Roberto Saviano’s remarkable talk on Vieni Via con Me (which is really making the news this week) got over 5 million viewers last night. There’s a reason: it’s provocative and damned good, featuring the reenactment of an ‘ndragheta initiation rite and accusations of Lega Nord involvement with organized crime that’s sent Interior Minister and Lega …
Author Archives: hnbjr
Organ Harvesting in Kosovo
It’s such a common urban legend that it’s almost the stuff of jokes. But organ theft is, apparently, alive and well, and right here in what’s loosely called “Europe.” Carla del Ponte caused a minor stir a couple of years ago when she alleged that the Kosovar Liberartion Army had been secretly harvesting organs from …
Knab S’tel!
I’m not entirely sure what to say about this at the Banco di Sardegna near Corso Sempione, but I walk by it every night and it seems like the most peculiar deterrence to me: positioned inside the entryway to the bank, behind the barred gate that’s pulled down every night. Just inside is a video …
Benigni
I’m not going to even pretend that this will be easily comprehenisble to those without a command of both what’s going with Berlusconi these days and the Italian language, although the Corriere‘s English language edition — serviceable but nothing compared to examples like Germany’s Der Spiegel — can elucidate here. Benigni once again proves he’s …
DomeniCa
Not a lot makes me miss DC. But these Fugazi videos did, even though they’re not shot in the District. Even those who might find the band overly serious or self-righteous still should appreciate the incredible energy of the band and of Guy Picciotto in particular. He calmed down from putting himself through basketball hoops …
Weekly digest: more Berlusca, the seriousness of ‘bunga-bunga’, more rain, and more Republicans
It’s been awhile and no updates. Yet, in the US we’ve had the midterms, which happened pretty much as predicted, and here in Italy Berlusconi again dominates the headlines with another sex scandal. At this point I’m so fatigued by his scandals that I’m withholding comment until I figure out just how much of a …
Politesse des Grandes beaufs
For all their carping on about the lofty ideals of 18th-century Americans, the Tea Partiers — at least Rand Paul’s — sure don’t abide by one: chivalry. Really, now, stomping on a female’s upper body and then having the gall to ask for an apology? Are we really that divided?
Old Gold
Doing some research on Milosevic cheerleaders and Srebrenica deniers Living Marxism, I happened upon this debate in the 8 July 1993 issue of the London Review of Books. If you’ve been following the discussion on my post on Mladic you might’ve heard the assertion that the only way to reverse the gains made by the ethnic …
A picture of future as imagined by Rand Paul
“Always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face— forever.” And so we …
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Superheroes
To conclude all this southeastern Europe-focused posting on a positive note, I strongly urge all fans of energetic guitar-based music to check out Belgrade’s excellent Stuttgart Online and to buy their infectious album Radost Svakom Domaćinstvu. They definitely capture the dada-street art sound of late seventies Belgrade as immortalized on the anthology Paket Aranzman — …