Thursday,
June 14,
Prodi to Bush: Thanks for Rise of
Teaching of Italian in US Schools
The
ANNOTICO Report
[PREFACING
NOTE: Prodi expressed pleasure to Bush at the
rising number of
Italian
Prime Minister Romano Prodi while campaigning against
Berlusconi last year, constantly criticized Berlusconi
Yet
both Bush and Prodi, while not Friends, Felt they
Needed each other, Embraced and Exchanged
Praises.
Prodi has pursued required EU tough fiscal reform policies that
include raising taxes while calling for governmental belt-tightening, but it
has lost him support among average Italians.
Bush
What Prodi gets from Bush is more difficult to understand,
except that Italians still love the
In
my humble opinion, he had NO such risk, and had much to gain by politely
"lecturing" Bush. Missed
Not
the closest of friends, Bush and Prodi put aside their
differences and exchange public praises as the two leaders, both suffering in
public opinion polls, decide they need each other.
ISN -
Center for Security
Studies
Commentary Eric J Lyman in
Thursday, 14 June 2007
Thousands
protested in the streets of
Demonstrations in
Piazza Navona nearly turned violent, as police in
riot gear fired tear gas into crowds of demonstrators protesting the war in
Bush and Prodi have plenty of reasons not to get along.
In addition to
the strong relationships between Bush and billionaire media tycoon and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, Prodi
But inside the
Palazzo Chigi on Saturday, both men used every
opportunity to brush aside their differences and praise the other
Bush praised Prodi for
"Our
relations are pretty darn solid," Bush concluded.
Bush
What Prodi gets from Bush is more difficult to understand.
While campaigning
against Berlusconi last year, Prodi and his proxies
constantly criticized Berlusconi
But behind those
numbers is another number: Italians still love the
The other reason
is that Prodi needs friends as much as Bush does.
Since taking office last year, Prodi has pursued
tough fiscal reform policies that include raising taxes while calling for
governmental belt-tightening. The strategy has for the most part won praise
from economists but has lost him support among average Italians.
In local
elections held last month - the first national vote since Prodi
himself was elected in April 2006 - Berlusconi
Bush, meanwhile,
remains one of a small handful of high-profile world leaders whose can decide
how to conduct relations with
Eric J Lyman is
ISN Security Watch
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