Well, Italian politics has proven to be as fractious as ever, with Romano Prodi’s broad-based coalition declaring victory, on a margin of only 25,000 votes. Berlusconi is contesting the election.

Of course, the American left will attempt to make hay over this, calling Prodi’s promised immediate withdrawl of Italy’s 2600 troops from Iraq as a condemnation of the Bush doctrine. I see it as more an admission of Italy’s inability to fund overseas military adventures. For all his right-wing bluster, Berlusconi has failed to liberalize Italy’s stagnant statist economy.