Italy and Europe at the brink of disaster.

Silvio Berlusconi resigned as Prime Minister of Italy last evening, ensuring at least one modern day Italian politician a position deserving of at the minimum a grudging respect for honesty and  regard for procedure in the history books.  If events now proceed as forecast across the media, that will never be something they can truthfully say with respect to his immediate successor.

The fate of Europe today lies in the hands of the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. He can opt for an election and democracy for his countrymen, which may then bring other large EU countries back from their march towards tyranny, or he can capitulate to the demands of the massed eurocrats, fonctionnaires and tyrants disguised as technocrats who all now appear to aim towards totalitarian rule for the entire EU, where elections become the mere charades seen under Soviet communism.

Yet it is not only the fate of Western Europe that will be decided over the coming days. Prime Minister Putin (soon again to be President Putin) of Russia made clear last evening that Russia ( as history stands in evidence) will be involved in the eventual outcome of Western European nations' strategic and domestic poltical arrangements. Putin's remarks may be read in a report in the WSJ, linked here, from which I quote only a portion here those being from Putin on Berlusconi:

Mr. Berlusconi had been good for stability in Italy and had built relationships inside and outside Europe, including with Russia

“What I most like about him is that he’s an open person,” Mr. Putin said. Then, in an aside which suggests he feels less warmly toward other European leaders, he added: “I don’t want offend anybody but there are not many people like that in European politics.”