Italy and Israeli "Fragmented" Political Systems Similar Pros and Cons vs "Two Party " Sytems

Menachem Gantz, a journalist based in Rome for the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, believes that Italians are "frustrated" and don't expect any change from the upcoming general elections.

According to the Israeli journalist, there are also many similarities between Italy and Israel, first and foremost the fact that "usually the political crises match".

Gantz goes on to explain that the "Fragmented Party" system in Israel and Italy are quite similar, and represent similar problems, especially when the coalitions are evenly divided, and threats from "sliver" parties can cause "confidence" votes that threaten the Prime Minister position, or force New Elections.

"We have only just avoided early elections because at the end of the month of January the Winograd Commission evaluated on the outcome of the war in Lebanon and that jeopardised the government of [Israeli prime minister Ehud] Olmert," said Gantz referring to the report by the commission to shed light on how Israel managed the conflict in 2006.

Ehud Olmert's leadership was spared because the Labour leader and defence minister Ehud Barak "decided not to withdraw from the coalition," and as such "the eventuality of a vote in Israel today seems a little further away."...but looming.

Two party systems offer more stability, but less flexiblity, and wide swinging changes with the change of Presidents.

Election Focus: Italy as seen by an Israeli Correspondent

Adnkronos International Italia - Roma, Lazio, Italy

February 28, 2008

Menachem Gantz, a journalist based in Rome for the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, believes that Italians are "frustrated" and don't expect any change from the upcoming general elections.

Rome, 26 Feb. (AKI) - Italians are "desperate" and "frustrated", according to Rome-based Israeli reporter, Menachem Gantz. Even after April's general election, they feel there is "no guarantee that the reality will be different and there will not be a repetition of the current scenario," he argues.

Gantz, correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, told Adnkronos International (AKI) that Italy lacks any sign of "change, growth - the closing of a chapter for the opening of a new one."

"Elections are a democratic celebration and it is for this reason that Italians, who may be critical of the United States, look at the American elections as a celebration," he said.

Gantz told AKI that the two main alliances or political parties "cannot pit themselves fiercely against each other" or "offend each other" or have "an election campaign with low-level accusations" and then find that after the polls that they have to work together.

According to Gantz, in this electoral race, former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi "has so far conducted an election campaign with a lower profile than the one in 2006", also because the candidate who really has his work cut out for him is the outgoing mayor of Rome and leader of the newly formed centre-left Democratic Party (PD), Walter Veltroni.

Gantz said that even though elections are always a fascinating event, these Italian elections are "forced", and "the Italians are not as content and enthusiastic".

As such it is difficult to explain the "details" of the Italian electoral campaign to Israel and Gantz instead uses news stories to show the relevance and impact of the polls.

Gantz said an example would be "speaking of the crisis involving [Italian national carrier] Alitalia, explaining how the election campaign touches this question, what is the position of the [anti-immigrant] Northern League party or that of the Left," without getting caught up in the "daily developments".

Israelis are likely to pay more attention to Italian politics, once the vote is over and the results are known and "when the new government is formed," said Gantz.

"It all depends on who will be the new foreign minister," he told AKI.

"Compared to previous elections, these are in some way different in terms of Italy's ties with Israel, mainly because today Italy is the principle force to the north of Israel," said Gantz referring to the Italian contingent in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) which was deployed to southern Lebanon after the conflict in the summer of 2006 between Israeli troops and guerrillas from Shia militant group Hezbollah.

"As such, the consequences of the vote, even if their are not immediate, could be of interest to Israel," Gantz told AKI.

According to the Israeli journalist, there are also many similarities between Italy and Israel, first and foremost the fact that "usually the political crises match".

"We have only just avoided early elections because at the end of the month of January the Winograd Commission evaluated on the outcome of the war in Lebanon and that jeopardised the government of [Israeli prime minister Ehud] Olmert," said Gantz referring to the report by the commission to shed light on how Israel managed the conflict in 2006.

In the end, Ehud Olmert's leadership was spared because the Labour leader and defence minister Ehud Barak "decided not to withdraw from the coalition," and as such "the eventuality of a vote in Israel today seems a little further away."

According to Gantz, this is similar to the way in which the smaller centrist Udeur party in Italy pulled out of the government coalition, citing a lack of support for its leader, the former justice minister Clemente Mastella, who together with his wife was implicated in a corruption probe.

This led to the resignation of former premier Romano Prodi in January, the dissolution of parliament and the calling of fresh elections on 13 and 14 April.

Gantz said that Barak's decision to remain in the ruling Israeli coalition, "was not dictated by personal reasons, but was taken in consideration of the requirements in a very delicate period of dialogue with [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] Abu Mazen which continues".

In such a context,"Barak could not be the one who would drag the country into an election campaign that in the end would do nothing but waste time," said Gantz.

The correspondent of Yedioth Ahronoth also highlighted the "particular relationship" between Israel and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

"His government represented an improvement in the ties between the two countries and Berlusconi was closer to Israel because he could have a dialogue with the Arab world and with Israel, clarifying that there is no discussion over the existence of Israel or the security of the state of Israel," said Gantz.

"This message has been passed on even to certain elements of Italy's centre-left," said Gantz, referring to the fact that Walter Veltroni, as the mayor of Rome, chose every year to personally travel with Roman students to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

As for the current situation in Italy, the long-running Naples rubbish crisis is the story that has struck Gantz the most. He said that it is "sad to see Italians, the same people who can unite around a television to donate money to Africa, close their eyes to refuse to see the catastrophic and humiliating situation in Naples."

The latest refuse emergency in Naples began on 21 December 2007 when the rubbish collectors stopped gathering the garbage because there was nowhere to put it. Pictures of streets overflowing with garbage, street protests, and rubbish bins set alight and blocked roads have filled the pages of the Italian and foreign media in the past months.

Gantz said that his "dream" is to see in Italy the same manifestation of solidarity which has been seen in the last few days in Israel with regards to the residents of Sderot, the city that has been the target of daily attacks from the north of the Gaza Strip.

"Italy is a united country and must demonstrate that it is united in its difficulties and not abandon one part of its land in this way, despite the difficulty and complexity of the case," said Gantz.

"Thinking of my country and the city of Sderot, which is inside the unquestionable borders of Israeli territory, I see tens of thousands of Israelis travel to this city to shop to contribute to the city's local economy in a sign of solidarity with the residents," Gantz told AKI.

"This is an important gesture, that with my great love for Naples, I would like to see also in Italy," he said.

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=1.0.1915680035

Italy "Food Fraud" Police on Alert

EU Court has ruled that only Cheese from Parma can be called "Parmesan".
The same day Italy Police seized about 1,000 hams because the meat was branded with fake Parma prosciutto trademarks. Similar restrictions are in place for items like "Champagne" from a region in France , and "Gooseliver" from Germany only, "Feta" cheese from Greece, and the march is on with numerous items from various countries seeking protection for their countries "specialties"

EU Court Says Parmesan Cheese Must Come From Italy
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Italian cheesemakers have been fighting to protect their Parmesan
Deutsche Welle - Germany
February 28, 2008

The European Union's highest court has upheld the bloc's principle of protected food names, ruling that only "Parmigiano Reggiano" -- or those cheeses made in Italy -- can be sold as "Parmesan."Everyone knows it, and virtually everyone enjoys it: grated Parmesan cheese sprinkled across a steaming bowl of pasta. But, it's been a hotly contested good, with countries wrestling over its name. This week, the European Court of Justice, located in Luxembourg, rejected the idea that "Parmesan" is a generic name undeserving of protection. "Only cheeses bearing the protected designation of origin (PDO) 'Parmigiano Reggiano' can be sold under the name 'Parmesan,'" the court decided, likely giving a boost to cheesemakers in Parma and the surrounding area in northern Italy. The PDO system gives the cheese the same protection benefiting other European products, such as French camembert, which must come from Normandy, or champagne, which must come from the French region of the same name. Only products made in the place were the foods were first created can be sold under the traditional name. Germany not responsible Only the cheese produced in the area around Parma may be called "Parmesan" But there's a hitch. The court also ruled that Germany did not have the responsibility to police or take action against non-Italian Parmesan suppliers whose products were on German supermarket shelves. The European Commission in Brussels had taken Germany to the European Court of Justice for failing to protect Parmigiano Reggiano's PDO rights by not prosecuting the sale of "Parmesan." "A member state is not obliged to take on its own initiative the measures required in order to penalize the infringement on its territory of PDOs from another member state," the ruling stated. The court said that it was up to Italian authorities to prosecute. "Still a victory" The European Commission and Italian cheesemakers were pleased with the verdict nonetheless. "The court has upheld the basis of our PDO system," Commission agriculture spokesman Michael Mann said, as cited by Reuters news service. "Parmesan is not a generic product -- you can only call it that if you follow the specifications of Parmigiano Reggiano." "We lost the case because it was specifically about our thinking that Germany had a legal responsibility to prevent the sale of these products," he added. "The glass is half-full and half-empty," Igino Morini, spokesman of the Parmigiano cheesemakers' group, told DPA news agency. "Germany has been acquitted, but the court has recognized that the term 'Parmesan' can only be used for Parmigiano Reggiano." Cheesemakers in the Italy who traditionally make Parmesan have been struggling to protect their product from cheaper, lower-quality copies from other areas. The name "Parmigiano Reggiano," as well as the cheese's specific geographical origin and manufacturing process, won legal protection as a PDO in the EU in 1996. Italy has the greatest number of PDOs -- 165 -- of any EU-member state. France has the second highest number, with the two countries sharing 40 percent of the total 772 products, including 78 types of cheeses. The EU's list of protected names for farm products also applies to translations of the registered term or name across the 27-nation bloc.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3152168,00.html

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Italy's Food Fraud Police Seizes Fake Ham
CNN - USA
February 28, 2008


ROME, Italy (AP) -- Italy's food fraud police say they have seized about 1,000 hams because the meat was branded with fake Parma prosciutto trademarks.Police said Wednesday the prosciutto isn't dangerous to eat. But the ham wasn't made by Italy's premier prosciutto makers, who can use the name Parma, the Italian city famed for the delicacy.The dry-cured Parma ham must age for at least a year in special conditions.Those selling the falsely-branded ham risk steep fines and a criminal record. Police believe consumers have already bought and ate some of the prosciutto.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/27/fake.ham.ap/

Italian Heritage in Wales Boosted By £50,000 Oral History Project

Decades of films such as The Godfather have left the Welch with an image of Italians as a nation with more than its fair share of dangerous and menacing gangsters. But, in reality, the long and colourful history of Wales’ Italian communities proves that, away from the big screen, they have a rather softer side in Wales. The Welch are easily satisfied, and are very impressed by the fact that the Italians brought them frothy cappuccino and smooth authentic ice cream. [What about the Culture, opera, cuisine, art, etc )But in any event, the Welch are so appreciative, that the Italians living in Wales have been given nearly £50,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to record stories of those who emigrated since the 1950s.Volunteers will be trained to interview immigrants and produce an exhibition telling their stories.Fund manager for Wales Jennifer Stewart said: "This project will stir up a lot of emotions and memories and tell the hidden stories of the Italian community who have made such a contribution to the economic growth of Wales.

Italian flavour added to our culture
by Sally Williams, Western Mail

DECADES of films such as The Godfather have left us with an image of Italians as a nation with more than its fair share of dangerous and menacing gangsters.
But, in reality, the long and colourful history of Wales’ Italian communities proves that, away from the big screen, they have a rather softer side in Wales – not least for having brought us frothy cappuccino and smooth authentic ice cream.
As Wales prepares to face Italy in the Six Nations, the memories of many Italians who settled here, bringing ice cream parlours and cafe bar culture with them, are to be recorded for posterity thanks to a large portion of Lottery cash.
The Christian Association of Italian Workers has been awarded £49,500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to tell the life stories, in a travelling exhibition, of a host of Italians who migrated to Wales.
The exodus across Europe started during the Fascist dictatorship of Benito Mussolini, with the results soon felt in towns and villages across the Welsh Valleys, according to cultural historian Peter Stead.
“Things were bad in Italy then and many Italians came here from the Bardi region,” he said.
“They settled in the Welsh Valleys, which were joyless places, and they opened ice cream parlours and cafes, known as Bracchi, which offered young people an alternative to the pub.
“They became integrated very rapidly and their sons were soon playing rugby.”
Welsh rugby star Robert Sidoli’s father Primo came to Wales from Bardi – a region near Parma in the north-west of the country – around 40 years ago to search for work.
He now owns the Busy Bee fish and chip shop in Merthyr and both of his sons have represented Wales at international level.
Sidoli junior said, “The name Sidoli in Bardi is a bit like Williams in Wales. There are so many of us. We always went to Bardi for holidays once a year.
“There was an offer on the table to play for Italy a few years back but, as much as my Italian roots are very important to me as it makes me who I am today, it was never in my heart to turn my back on Wales as it was a dream come true to slip on the red jersey.”
As well as becoming cafe owners, many Italians also worked in production industry including farming, mining and tinplating.
Comic actor Victor Spinetti’s grandfather was a farmer from Northern Italy, who “walked and worked” across France before getting a job as a coal miner in Ystradgynlais, Powys.
He said, “There was a great interest in coal then and it was like a gold rush.
“My grandfather would work in the pit and send the money he had saved back to the Italian farm, which is still there, to buy livestock.
“He told my father he would have a better life in Wales too and he came and opened Joe’s Chip Shop.
“He didn’t want to go back to Italy. He knew that if he did, he would be shot by Mussolini.
“When I signed up for National Service they told me I could choose to be Italian or Welsh and I couldn’t believe it.
“I was born in Cwm, grew up in the Wye Valley, educated in Monmouth and never thought I was anything else but Welsh.”
Spinetti, who has made films with the Beatles and Richard Burton, said his nationality was not normally a “tribal issue”.
He said, “The only time The Beatles got a bit tribal was when we were in a car in the Bahamas and George Harrison started singing the Liverpool anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone.
“But they never called me ‘spaghetti’.
“Burton and I appeared in Under Milk Wood and shared a love of poetry. One day he said to me, ‘Let’s have some poetry now, you’re not Welsh, you’re Bracchi shop you are’.
“So I read him a poem, Cwm Cemetery.
“He said, ‘Good God, that’s Wales that is, who wrote it?’
“When I told him I’d written it he asked for a copy. The next night we were both at an Italian evening where Burton was guest speaker and he read out my poem in his mesmerising, booming voice.
“Someone asked him, ‘Who wrote that?’
“He pointed at me in the crowded room and I was described as Welsh that night by the acting Prince of Wales.
“I will be excitedly supporting Wales today.”
The parents of 78-year-old Domenico Casetta moved to Wales in 1947 when his father, a specialist moulder, was recruited.
And after completing his studies and military service, Domenico left Turin, aged 24, for a job in the tinplate industry at the Steel Company of Wales in Swansea.
He said, “After World War II there was a shortage of men to work in heavy industries yet the market was expanding rapidly.
“It led to opportunities for Italian migrants. I worked in an architects’ practice in Swansea before settling in Cardiff.
“The only thing I really missed about Italy in the first years was the weather.
“Both my wife and my three daughters speak Italian and, although they are Welsh, they have a passionate affiliation for Italy.
“Wales is now my second home – but I shall cheer for Italy.”
But Joseph Gambarini, owner of The Prince’s Restaurant in Pontypridd, said that his heritage would not stop him supporting Wales this afternoon.
“Despite my name, I feel more Welsh than Italian and will be supporting Wales because I want them to win the Grand Slam,” he said.
Jennifer Stewart, the Heritage Lottery Fund manager for Wales, said the award of the money to the project would arouse similar memories for families across the country.
“This project, featuring photographs and interviews, will stir up a lot of emotions and tell the hidden stories of many people who have contributed to the cultural and economic growth of Wales.”

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/02/23/italian-flavour-added-to-our-culture-91466-20513834/

Veltroni Outlines Radical Italy PM Campaign Platform

Veltroni - former Rome mayor - trails center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi ahead of the election April 13-14, but recent opinion polls show the gap is narrowing, with one poll Monday putting it at six points.
Veltroni took note of the European Commission's Italian economic growth forecast for 2008, predicting exports will suffer as a result of the strong euro and the global slowdown, while consumer spending will slow due to higher prices. The commission expects Italy's economy to expand by just 0.7% this year, down from a forecast of 1.4% made in November and much lower than the 1.8% growth rate for the average of the 15 countries sharing the euro. Veltroni proposed reducing the number of deputies in the lower house of parliament to 470 from the current 630, and that of senators to 100 from 315. Both the lower house and the Senate now have legislative functions, with approval from both houses required to pass laws. Veltroni would make the lower house deal with national legislation and the Senate mainly handle regional issues.Veltroni also said he plans to halve the number of ministers to 12, and pledges to cut costs come as Italians have become fed up with the privileges and perks of the Italian political class. Other plans include tax cuts, new public infrastructure, including high-speed trains, and measures to increase security, and boost national competitiveness.His rival Berlusconi is due to present the center-right program in about two weeks, which is expected to also include significant tax cuts to boost economic growth. Veltroni's tax cuts will probably be for the middle class, while Berlusconi tax cuts will be for corporations, using the "trickle down theory".when any economist will say that putting more money in the consumers hands, results in more spending, creating more jobs!!!!!!!

Italy's Veltroni Pledges Tax, Spending Cuts Ahead Of Polls
Mon, February 25 2008
Italy's Veltroni Pledges Tax, Spending Cuts Ahead Of Polls

ROME -(Dow Jones)- Italian center-left leader Walter Veltroni Monday pledged to kick-start the country's ailing economy by cutting taxes, red tape and public spending as he presented his electoral program ahead of the April general election.
With the euro zone's third-largest economy at risk of recession due to the global economic slowdown and strong euro, Veltroni called for a "new growth pact".
Veltroni - former Rome mayor - trails center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi ahead of the election April 13-14, but recent opinion polls show the gap is narrowing, with one poll Monday putting it at six points.
"In 1993, Italy was saved from economic crisis thanks to an economic-financial stability pact. Today, we need a new growth pact," Veltroni said in the program of his Democratic Party, formed last year from the merger of the two largest parties in the center-left coalition.
Italy's currency slumped and the country was forced to slash interest rates during the European currency crisis in 1993. Carlo Azeglio Ciampi was called from the Bank of Italy to head an emergency government that started to fix the country's public finances so that Italy could join the euro.
Veltroni plans to cut spending by half a percentage point of gross domestic product from the first year - and by a full point in the following two years - by measures that include tying public wage hikes to productivity and reducing the number of local authorities.
He wants to bring down Italy's huge debt - at 106% of GDP, Europe's highest in relation to the size of its economy - to below 90% by selling state assets, although the program didn't provide a timeframe.
Italian income tax rates would be cut by one percentage point a year from 2009, while tax breaks would be offered for female workers, starting in the economically depressed south, to coax more women into the workforce.
"Our program is realistic and ambitious," Veltroni told a news conference.
His rival Berlusconi is due to present the center-right program in about two weeks, which is expected to also include significant tax cuts to boost economic growth.
The European Commission Thursday halved its Italian economic growth forecast for 2008, predicting exports will suffer as a result of the strong euro and the global slowdown, while consumer spending will slow due to higher prices.
The commission expects Italy's economy to expand by just 0.7% this year, down from a forecast of 1.4% made in November and much lower than the 1.8% growth rate for the average of the 15 countries sharing the euro.
Some economists are even more pessimistic, warning that the Italian economy could fall into recession at the start of 2008 if the euro remains strong and oil prices stay around record highs.
-By Luca Di Leo, Dow Jones Newswires; +39 06 6782543; luca.dileo@dowjones ; http://www.djnewswires.com/eu http://www.fxstreet.com/news/forex-news/article.aspx?StoryId=fad01707-c248-48d7-9540-2d0e4e485470

Italy's Center-Left Leader Veltroni Outlines Campaign Platform for April vote
PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung) - Wien,AustriaAP ROME (AP)
February 25, 2008

ROME (AP) - Italy's center-left candidate for premier outlined his campaign platform Monday, saying he wants to reduce the number of lawmakers and Cabinet ministers to cut costs and speed up decision-making.Walter Veltroni said that if elected premier at April elections, he would propose reducing the number of deputies in the lower house of parliament to 470 from the current 630, and that of senators to 100 from 315.Both the lower house and the Senate now have legislative functions, with approval from both houses required to pass laws. Veltroni would make the lower house deal with national legislation and the Senate mainly handle regional issues.Veltroni also said he plans to reduce the number of ministers to 12, adding that the move should help speed up the decision-making process. Currently, there are about twice as many ministers in the outgoing government of Premier Romano Prodi.«Our idea is that of a faster country, free from vetoes and other constraints,» Veltroni told reporters.Veltroni's pledges to cut costs come as Italians have become fed up with the privileges and perks of the Italian political class.Other plans announced in Veltroni's program include tax cuts, new public infrastructure including high-speed trains and measures to increase security and boost national competitiveness.Veltroni, 52, is up against conservative leader Silvio Berlusconi, who entered the race as a front-runner, according to opinion polls.The April 13-14 elections were called three years ahead of schedule because Prodi's center-left government fell last month after only 20 months in office. Veltroni resigned as Rome's mayor earlier this month to concentrate on campaigning.As part of his campaign, Veltroni is touring Italy aboard an eco-friendly bus. http://www.pr-inside.com/print455125.htm

NASA International Space Station "Harmony" Module Built in Italy

Space Shuttle Mission STS-120 successful launch on Oct. 23, 2007, and landing on Nov. 7 concluded a 15 day mission. After traveling 6.25 million miles on 238 orbits of the Earth, they were home. The primary payload carried aboard Discovery was the Italian-built U.S. "Harmony" module, formerly known simply as Node 2.
This pressurized module is key to the following three shuttle flights set to carry the European Columbus lab and the two pressurized Japanese Kibo modules. "Harmony" provides the connecting point between these modules and the U.S. Destiny laboratory already in place, forming an international crossroads in space.
Under contract of the Italian Space Agency, Alenia Spazio in Turin, Italy, led a consortium of European sub-contractors to build the node.
It was built for NASA under a barter agreement with the European Space Agency in exchange for the launch of the European Columbus Laboratory by the space shuttle to the International Space Station.
"Harmony" Physical Description: The aluminum node is 7.2 meters (23.6 feet) long and 4.4 meters (14.5 feet) in diameter. Its pressurized volume is 75.5 cubic meters (2666 cubic feet), and its launch weight is approximately 14,288 kilograms (31,500 pounds)....

Space Shuttle Mission STS-120

Space Shuttle Mission STS-120 successful launch on Oct. 23, 2007,and landing on Nov. 7 concluded a 15 day mission. After traveling 6.25 million miles on 238 orbits of the Earth, they were home. The primary payload carried aboard Discovery was the Italian-built U.S. "Harmony" module. This pressurized module is key to the following three shuttle flights set to carry the European Columbus lab and the two pressurized Japanese Kibo modules. "Harmony" provides the connecting point between these modules and the U.S. Destiny laboratory already in place, forming an international crossroads in space.
After liftoff, he orbiter chased the International Space Station until the rendezvous on the third day of the mission.
With the shuttle safely docked to the station, the hatches were opened and one of the first orders of business was a crew member swap, with Dan Tani joining the station crew in exchange for Clayton Anderson, who would return to Earth aboard Discovery after a five-month stint at the station.
European Space Agency astronaut Paulo Nespoli acted as spacewalk coordinator as Stephanie Wilson, Dan Tani and Anderson worked from inside using the station's robotic arm to remove Harmony from Discovery's payload bay and bring it into position beside the Unity module.
The following day was the "grand opening" of Harmony, which was named by schoolchildren. The module added 2,666 cubic feet of additional volume to the station, increasing the living space by nearly 20 percent. After Discovery's departure, the station crew will relocate Harmony to its permanent location at the end of the U.S. Destiny lab.
In the ensuing three days, spacewalk repair plans were prepared round the clock on the ground while the astronauts prepared tools and repair materials in space. Using strips of aluminum, a hole punch, a bolt connector and 66 feet of wire, the crew constructed hinge stabilizers that would take the pressure off the damaged hinges on the solar array. They insulated tools with tape to protect against electrical currents produced by the array. .
Gaining experience during missions like STS-120 is key as NASA makes plans to return to the moon and travel on to Mars.
http://www1.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/behindscenes/sts120_mission_overview_prt.htm

"Harmony" - Node 2
The installation of NASA's Harmony Node increases the living and working space inside the station to approximately 500 cubic meters (18,000 cubic feet). It also allows the addition of international laboratories from Europe and Japan to the station....
Harmony provides a passageway between three station science experiment facilities: the U.S. Destiny Laboratory, the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module, and the European Columbus Laboratory.
It also provides connecting ports for Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules, the Japanese H II Transfer Vehicle and the Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 to which space shuttles dock. The Space Station Robotic Arm, Canadarm2, can operate from a powered grapple fixture on the exterior of Node 2.
Under contract of the Italian Space Agency, Alenia Spazio in Turin, Italy, led a consortium of European sub-contractors to build the node.
It was built for NASA under a barter agreement with the European Space Agency in exchange for the launch of the European Columbus Laboratory by the space shuttle to the International Space Station.
Physical Description: The aluminum node is 7.2 meters (23.6 feet) long and 4.4 meters (14.5 feet) in diameter. Its pressurized volume is 75.5 cubic meters (2666 cubic feet), and its launch weight is approximately 14,288 kilograms (31,500 pounds)....
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/node2.html

Rediscovering Jacob Riis; Advocate of Italian Immigrants

Jacob Riis was one of the first and most effective crusaders to take up the cause of New York’s slums. He was able to spotlight the plight by photographing and then publishing a book in 1890 titled: "The Other Half: How It Lives and Dies in New York, with 100 Photographs of the Haunts of Poverty and Vice in the Great City, in which Italian Immigrants were heavily featured. He authored at least 11 other books including "Out of Mulberry Street", obviously Italian centric. Today, he is remembered as one of the urban poor’s greatest advocates, as well as strangely something of a bigot, a man who believed in the racial science and ethnic categorization in vogue during his lifetime. A new book, "Rediscovering Jacob Riis: Exposure Journalism and Photography in Turn-of-the-Century New York," seeks to reframe Riis’s legacy by asserting that it is better to understand his empathy for the immigrant slum than to dismiss him as just a dogmatist bent on civilizing the immigrant castes. , By showing the conditions of the slum dwellers, by showing his audiences pictures of starving children, homeless men and damp sweatshops, he was able to provide visual incentive for the raising funds for the uplifting of the slums.Riis was not a serious photographer. He had the idea that photography could reveal the conditions about which he was writing. In 1888, after some personal resistance, he began taking pictures."He made a discovery, By using photography, he could shout to the conscience".

Jacob August Riis (1849-1914), born in Ribe, Denmark, was the third of fifteen children born to Niels Riis, schoolteacher and editor of the local Ribe newspaper, and stern father, and Carolina Riis, a homemaker. In 1870 he emigrated to America, was a carpenter, then journalist and slum reformer, created new standards in civic responsibility regarding the poor and homeless in his reporting of New York City slum conditions. At age 25, Riis proposed to Elisabeth Gortz a second time, the first being when he was 16. This time she accepted.As one of the urban poors greatest advocates, Riis wrote: How The Other Half Lives (1891),The Children of the Poor (1892; new edition, 1902),Out of Mulberry street (1896), a collection of fiction, A Ten Years' War (1900), The Making of an American (1901; new edition, 1913), his autobiography, The Battle with the Slum (1902), Children of the Tenements (1902), The Peril and the Preservation of the Home (1903), Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen (1904), The Old Town (his birthplace) (1909), Hero Tales of the Far North (1910), Neighbors: Life Stories of the Other Half (1914).

Defending Jacob Riis
Jewish Daily Forward
By Eli Rosenblatt
Wed. Feb 20, 2008

Rediscovering Jacob Riis: Exposure Journalism and Photography in Turn-of-the-Century New York
By Bonnie Yochelson and Daniel Czitrom
The New Press, 288 pages, $35.

As incredible as this might seem to some, the generation born in the 1980s has no knowledge of a dangerous New York City. Criminals, the crack epidemic and the streetscapes of starving children are largely foreign to them, rooted more in images of the developing world than in the everyday life of a young Manhattanite. Frustration on our blocks is hidden behind the juice bars, sushi joints and real estate brokers’ fees.Jacob Riis, who immigrated to New York City from Denmark in 1870 at the age of 21, may very well have had an experience akin to a young man arriving here today from a small town in Middle America. The third of 15 children, Riis began working as a carpenter. Later, as the struggles of a booming metropolis took hold, he became a police reporter. Eventually, he became known as a man whose Protestant faith impelled him to take up the cause of New York’s slums. He would become famous for photographing the tenement dwellers and the conditions in which they lived. Today, he is remembered as one of the urban poor’s greatest advocates, as well as something of a bigot: a man who believed in the racial science and ethnic categorization in vogue during his lifetime.A new book, "Rediscovering Jacob Riis: Exposure Journalism and Photography in Turn-of-the-Century New York," seeks to reframe Riis’s legacy by asserting that it is better to understand his empathy for the immigrant slum than to dismiss him as just a dogmatist bent on civilizing the immigrant castes. For Daniel Czitrom and Bonnie Yochelson, the authors of the new book, a fresh look at his photography is a way to expand our view of Riis and, in turn, to understand the ways that equality for immigrants was attained at a time when race science was accepted as fact. "There is a disconnect between his photographs and his writing," Czitrom said in an interview with the Forward. "His prejudices and ethnic stereotypes give way to his humanizing images." To support this claim, the book contains a beautiful insert of photographs and illustrations from the Jacob A. Riis Collection at the Museum of the City of New York.Best known for his 1890 book "How the Other Half Lives", Riis was also well known for traveling the country with picture slides, lecturing to Christian charity organizations about the conditions of the slum dwellers, most of whom were Italian, Jewish, Irish or African American. By showing his audiences pictures of starving children, homeless men and damp sweatshops, he was able to provide visual incentive for the realization of the gospel’s teachings. With his own evangelical leanings, and the New Testament alive in the countryside, Riis became a pioneer of photojournalism at a time when newspapers often didn’t have the technology or funds to print photographs. According to Czitrom, a professor of history at Mount Holyoke College, As Riis tried to connect with an audience of turn-of-the-century, wealthy white Protestants, he was probably aware that playing on their prejudices in his words while pulling at their heartstrings with his images was a way to provide funds for the uplifting of the slums.“Riis had his own values as a crime reporter, which were at the core of his work. He had a tremendous intimacy with the poor, and was skeptical of Tammany Hall," remarked Bonnie Yochelson, an independent curator and historian of photography "It is easy from the perch of the 20th century to dismiss him by saying, ‘Look at this racism!’ I don’t know if it was his personal belief as much as a strategy."As it turns out, Riis was not a serious photographer. He had the idea that photography could reveal the conditions about which he was writing. In 1888, after some personal resistance, he began taking pictures.“He made a discovery," Yochelson said. "By using photography, he could shout to the conscience".Riis’s entrepreneurial and theatrical intentions are also examined in the new book. In the same year that he began his photography, Riis submitted a cover page for his slide lecture to the Library of Congress’s Copyright Office, titled "The Other Half: How It Lives and Dies in New York. With One Hundred Illustrations, Photographs From Real Life, of the Haunts of Poverty and Vice in the Great City, Jacob A. Riis as Author and Proprietor." He was attaining financial success, and eventually he built a house in the Richmond Hill section of Queens. “He had his commercial interests," Yochelson said, "but he kept his beat as a crime reporter throughout his career and wrote daily articles, lectured, wrote for national magazines, local papers and published 10 books. His camera is just a piece of the puzzle."According to the authors, the goal of the book is to appeal to anyone interested in the history of New York. "We also want to create a dialogue between history and photojournalism." Yochelson remarked. "Riis was not a straw man but a real photographer."Eli Rosenblatt is a writer who lives in New York City. http://www.forward.com/articles/12735/#

Sicilians Claim to be Continent, Not Mere Island, Because of Remarkable Varieties

Certainly if I were to retire to Italy, the choice of locales would be difficult. It might drive me to live in an RV and just continually travel around the country, Well of course I'd have a little Fiat (and maybe a Vespa) in tow to navigate the narrow streets of some small villages, or some mountain villages. Yes, Tuscany is so rich in culture, and Venice is so captivating, but Sicily is a world of it's own, and is now being discovered by Europeans and even Northern Italians looking for second homes. Sicily fascination has much to do with its variety. Those varieties are of landscapes, microclimates, gastronomic traditions, and heritages of culture because of its history of Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans and the Spanish.

In Sicily's Sun, Real Estate is as Mixed as the Island Landscape
International Herald Tribune
By Kate Singleton
Thursday, February 21, 2008

MODICA, Sicily: When Sicilians claim that their homeland is a continent, not an island, they are not trying to redefine geography. They are simply drawing attention to the remarkable variety of landscapes, microclimates, gastronomic traditions and historical heritages to be found here.
Variety is also the distinguishing characteristic of the Sicilian property market. Prices, which have been rising as much as 20 percent a year, still seem reasonable, especially to north Europeans but even to Italians from Milan and Turin. There are plenty of handsome townhouses with frescoed ceilings, palaces with some original furnishings, country villas surrounded by lemon groves, fortified farmsteads and even the odd castle.
...You will find people courteous and welcoming and the quality of life remarkably high.
"We had been mulling over buying in the South of France, then went to Sicily on holiday and thought, 'This is it!,' " said Deborah Greatorex, an interior designer based in London. "So we started looking on the Internet and found www.sicilianhomes.com, which had just the right property for us."
"Angelo Campagna, who runs the agency with his wife, is an architect of Sicilian origin who has worked in London," Greatorex said. "Doing the place up with him has been exciting and relatively easy."
Greatorex paid €500,000, or $725,000, for a mid-19th century villa with 3.6 hectares, or 9 acres, of land, including 365 olive trees and a small vineyard. It is on the northeastern slopes of Mount Etna, a short drive from either the sea or winter skiing on the summit. An extensive restoration - including addition of a swimming pool, a tennis court and a maze - has cost a little more than €500,000.
A reliable real estate agent is essential in Sicily. Properties for sale are not always advertised; prices are not always declared; and the sellers may be several heirs, some of whom have long been living abroad.
Sicilian Homes operates largely in the areas best known to visitors: Taormina in the east, with the towns on Mount Etna just behind it; and Cefalù, on the Tyrrhenian Sea between Palermo and Messina.
In recent years Ortigia, the historic center of Syracuse on the southeast tip, has joined the list of favored locations. A small island of great antiquity and charm, it is linked to the mainland by a bridge and has been revitalized by investment and renovation.
Ramsay Gilderdale handles properties from Syracuse through what is known as the Baroque Valley in southeast Sicily: Ragusa, Modica, Scicli and Noto, which have acquired recognition as Unesco World Heritage Sites for their gloriously ornate architecture.
After years in London as a successful actor and screenwriter, Gilderdale decided in 2004 to settle in Modica, where he has opened an agency that caters to clients from the United States, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Scandinavia and beyond. Real estate is offered at a wide range of prices on the site www.modicasa.com, while properties over €1 million are listed at www.baroccoproperty.com.
"Half of the people who come to me are looking for a 200- to 300-square-meter country property with some land and a nice view, and about 20 percent for a townhouse," Gilderdale said. He thinks this pattern of looking for 2,100 to 3,200 square feet of land may change when a new airport opens at Comiso, a 30-minute drive from Modica. The airport is expected to absorb the low-cost air service that now flies into Catania, plus other traffic.
"People investing in a second home for shorter visits throughout the year don't always want land," Gilderdale said. "The towns around here are eminently liveable. Many districts are pedestrian, offer wonderful views and have shops and some excellent restaurants a 10-minute walk away."
Gilderdale described the Sicilian property market as "vibrant." Country and town properties are available for as little as €60,000, though for a building of particular architectural interest the starting price is nearer €250,000.
For €500,000, he has a palazzo in Modica, part of which has its original silk wallpapers, frescoed ceilings, ceramic flooring and period furnishings, all in good condition.
Most of the less expensive properties need major rebuilding, which means applying for permits. In addition, many places also require approval from both a heritage commission and an organization of civil engineers that ensures appropriate earthquake precautions are taken.
Gilderdale can introduce purchasers to a Sicilian architect who has worked abroad and who speaks French, Spanish and English. The architect's focus is on energy-saving and environmentally sound materials, including the lovely pale local stone.
Jeremy Smith, of www.sicilypropertyco.com, is part of a multilingual team that includes an archaeologist, whose expertise in local history can be invaluable during renovation.
Though based in Catania, Sicily Property represents real estate across the island. Its current listings include several farms overlooking the west coast. Known as a "baglio," such a property consists of a fortified house facing a shady courtyard. Beyond the walls are vineyards, olive groves and pastures.
One such is Baglio Catalano, near Marsala. Built in the local tuff stone, this grand complex features a main house with balconies overlooking a 52-hectare estate with 2,700 mature olive trees. Occupied until a few years ago, it is on the market for €1.8 million.
Smith considers this western tip of the island ideal for those wishing to invest in property on a grand scale - for a wine estate or with a view to creating a boutique hotel. The airport at nearby Trapani is served by Ryanair, Air One and Meridiana and the main roads are good and toll-free.
He agrees with his colleagues, however, that the southeast, between Ragusa and Syracuse, is particularly promising. "If you like small towns with little squares," he said, "then this is the area to go for. The history is so stratified and tangible, from the Greeks to the Romans, the Arabs, the Normans and the Spanish." http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/21/style/resicily.php

Italy Beware; Malware (virus, worms, spam) Goes Global

Two years ago International "Malware" (virus, worms, spam) was one to two percent. Now it is six to seven percent , and it's growing." Cyber criminals are turning their targets on the growing markets around the world, creating localized content in native languages or targeting specific interests of that nation. One recent example noted by McAfee was an Italian spam attack. The email, written in perfect Italian and only sent to the nation of Italy, said the recipient may be the target of a government investigation and they should click on a link to see if they were under investigation. Guess what was on the other end of that link? Hint, it wasn't an Italian government server.

Yo Quiero Antivirus. Malware Goes Multilingual
Internet News. Com
By Andy Patrizio
February 22, 2008

Never ones to pass up a growing market, cybercriminals are turning their targets on the growing markets around the world, creating localized content in native languages or targeting specific interests of that nation. That's the main takeaway from McAfee Avert Labs global malware trends Sage report, called "One Internet, Many Worlds." For the longest time, Americans and English-speakers were the targets, but the crooks are going global. The growth of emerging markets like BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) has served to make them targets as well. "Two years ago, we couldn't have had this conversation," Dave Marcus, security research and communications manager for McAfee's Avert Labs, told InternetNews.com. "Most malware and spam was 95 to 98 percent English, directed at people who speak English. Now international malware is six to seven percent of the total instead of one to two percent, and it's growing." With 23 languages in the European Union alone, McAfee's researchers found that cybercriminals are either hiring locally in different nations or swapping code written in different languages so they can target specific countries. "When you try to expand a business into a new geography, you look for resources that speak the language and know the nuances. So they are trading languages or farming it out to people who speak the local languages," said Marcus. [cob:Related_Articles]One recent example noted by McAfee was an Italian spam attack. The email, written in perfect Italian and only sent to the nation of Italy, said the recipient may be the target of a government investigation and they should click on a link to see if they were under investigation. Guess what was on the other end of that link? Hint, it wasn't an Italian government server. In China, with more than 137 million computer users, the currency is online games. Asia is ripe with persistent virtual worlds that charge a monthly fee to play, and McAfee found the majority of the malware in China is password-stealing Trojans designed to grab not the login and password to a bank, but to games like "World of Warcraft" and "Lineage." In Japan, peer-to-peer file sharing networks are extremely popular, and thus popular targets for theft. Not of money but the contents of the user's hard drive. The most popular network there is called Winny, but it's frequently under attack due to misconfiguration of the software. The motivation, though, is unique: many of the attacks on Winny users are from people angry the users are engaging in theft. One virus, called Antinny, would delete audio and video files being shared by Winny users, and then berate the victim for their intellectual property theft. This gave Marcus a laugh. "You'd never see such righteous indignation like this in the U.S., where someone wrote a program to destroy audio and video files people are sharing, and then it taunts you for doing it," he said. In Brazil, a nation that has strongly embraced online banking, cybercrooks are going after online banking information with sophisticated social engineering scams written in native Portuguese to trick Brazilians into giving up personal information. In 2005 alone, the Brazilian Banks Association estimated losses at about US$165 million. The rise in international malware is just a logical follow on to the growth in international markets. With everyone from semiconductor firms to cell phone companies talking about international growth, it stood to reason that those markets would be targeted eventually. "Many more parts of the world are coming online and a lot more people around the world have disposable income. If you are apt to use online payment and online buying and selling they are likely to target your money," said Marcus. The problem is only growing. At the start of the year, McAfee identified around 528 new pieces of malware per day. By the end of 2008, it expects to see 750 new pieces per day. The Sage report is available through the McAfee Threat Center.

www.internetnews.com/security/article.php/3729626

Mafia Defector Apologizes for Hollywoods and Mafia Creating Italian Negative Stereotypes

Francesco (Frank) Fiordilino, a contrite former Bonanno crime associate, whose testimony against former Bonanno boss Joseph Massino and soldier Baldassare (Baldo) Amato contributed to their convictions, that earned him a reduced sentence. Then with no benefit to himself, and with sincerity, was the first member I am ever aware of to acknowledge the Negative effect of the Mafia on Italians Image. "I apologize as well, especially to anyone of Italian background, by conspiring and utilizing our culture in the same manner the entertainment industry does with its stereotypes. ... Hollywood intensified my love for that life, and in the process blindsided what being Italian meant."

Mafia's a Farce, says Bonanno Turncoat
New York Daily News
By John Marzulli , Staff Writer
Friday, February 22nd 2008

A contrite former Bonanno crime associate trashed the Mafia as "a farce" at his sentencing for murder yesterday in Brooklyn Federal Court.Francesco (Frank) Fiordilino was then rewarded for his cooperation against Bonanno big shots with a sentence of time served plus 30 days."Cooperating witnesses are essential to achieving justice, and you have done your part," said Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis.Fiordilino, 37, pleaded guilty to shooting drug dealer Thomas Sajn in the throat in 1993 in Ridgewood.Sajn wasn't immediately killed by the gunshot, so a second assailant cut his throat, nearly decapitating him.At the time, Fiordilino was paying his dues, making espresso and cappuccino at coffee shops under the control of the crime family. His uncle, Frank (Cheech) Navarro, was a made member of the Bonanno family.Fiordilino was after Sajn's drug money and also wanted to prove to gangsters that he was capable of committing a murder. But after the feds arrested him in 2002, Fiordilino decided to change sides."I'm totally at peace with my decision to defect," Fiordilino said yesterday. "I no longer have to lie, cheat or pretend anymore."He acknowledged the taking of Sajn's life was "cowardly," and reflected on the hypocrisy of the Mafia."The mob was and still is a farce that's built on deceit, venom, greed and destruction," he said. "As for loyalty and respect, I never seen it. I could recall hundreds of conversations in which guys would sit around a table bad-mouthing each other. I'm so glad that's behind me."Prosecutor Greg Andres said Fiordilino's testimony against former Bonanno boss Joseph Massino and soldier Baldassare (Baldo) Amato contributed to their convictions."I apologize as well, especially to anyone of Italian background, by conspiring and utilizing our culture in the same manner the entertainment industry does with its stereotypes. ... Hollywood intensified my love for that life, and in the process blindsided what being Italian meant," Fiordilino said.

jmarzulli@nydailynews.com http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/02/22/2008-02-22_mafias_a_farce_says_bonanno_turncoat.html

Italians, Israelis, etc. Where Does Allegiance of Americans With Dual Loyalties Lie?

I was Born in America, have an Italian Passport, and having Jewish Blood, ADL Abe Foxman's comments below give me pause.

Foxman seems to confuse a Pride of Heritage, with Taking Actions or Positions that Favor one Nation, to the Disadvantage to the other.

If as an American I were to wish the Best for Italy, or Israel, no Harm , No Foul.

But if I were to Support the US to take Actions in Support of Italy or Israel, that would be Damaging to US Interests, that seems like it would be Disloyal to the US, if Not Treasonous.

The article had 54 comments at the time I read it. Some reassuring, some revealing, some disturbing.

1 in 3 Americans: US Jews More Loyal to Israel

The Jerusalem Post Haviv Rettig February. 19, 2008

One-third of Americans believe that American Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the United States, according to figures presented to the Knesset on Tuesday by Anti-Defamation League director Abe Foxman.

"This belief is so out of sync with everything else happening in America, with the fact that there's so much acceptance of Jews in all phases of life - academia, commerce, media, politics," Foxman told The Jerusalem Post. " When Joe Lieberman ran for vice president [in 2000], there was very little talk about double loyalty." Now, "because of the phenomenon of Mearsheimer and Walt and Jimmy Carter, this whole discussion as to whether Jews are disproportionately powerful in foreign policy - the conspiracy thesis - in the mainstream," Foxman added.

Will this atmosphere "intimidate Jews from not acting out as publicly and as openly in exercise of their rights and in support of positions they believe in? Will Jews begin to feel intimidated when they speak out about Iran? That's my concern," Foxman noted. "This will not trigger anti-Semitic violence, but it is poisoning the atmosphere when it's more and more legitimate to debate the loyalty of Jews on American campuses. This is classic political anti-Semitism."

"US Jews are very uncomfortable with this [issue]," commented MK Colette Avital (Labor), a member of the Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Committee where Foxman was speaking on Tuesday. She told the Post that the figures indicated "a failure to explain - I hate to use the word hasbara - that you can be loyal to both. In the US, people can live with several identities, such as Italian-Americans and African-Americans, and Jewish Americans should be seen in that context."

Foxman also told MKs that, despite a drop over the past 30 years in the percentage of Americans holding anti-Semitic attitudes from 30 percent to 15%, the figure still stood at 35 million adult Americans. Meanwhile, between 2005 and 2007, the number of anti-Semitic incidents in America dropped from 1,757 to some 1,350.

Foxman was quoting the ADL's 2007 "Survey of American Attitudes Towards Jews in America," which put the figure of Americans who believe Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the US at 31%, a number roughly unchanged since at least 1992.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1203343707194&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Influence of 20,000 Chinese in Milan

As a follow on to My Report about the Chinese presence in Prato (near Florence) and the Fashion Industry, this article gives insight to the presence and transition/assimilation of Chinese Immigrants in Milan.

The New Chinatowns

Corriere della Sera

Marco Del Corona

19 febbraio 2008

No more workshops, fewer warehouses and more shops. Pilot study of 20,000 Chinese in Milan.

They used to run workshops but not any longer. Behind the frosted glass of the old artisan stores, they occupied the big basements below Via Morazzone and Via Bruno in Milan’s Paolo Sarpi district. Not any more. The Chinese workshops are no more. The workers used to sew handbags from dawn each day, beginning again at dawn the next day. That’s all over. The traditional industry that once characterised the area can no longer be found anywhere in Chinatown.

In 2001, there were sixteen businesses but now there are none. Via Paolo Sarpi has changed and that’s one of the signs. The wholesale trade that worries residents and poses problems for the mayor, Letizia Moratti (such as the scuffles on 12 April last year) is expanding but retail shops are growing even faster. Chinatown is changing even as we speak. It is moving fast and pointing out trends, given that one quarter of all Chinese residents in Italy live in Lombardy. Now it is experiencing a sea change in services.

Today’s snapshot is profoundly different from the picture as recently as five years ago. A new study updated to 2007, edited by Daniele Cologna with the Codici social research agency, focuses on Chinese entrepreneurship, showing that demographic data and investigations in the field are often at odds with the widespread perceptions held by Italian residents of the district and Milan. First of all, the population of the Sarpi district adjoining the city centre, and delimited by Via Canonica-Via Procaccini-Via Ceresio-Via Montello-Via Maggi, is more than 90% Italian. On 31 December 2006, only 5.8% (6.5% in 2004) of the 14,000 Chinese resident in Milan lived in the district. “We should add temporary residents”, explains Mr Cologna, “but that means a maximum of 300 people sleeping in the dapu (dormitories), of which there are about fifteen that sleep twenty people each. Whichever way you look at it, there are fewer than a thousand Chinese residents in total”. The Chinese are concentrated elsewhere in the northern area.

Chinese, but not only Chinese, go to Chinatown to work. Between 1,000 and 1,500 people are employed in the area. It was in the early 1930s that the Canonica-Sarpi district received its first immigrants from Asia and when inflow from the People’s Republic began again in 1984, that was where the newcomers went to live and work. But restructuring, gentrification and rising property prices during the 1990s put rents beyond the reach of the new arrivals, forcing textile workshops out of the district. Some moved out to the area between Milan and Monza and many others went to the Gallarate textile district.

Chinatown shed Chinese residents as wholesale businesses multiplied, replacing Italian-owned shops. The Chinese pay well and in cash, with money collected through guanxi, the network of family and friends that underpins traditional Chinese entrepreneurs. Today, only about one business in five in the district is Italian.

According to Mr Cologna’s report, the signs of further development are already appearing. "n increasing number of Chinese wholesalers are opting to convert their businesses into retail shops or move out" spontaneously delocalising and abandoning a district that is unsuitable for such a concentration of wholesale activity. In 2006, according to the Chamber of Commerce, only 18% of the 2,822 Chinese-owned sole traders in the province of Milan were based in Chinatown.

The upshot is that growth in wholesale business has been overtaken by the vibrant service and retail sectors, which now no longer restrict themselves to a Chinese clientele. Out of 482 businesses registered in Chinatown -three times as many as there were six years ago -53.3% are wholesalers, an increase of 342.2% over 2001, when there were 64.

But there are now 111 retailers, more than six times as many (+640% with respect to 2001, when there were 15). They cover a range of sectors, especially food, telephones and clothing but there is a wine shop, a fish shop and a fresh tofu shop. If we add other service businesses, such as bookshops, estate or travel agencies, the sixteen restaurants and the internet cafés, retail service businesses account for 41.3%.

Elsewhere in north Milan, Chinese have taken over Italian-owned businesses, adds Mr Cologna, and continue to run them without any overtly ethnic label. These include bars, newsstands and hairdressers. "The older wave of Chinese immigration appears to have peaked", partly because the traditional source area - the coast around Zhejiang - has a large, prosperous development hub in its main city, Wenzhou. The disappearance of the Chinese-owned workshops means that fewer Chinese workers can be employed by Chinese entrepreneurs.

Immigrants from the People’s Republic now scatter across the region to work for Italians, especially immigrants from the new areas, the northern regions of Liaoning, Heilongjiang (mining areas with declining heavy industry) and the Shandong peninsula, who have no support network in Italy. The figures do not reflect a ghetto or a community that shuts itself off from society. The Chinese might misspell "hairdresser" two different ways on the same shop window, or open restaurants offering "warm food", but according to the national statistics institute ISTAT they are the second most numerous group attending Italian language courses for adults. Their passport is still Chinese but Italy beckons. Chinatown is a staging post, not a destination.

English translation by Giles Watson

"Made in Italy"....by Chinese Immigrants ??

When an Italian Fashion house charges $1,470 for a purse, is it too much to expect them to pay Italian workers a decent wage, when there is a high unemployment rate? How greedy can a company be, to not only allow illegal immigrants to do the work Italians should do, but permit the illegal immigrants to be over worked, underpayed, living in squalor, with no benefits, nothing more than sweatshops with deplorable conditions and virtually indentured workers.

The fashion houses argue, it's better than the alternative: moving all production offshore. Really? How??

Shame on the Schmata Industry!!! [Yiddish for Clothing Industry]

The 'Made in Italy' label: Read the Fine Print

It's a crazy competition. In fact, you can't compete" said Andrea Calistri, decrying the use of cheaper Chinese labor in Italian manufacturing. His family business has been making handbags for top designers for more than half a century. Calistri has formed 100 Percent Italian, a consortium of 65 small companies, to promote traditional Italian craftsmanship.Many of the famous leather goods from Tuscany are now produced by Chinese, laboring there in sweatshop conditions.

Los Angeles Times By Tracy Wilkinson, Staff Writer
February 20, 2008

PRATO, ITALY -- The "Made in Italy" label conjures images of little old men and women in aprons and spectacles, stooped over wooden tables, cutting leather and sewing by hand in workshops that dot the hills of Tuscany.

It certainly doesn't make you picture Chinese immigrants toiling long hours in ramshackle, poorly illuminated sheds, and then sleeping in small rooms behind thin plywood right there in the factories.

These days, the coveted "Made in Italy" label on those Prada bags and Gucci shoes, which can quadruple a price, may not mean what it used to.

Thousands of Tuscan factories that produce the region's fabled leather goods are now operated and staffed by Chinese. Though located in one of Italy's most picturesque and tourist-frequented regions, many of the factories are nothing more than sweatshops with deplorable conditions and virtually indentured workers.

Chinese laborers have become such an integral cog in the high-fashion wheel that large Chinatowns have sprung up here and in Florence. Signs in Chinese, Italian and sometimes English advertise prontomoda (ready-to-wear). At the main public hospital in Prato, the maternity ward on a recent morning was a cacophony of 40 squalling babies, 15 of them Chinese. "Mi chiamo Zhong Ti," one of the crib tags said -- "My name is Zhong Ti."

In Prato, Tuscany's historic and industrious textile center 10 miles northwest of Florence, Chinese who are legal residents make up about 12% of the population (and probably close to 25% when illegal Chinese are counted, police say).

For the big-name clothing labels, Chinese-staffed workshops provide an important way of keeping costs down by supplying cheaply and quickly made purses, shoes and other products. It helps the fashion houses compete and, many argue, it's better than the alternative: moving all production offshore.

But for legions of Italian craftsmen and -women who try to maintain painstaking but costly old-style practices, the cheaper Chinese labor is deadly.

"It's a crazy competition. In fact, you can't compete," said Andrea Calistri, whose third-generation family business has been making handbags for top designers from voluptuous leather and buttery suede for more than half a century.

In a way, this is representative of the dilemma facing Italy as a whole: How do you compete in a hard-edged global economy while maintaining the standards that give a native craft its panache?

Three categories of problematic production plague the Italian fashion industry.

First there are the out-and-out counterfeits, part of a multibillion-dollar fraud denounced the world over. Consumers have long been aware of the fakes and knockoffs, made God-knows-where, that are hawked on street corners or out of the trunks of cars. Italian financial police last year conducted 250 raids on workshops in Tuscany alone and confiscated tons (literally) of cheap bags and shoes bearing fraudulent Prada, Fendi and Nike insignia.

Then there is the gray area of shoes and bags assembled at least partially in China, India, Malaysia and other low-cost locales, then brought to Italy for a final buckle, heel or strap. These items can, somewhat questionably, bear "Made in Italy" labels.

Finally, there are the products made completely in Italy but by Chinese immigrants. That's often technically legal. But it crosses the line when the workers are in Italy without proper documents and labor conditions for them are especially nasty.

Italian law governs safety in the workplace, the number of hours that can be worked and the minimum wage, among other rules, but the law is often flouted.

And so, it is possible that a fancy store may have expensive designer bags made by Chinese workers in Italy displayed next to the same bags made, also in Italy, by Italian workers, Calistri says. One cost 20 euros (about $30) to produce, the other 250 euros (about $365). The price tag is the same, often many hundreds of dollars.

That's plain wrong, Calistri says. "When you have a product like Prada or Dolce & Gabbana, you are not supposed to use illegal workers," he said. "If a customer pays 1,000 euros [about $1,470] for a bag, he has a right to expect not only the best materials and the best creation but also a respected legal process.

" 'Made in Italy,' " he said, "means tradition, know-how and standards. . . . It means not only made in Italy, but made in the Italian way."

Calistri has formed a consortium composed of 65 companies, all small like his. They call themselves 100 Percent Italian.

In his workshop during a recent visit, women (and they are mostly women) in crisp white lab coats were attaching gilded bows to pink satin clutches for Roberto Cavalli, while a computer-guided laser sliced thin sheets of soft leather for designs by Bulgari or Donna Karan. Under bright fluorescent lighting, other women hand-stitched the suede inner pockets of another batch of designer bags.

The next step to distinguish their work, Calistri says, is to implant microchips in handbags; with the chip, a consumer can check authenticity on his or her cellphone.

The top fashion labels remain largely aloof from this seedy side of the business. They say abuse is a marginal practice. However, in making use of a chain of suppliers and subcontractors, they can turn a blind eye, and do so, in the opinion of Calistri and other craftsmen like him.

An enormous portion of subcontractors today are Chinese, according to the Italian financial police, who monitor their activities. From fewer than 100 in Tuscany in the 1990s, the number of Chinese factories, workshops and related businesses in Prato and Florence had soared to 5,300 last year, said Police Capt. Edoardo Marzocchi.

Police have shut down many after raids exposed poor living conditions, lack of residence permits for foreign nationals and the failure to pay taxes. In one raid last year, police discovered a clandestine factory when neighbors reported unexplained comings and goings of Chinese.

In the factory, police found living quarters complete with small cells for sleeping and a shrine for prayer. No one spoke much Italian, except for one Chinese woman who seemed to be in charge. In broken Italian, she said she couldn't produce papers for any of the workers because they were "on tryout" and in the country temporarily. Police say that explanation is usually a ruse.

The Chinese workers "self-exploit," said Ye Huiming, a 28-year-old immigrant who serves as informal liaison between the Chinese community and city officials in Prato.

"They spend a lot of money to come here and then they have to pay off their debts," Ye said. "They'll work 14 hours a day, they'll work at night, whatever it takes to accomplish that.

"They don't come here to see the Michelangelos."

The movement of Chinese into the Italian garment industry has transformed this part of a country that only relatively recently has had to face the changes brought by large-scale immigration. Tuscany now has the largest percentage of Chinese residents anywhere in Italy.

Chinese who have immigrated legally are settled and have moved up in the world, Ye said. There is the beginning of a second generation, Chinese who speak Italian well (even with a Tuscan accent) and follow the rules. One-third of all Chinese here are under 21.

Ye came to Italy 18 years ago as a 10-year-old with his mother, who worked long hours sewing in a factory, where the family also lived. Today, Ye is a businessman with his own apartment, a Chinese wife whom he met in Prato and a new baby.

Still, he said, the climate is souring because of prejudice and misconceptions, especially when Chinese are blamed for undermining the Italian economy by dumping cheap products into the market.

Driving through Chinese neighborhoods and sprawling industrial parks in Prato, the presence is unmistakable. Inside warehouses visible behind Chinese billboards, seas of blouses and jackets hang from racks outside, shiny black BMWs and Chinese people on bicycles share the streets. Chinese bridal shops, real estate agencies, florists, discos and restaurants have replaced Italian businesses in some areas.

The Chinese in Tuscany are becoming a more permanent fixture, but the vast majority are still tied to the fashion industry. Their role, and any abuse of workers or labor codes, in a sector that is so important to Italy, is generally a taboo topic. Calistri's group is unusual in wanting to talk about it. Another rare exception came in a television documentary this year called "Luxury Slaves," broadcast by "Report," a "60 Minutes"-style program on RAI-3, an Italian state channel.

It exposed the exploitation of Chinese through the use of subcontractors and the questionable practices behind the "Made in Italy" label. It sent earthquake-size shock waves through the top fashion houses, most of which refused comment. A few said they thought the claims were exaggerated and, besides, they could not be expected to be on top of all their suppliers.

The documentary reported that Prada had ended its dealings with one sweatshop when the company was made aware of its work. Asked by The Times for comment, a Prada spokesman issued a statement that said the company "controls directly each phase of the production process" at 14 factories it owns in Italy. Every supplier, the statement added, must comply with Prada's "very strict quality standards" and sign a pledge of ethical conduct.

The [Prada] spokesman declined to answer questions, saying the people at Prada were too busy. It's the season, after all. New York Fashion Week was in full swing, the fall collections filling the runways.

wilkinson@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-madeinitaly20feb20,0,7852016.story

Sliwa Does Penance for Italian American Slur with Paddling and Mouth Washing

My Report dated February 14, was titled : "Polak Radio Host Curtis Sliwa Apologizes for Claiming 1 in 5 Italian Staten Islanders 'Mobbed Up" but the apology .I thought was lame.

However, he was encouraged to go further, and visited a predominant Italian Senior Citizen Center on Staten Island where he not only issued a "mea culpa" then he got down on his knees, made the sign of the cross, clasped his hands as if in prayer and took his punishment like a man: He had his bottom paddled with a wooden spoon and his mouth washed out with soap by an Italian grandma.

The Italian Seniors were touched by his humility, and gave Sliwa Valentine chocolates to take away the taste of the soap..... and I withdraw my "Polak" reference.

Making the Punishment Fit The Crime

Sliwa paddled and fed soap as payback for his slur against Island

Staten Island Advance

By Judy L. Randall

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Curtis Sliwa did his penance on Staten Island yesterday.

First there was his mea culpa to a roomful of senior citizens for having trash-talked the borough by insinuating the Island was all mobbed up.

Then he got down on his knees, made the sign of the cross, clasped his hands as if in prayer and took his punishment like a man: He had his bottom paddled with a wooden spoon and his mouth washed out with soap by an Italian grandma.

Said Sliwa: "If I have insulted or besmirched anyone on Staten Island, I apologize."

The scene, at the Arrochar Friendship Club in South Beach, was orchestrated by Republican City Council members Vincent Ignizio and James Oddo. While they're fans of the radio shock jock, they said he went too far earlier this week, and Ignizio called the Guardian Angels founder to suggest he say he was sorry. And say it on Staten Island.

The flap started with news of the big Gambino crime family bust and word that Islander Joseph Vollaro had ratted them out. Vollaro's wife, Trisha, didn't know anything about his alleged mob ties, her family claimed -- something Sliwa found hard to believe.

"This is Staten Island," Sliwa told a tabloid reporter. "I could swing a dead cat around my head, and every fifth person I would hit is organized crime."

Although Sliwa hasn't disavowed the quote, he reiterated yesterday that it was printed "out of context." He said he meant to imply skepticism that Vollaro's wife didn't know whom she was serving at her restaurant, Dock's Clam Bar and Pasta House in Tottenville.

"Every fifth person would mean you have close to 100,000 people in organized crime on Staten Island, and there aren't that many people left [in the mob]," Sliwa told the Advance after his public flogging, his mouth, chin and teeth still bearing the remnants of the bar of white Ivory soap that senior Frances Cammarata had playfully shoved into his mouth.

Still, Sliwa allowed that his remarks could be seen by some as playing into one of the worst stereotypes about Staten Island.

"I think some would think that," he said.

In organizing the event, Ignizio brought the props -- spoon and soap -- saying, "They are reminiscent of my younger days. Let me just leave it at that."

"He made a stupid comment and he needed to apologize," added Ignizio. "Whenever anybody has a bully pulpit and they espouse anti-Italian sentiments, they ought to apologize."

"I think it's smart of him to nip this in the bud," said Oddo. "He has a shtick, but this was shtick that crossed the line. In his heart, he knows better." ...

Yet the seniors were in a forgiving mood yesterday. They laughed and applauded Sliwa's appearance, and nodded knowingly as he discussed his Italian heritage. He called himself "a son of Brooklyn who has a part of me in Staten Island," and ended his remarks with, "Where are the canolis?"

Mrs. Cammarata, of South Beach, who was chosen to administer Sliwa's punishment because of her sense of humor, called Sliwa "a gentleman."

"Sometimes we don't mean things the way they come out," she said.

Amy Votinelli, Friendship Club site coordinator, gave Sliwa Valentine chocolates to take away the taste of the soap.....

Judy L. Randall is a news reporter for the Advance. She may be reached at randall@siadvance.com.

http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=709358

Italy Foreign Aid Overlooked

The US is considered the wealthiest, strongest and most influential nation. It is also considered the most generous. But Not calculated as a % of GDP !!!!

Italy contributes .02 % of GDP , while the US lags behind at .17 %. But even more so, around the world for numerous years, many have criticized the US for cutting back on its promised obligations and responsibilities, and that furthermore, when it has provided aid, it has been tied to its own foreign policy objectives

• Aid is primarily designed to serve the strategic and economic interests of the donor countries;
• Or [aid is primarily designed] to benefit powerful domestic interest groups;
• Aid systems based on the interests of donors instead of the needs of recipients’ make development assistance inefficient;
• Too little aid reaches countries that most desperately need it; and,
• All too often, aid is wasted on overpriced goods and services from donor countries.

The article below outlines Italy's Aid to Sierra Leone, Battling to re-build six years after a brutal civil war, and is ranked the least developed country in the world. Italy has provided Aid also to Mali, Senegal, Liberia and Guinea-Bissau, among many others, particularly Libya, Ethiopia , Eritrea, and Somalia, former Protectorates.

US and Foreign Aid Assistance: http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/USAid.asp#RankingtheRichbasedonCommitmenttoDevelopment

Italy boosts Sierra Leone Food Aid
AFP The Times - Johannesburg,Gauteng, South Africa February 19, 2008
FREETOWN - Italy has extended 10 million dollars to help boost food production over the next three years in Sierra Leone, the African country’s Agriculture Minister Sam Sesay said. The deal will help "significantly contribute to food security through support for a modern competitive and commercially vibrant agriculture sector," Sesay told AFP. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) will provide the technical back-up to the scheme. Other states set to benefit from similar Italian-backed projects in the region include Mali, Senegal, Liberia and Guinea-Bissau, according to the Italian fund’s representative in Freetown, Arturo Rollo. Battling to re-build six years after a brutal civil war, Sierra Leone is ranked the least developed country in the world under the United Nations Human Development Index. http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=709358

Italians, French, Spanish and Germans Would Back Obama, Only British Prefer Hillary

Italians, French, Spanish and Germans Would Back Obama, Only British Prefer Hillary

This year's US election has aroused HUGE interest in Europe, which seems keen to end eight years of often testy relations with the George W. Bush administration.

Democrats top FT poll in Europe

The Financial Times Limited

February 18 2008

The French, Italians, Spanish and Germans would back Barack Obama in the US presidential poll if they had a vote, while the British would prefer Hillary Clinton, a survey suggests.

An FT/Harris opinion poll of more than 5,000 Europeans found that the two Democrats were by far the most popular candidates, with Mr Obama winning between 35 per cent support in Spain and 45 per cent in Italy. In the UK, Mrs Clinton had 28 per cent support compared with Mr Obama's 23 per cent.

On the Republican side, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani (who has now quit the race) were the two most popular candidates.

The online poll was conducted between January 30 and February 8.

In a separate FT/Harris poll of 1,020 adults in the US, Mr Obama (22 per cent support) narrowly beat Mrs Clinton (21 per cent). Mr McCain was in third place with 14 per cent.

US election surveys are normally restricted to likely or registered voters, whereas the Harris survey sampled all adults, and reflects a snapshot of how the US feels on this issue.

This year's US election has aroused huge interest in Europe, which seems keen to end eight years of often testy relations with the George W. Bush administration.

www.ft.com/uselections

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c21433da-ddc3-11dc-ad7e-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

Book: "Delizia!: The Epic History of the Italians and Their Food" by John Dickie

Italian cuisine was the first developed cuisine in Europe, Most experts agree that Italian cooking became the "Mother Cuisine of Europe" in 1533 when Catherine de'Medici went to France to marry King Henri II. She brought teams of expert cooks to France who delivered France the secrets of the most sophisticated cuisine yet developed at that time.

"Delizia!: The Epic History of the Italians and Their Food" by John Dickie

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

From Publishers Weekly

In this revelatory history of gourmet Italy from antiquity to today, Dickie , examines the centuries of religious, political and sociological events that effectively thrust Italian food into today's global limelight. Though it begins with the requisite gnocchi, lasagna, tagliatelle and tortellini, this bittersweet historical narrative quickly dispels the romantic notion that contemporary Italian fare has been the prideful plate of the rural peninsula and peasants throughout the ages.

Dickie tracks the country's culinary saga to medieval times, during which the impoverished would have been less likely to eat bistecca alla fiorentina or risotto alla milanese (had either existed), as they were to subsist on banal fare like turnips and polenta, with little concept of epicurean taste or pride. He notes that it was the urban areas, replete with food markets and money, that enabled foods like Parmigiano-Reggiano and mortadella to become Italian staples.

As Dickie shows, the mainstream American concept of Italian food is a modern-day notion developed as a mixture of the multiple identities of the country's cities. Boisterous, gluttonous stories—some verging on salacious—are balanced by accounts of paucity in this look into Italian history and its edibles. (Jan.) Reed Business Information

Reviews

"Revelatory history of gourmet Italy from antiquity to today...Boisterous, gluttonous stories -- some verging on salacious -- are balanced by accounts of paucity in this look into Italian history and its edibles." -- Publishers Weekly

"A book that is as much a feast of horrors as delights...[Dickie's] book is hard to fault: densely researched,