The Sexy Times of Silvio Berlusconi

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is used to controversy but the latest scandal may actually oust him from office. It involves an underaged Moroccan belly dancer named "Ruby" who Berlusconi allegedly "entertained" after freeing her from police custody, tales of bizarre sexual practices that Ruby, actually named Karimael Mahroug, says Mr. Berlusconi claims to have learned from Libyan leader Muammar Al-Qaddafi, and a parody tune to the tune of the Shakira song with the sexual term "bunga bunga" in the chorus instead Waka Waka:

Ruby now swears that she and Berlusconi did not have sex, although she does claim to have gotten money, jewelry and seen the Prime Minister host a "bunga bunga" party. In response to intense media scrutiny, Mr. Berlusconi has replied with "It's better to be passionate about a beautiful girl,then be a gay."

Now I've always been told that Europeans are simply more tolerant of the sexual exploits of their leaders -- but it might be that Mr. Berlusconi will not survive this one. There's Ruby's age. The weirdly titillating "bunga bunga" aspect. Not to mention the use of his office to chase another affair.

Is Italy about to change governments again?

Comments

[il-mio-gufo.livejournal.com]

i think it's a reference to escorts disguised as belly dancers, used only in Italy (?)

[il-mio-gufo.livejournal.com]

oh so it's a Moroccan term then, ok

[mrsilence.livejournal.com]

It's a gangbang with a group of women and 1 guy, usually an older patron type.

[mylaptopisevil.livejournal.com]

a battle cry FOR CAPTAIN CAVEMAN



wait no that was unga bunga. Oh well.

[il-mio-gufo.livejournal.com]

I wonder what Shakira makes of all this . . . . ???

[il-mio-gufo.livejournal.com]

i meant the parody to her song NOT the Prime Minister's scandal :/

besides, is it advantageous to the US if there were to be a change in government? if so, did the US send this belly-dancer to him? :O

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

You Americans are funny. You don't understand that in Italy, scandal benefits said politician. They feed on scandals. People want scandals, they demand nice, old school, spicy, juicy, scandals. Romano Prodi was hated for being a boring, faceless, uninteresting technocrat. Berlusconi is all that Italians love about this world.

Here's La dolce vita for you! :-)

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Don't get me wrong. Italians, like anyone else, would love to play the PC game and pretend that they're more virtuous than Virgin Mary herself when it suits them. It's a complicated game of "I'll lie to you beautifully if you lie to me good" that they adore probably even more than throwing pasta on their own local soccer team which has lost the Sunday game.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

My guess is that the wilder fringes of Japanese porn would qualify as that line. Especially the stuff with sea cucumbers....

[il-mio-gufo.livejournal.com]

I see, so no change-in-government any time so because the people are waiting for another really good scandal! got it *point taken*

I wonder what the Italian commentary is on the statement Mr. Berlusconi has replied with "It's better to be passionate about a beautiful girl,then be a gay.".... they probably feed off it eh.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Believe me, many of them do. Sadly or not.

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

Well, that's be my normal assumption, but the buzz in Italy is that this might even be too much for even Mr. Berlusconi. Or perhaps that's only the buzz that has hit our press -- still, learning his sexy times routine from Qaddafi?

Yuck.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

I wonder if she shaves her armpits and or legs. Ya know, Italy *wink wink*

[lucazzo.livejournal.com]

Considering I've been following Italian politics since the mid-90s, here's a few thoughts:

1) Berlusconi always survives scandals involving women. It may be scorned, and his wife divorced him over another similar situation two years ago, but it has little to no impact on the actual votes.

1.a) Because, despite the scorn, a lot of Italians prefer a photogenic PM who will *embrace* the scandals and make the best out of it. Roberto Benigni once joked about Americans and Italians: "With Clinton, everyone was yelling 'yes, you did!", and he replied 'I did not!". With Berlusconi, Italians will scream 'you did not!', and he'll reply 'yes, I did!'".

2) Italy may be about to change government, but definitely not for his escapades. Fini, a longtime supporter of Berlusconi, has finally split from the coalition and formed his own party. This isn't enough for Berlusconi to lose the majority, so it really depends on who the Northern League (Bossi) will side with.

3) Either way it goes, the left is still in shambles and has no leader to speak of. On the right, even if Berlusconi were to be unseated Fini isn't anywhere as popular as to win an election. Likeliest successor would be Tremonti (current Minister of Economy). There's also a rumor that Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, President of Ferrari, will run as an independent (I'd vote for him any day).

4) A great book on the "Berlusconi phenomenon" has just been released by Beppe Severgnini. The intro, in English, can be found here and helps explain quite a bit: http://www.beppesevergnini.com/video/panciaitaliani/Being_B_intro.pdf

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Mr. Berlusconi has replied with "It's better to be passionate about a beautiful girl,then be a gay."

Gays do have it tough!

[mrsilence.livejournal.com]

Besides, wouldn't any straight guy naturally think that?

And wouldn't any gay person naturally think the converse?

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Well, when properly fed and rested, I'd say so.

[reality-hammer.livejournal.com]

Somehow I don't think a 17 year old will bring down an Italian government. We are talking about the nation that has porn stars in their parliament, after all.

[mrsilence.livejournal.com]

So it's a lot like California.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

I don't know if that insults Italy or California.....

[mrsilence.livejournal.com]

Meh, I don't see what the problem, as such, is with having pornstars in government. Pretty much everyone had a dayjob before they went into politics.

If anything its a step DOWN the ladder of respectability.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

What's interesting is that everything Chavez has done that gets him called a dictator Berlusconi's done (except get his cronies to be generals. Given how the Italian military is to put it bluntly a joke that's smart on his part). But Berlusconi is never called a dictator where Chavez is.

OTOH, who would sleep with Chavez without a lot of good money paid for it?

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

My only experience in training with the Italian military is that I hope I never have to fight with the Italian military, and hope they are on the other side.

[lucazzo.livejournal.com]

This former carabiniere takes offense at that.

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

Well it wasn't your unit, and it might have just been that unit, so its ok.

[jawice24.livejournal.com]

Is Italy about to change governments again?

God I hope so