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.”

Irish Government standoff with their Banks

There is an interesting little side story to the euro crisis this morning from Ireland. The report from the Irish Times of the Irisn Banks refusal to pass on last week's ECB interest rate reduction to the banks mortgage customers with variable rate loans, highlights the complete anarchy now evident amongst those banks, since they were rescued by the previous administration with a state guarantee which will bankrupt generations of Irish citizens yet to be born. The article may be read from here.

Everything now taking place across the EU can eventually be placed at the door of a lethal mixture between the greed of our bankers and the obscene lust for unlimited and unaccountable power by the Continent's political classes. Just as Cameron could not initially be unlinked from Coulson, so the banks cannot be removed from their government provided taxpayer's drip feeds.

No solutions are available for the euro crisis as long as those who created the chaos remain in command. As PMs Papandreou and Berlusconi have been rejected by the terminally sick system, does this perhaps now uniquely qualify them to begin to perhaps seek out some solutions?

How Ireland removes itself from its pledge to its own bankers, will be most interesting to observe!