous times, when a new kind of leadership is required. It’s as simple as that. We have to be aware of the dark side of every event not because the future will necessarily be bad, but because that is what foreign policy crises have always been about. Peacekeeping and peacemaking, in particular, will become increasingly difficult. Indeed, global security necessitates shared aims and centralized management. Only strong rulers can justify the historic about-faces necessary for peace. (tratto da Longitude)

According to a Demos poll of the 27th June, Nichi Vendola, governor of Puglia and leader of Sinistra Ecologia e Liberta, has the highest favourable ratings among the leaders of Italy’s political parties. Vendola is trusted by 41% of Italians, while Berlusconi languishes on 26%, one point behind his coalition partner Bossi. The same poll found that 52% of Italians now expected a victory for the left in the next elections, whereas in December 60% expected a win for the right.

Foreign Minister Frattini’s call for a ceasefire in Libya was presented as being motivated by humanitarian reasons. Yet in reality it stemmed from pressure from the Northern League. The party’s contradictory antics are causing problems for Berlusconi as he struggles to govern the country from within an uneasy coalition.

"The new untouchables", Thomas Friedman's editorial on the New York Times is a perfect example of how the same word "financial crisis" can have two very different meanings. In the Us, they are already thinking about what have caused the economic downturn and how to address the issue, while in Italy, we are still stuck in the middle of the quagmire. The new untouchables in in the Us are the young workers who can invent new ways of making money, in Italy creative young people tend to live the country as soon as possible. 

What the Italians are really doing is fighting a tough war against tough enemies and their “splitting the troops strategy” is not only brave, but is also paying off. And this strategy is risky. It goes without saying that if there were more troops on the ground everything could be easier. The insurgents would have to plan their attacks more carefully and their suicide bombing missions. That would take them more time and time is everything in this war.

We Italians woke up today expecting a revolution like the one in Iran. It did not happen. In a way, the assumptions of some newspaper articles are intelligent and, indeed, a certain concern about Berlusconi’s boat in these troubled waters exists. Luckily enough, though, the situation is not so desperate.

 At least 92 people were killed and scores of others wounded tonight in Abruzzo (a region situated east of Rome) when a powerful heartquake shook at 3.32 a.m.