The Scandalous Life And Career Of Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's longest-serving leader since World War II, wanted nothing more than to be liked. Whether on the international stage or on a cruise ship, where he performed for the first time as a singer, the former Italian prime minister, who died on Monday at the age of 86, always worked with the people to gain popular approval.
Although Berlusconi officially left politics in a black limousine in 2011, he remained an influential political activist until his death in November, when he tendered his resignation to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano at the Quirinal Palace in Rome.
It was a vote of no confidence over allegations of tax evasion that forced his resignation. After abdicating the throne, the former head of state sat in the back of a dark limousine, while the chauffeur drove through a hostile crowd standing at his villa in Piazza Venezia. Visitors opened champagne corks, threw coins and spat at his car, shouting abuse and calling him a thief and thief. A small band plays the treatment of "Hallelujah" from "Messiah" by George Frideric Handel. It was a show that only Italians could create with such beauty.
Another failure of the government in Italy doesn't mean much, but there was something special about Berlusconi's downfall. Teflon Don was popular until it was finally fired in 2010, when a sex scandal tainted 17-year-old dancer Karima El Mahroug, who performed under the name Ruby Rubakori (Ruby the Heart Eater). Berlusconi snatches her from a Milan police station and calls one of his aides, who knows that Ruby knows more than most of the young women in Berlusconi's corrupt circle. The Ruby scandal began when Berlusconi's office called the Milan police station and claimed that the young woman is the niece of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, which she is not. On the other hand, he was a regular at the "Bunga Bunga" parties hosted by the Prime Minister in the basement of his Villa Arcor near Milan.
Women who attended parties for Berlusconi's friends, including nuns dressed as nuns, bishops and former US President Barack Obama, told the court that they were given envelopes with money and small gold necklaces during Berlusconi's investigation. Butterflies on it as a batch at the end of each batch.
At that time, Berlusconi was accused of real sex scandals in many countries, but in Italy, for reasons that are not entirely clear, he was often the culprit. Ruby was somewhat different, but mostly because she was under 18. In Italy, the age of consent is 16 and the legal age to engage in prostitution is 18, and she was a prostitute before the law. Berlusconi and his friends. His defense was wrong about his age.
Berlusconi got the name "Bunga Bunga" from the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was accused of abducting and abducting sexually minor girls from Bedouin tents erected in Rome's most luxurious gardens during official visits. Slaves. The two leaders enjoy an unusually close relationship, with Berlusconi signing a $5 billion deal in 2008 to buy the North African country as an Italian colony. In response, Gaddafi stopped African migrants crossing the Mediterranean from Libya and warned that he might "ignite the gas and disfigure Europe". Berlusconi's face adorned Libyan passports before Gaddafi was killed during the Libyan civil war.
Berlusconi's legacy has come and gone, those he wanted to embrace have grown or fallen from grace. He was considered "Europe's second closest friend" to US President George W. Bush and defended US President Bill Clinton when his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky was revealed. But her relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin was the most difficult and destructive.
The two made headlines in 2008 when it was revealed that her companion had sex with Berlusconi on a four-poster bed in Rome. The white bed, which he described as "drawn curtains," was almost a gift from one narcissistic child to another. Instead, Berlusconi gave Putin a cozy T-shirt with a real picture of the two men holding hands and smiling from ear to ear.
It took Berlusconi more than a month to tell his friend, with whom he often shared vacation homes in Sardinia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that a village had been created for wealthy Russians. Shortly after the war began, he told reporters that he believed "Europe should make a peace offer to get the Ukrainians to agree to Putin's demands." In the end, his old friend Vlad, who said he was "sorry and remorseful" for his action, was wrong.
Like former US President Donald Trump, Berlusconi, who hates competing with someone without Teflon, became the first Italian prime minister to lead the country without serving as an elected official. Although the two men shared similar styles, Berlusconi was a very cultured man and the geopolitics were fascinating.
As we interviewed Berlusconi at his lavish residence in Rome, Christopher Dickinson, the former foreign editor of Newsweek , and I were there to answer his questions. Instead, he spoke expertly about Middle Eastern politics, specific leaders from faraway countries, understood American political debates, and introduced us to nearly every European country. while the assistants writhed on the crosses.
Berlusconi was born in 1936 in the family of a banker and a housewife. He had taken his mother Rosa with him to meetings with world leaders for years, and she was often by his side at state dinners. He died in 2008. Her sister, Maria Francesco Antonitato, died a year after her mother's death, and her brother Paolo, who was a business partner, was often targeted by the financial police.
One of his first jobs was as a vacuum cleaner salesman, and in the 1960s he worked part-time as a singer on a cruise ship. Later in life, between political successes, he wrote songs and released albums of Neapolitan ballads that are still widely heard throughout Italy.
In response to numerous requests from the media, he asked to talk about his former love. His two sons, Marina and Pierre Silvio, played an important role in the media and extensive real estate investments.
In the 1980s, Berlusconi married his second wife, Veronica Lario, and fell in love (in an interview with Dick and Me) while she was naked at a Milan ball. She gave birth to three children (Barbara in 1984, Eleanor in 1986, and Luigi in 1988). They divorced in 2009 in a dramatic scandal when she announced in a left-wing newspaper that she was leaving him because he was "suitable for minors". He was ordered to pay Hive $48 million annually to maintain the lifestyle he had created for her. At the time, Berlusconi was a billionaire.
Berlusconi started his real estate business by building apartments for young professionals in the Pastatte district of Milan with the goal of creating a luxury village for lifestyle-conscious clients. His first investment was in question until his death as several plaintiffs unsuccessfully tried to prove that it was run by the mafia.
He continued to build a media empire from his real estate earnings and was the first to introduce American-style sitcoms to Italian audiences through the first television channels, including Telemilano in 1974 and Canale 5 in 1980. Today he created Italy's largest commercial broadcaster, importing American programs that She was also involved with General Hospital and Dallas. But it also led to sexism, with programming depicting scantily clad women flirting with older men. Women don't talk much outside of their commercial breaks, or say they don't know the answer to the question about opening the room. It exists today and is partly responsible for the strong patriarchal state's control over society.
He continued to invest in real estate, publishing and marketing and AC Milan, which he managed under the auspices of Fininvest, with high returns. This group includes more than 150 companies and has likely been the subject of numerous creative accounting investigations, lawsuits, and fines.
Berlusconi founded his own political party in 1994, called Forza Italia (Forward Italia), to glorify Italy's passion for sport in the World Cup and domestic competitions. He served as Prime Minister from May 1994 to January 1995, from June 2001 to May 2006, and from May 2008 to November 2011.
His tenure was marred by allegations of tax evasion, sexual scandals, rumors of public interference, and malfeasance. He was found guilty of bribery, tax evasion and sex with an underage girl, which was largely overturned in Italy's generous appeals process. At least twice, the final ruling led to the government itself changing the laws. Last year, in 2014, he did community service for tax evasion.
Berlusconi claims he's done more for women than anyone else in Italy, including appointing a near-nude former model Pirelli as equal opportunity minister. But while much of the world has moved for equal pay and the fight against overt sexism, Italy remains one of the most prosperous. Italy consistently scores low in the World Economic Forum's annual gender report, with fewer women leaders and decision-makers than other European countries and paid parental leave, indicating that women are the primary educators of children.
Berlusconi had a number of health problems, including heart problems that made him jump out of bed and climb on it. This often happened when she had a court date on one of the many cases and was experiencing severe symptoms of COVID-19 when the outbreak began. In 2009, a man sustained multiple injuries and a broken nose while signing autographs during a campaign event at the Milan Cathedral. In April 2023, he was diagnosed with leukemia.
Nevertheless, he remained an influential man until the very end, even winning a seat in the Italian Senate in 2022. But he is best remembered for his speeches and scandals, including when he called German Chancellor Angela Merkel "unstoppable". hot microphone Obama's dark complexion is called "tan".
Some of his supporters demanded a state funeral before his death. His enemies blamed him for Italy's poor economic situation and his refusal to play by the rules. One might be tempted to dismiss it as a dull comedy, but he was far too rich and powerful for that.
Correction, 12 June 2023: An earlier version of this article miscalculated Berlusconi's comparative time in office.
