February 19, 2006

What's going on with Italy?

First the Prime Minister takes a vow of celibacy, and now this:

Critics of Roberto Calderoli, the reforms minister who showed off his T-shirt on television earlier this week, blamed him for the violence — and even his own political allies, including Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, demanded his resignation.

Sexually abusing a teenager is less serious a crime if the girl is not a virgin, Italy's higher court said on Friday in a controversial ruling that immediately drew a barrage of criticism.

Posted by binky at February 19, 2006 01:27 PM | TrackBack | Posted to International Affairs


Comments

I almost posted on this earlier. I think it's interesting to consider what our response to this kind of thing would be if it happened in a non-Western state or a state that wasn't so clearly a long-time ally. It's rather amazing that we have some states and societies so firmly ensconced in the "friend" or "in-group" categories that ... that it really curtails the level of negativity we are likely to feel toward the state and society. We try to find justifications for it. Whereas if this had happened in an "Axis of Evil" state ...

Posted by: Armand at February 19, 2006 02:45 PM | PERMALINK
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