Com­ment: A recent fis­sure between Ital­ian neo-fascist (he calls him­self a “post-fascist”) Gian­franco Fini and Ital­ian pre­mier Sil­vio Berlus­coni turned up indi­ca­tions of a cabal of pow­er­ful fig­ures, who have clan­des­tinely coa­lesced into a secre­tive, piv­otal influ­ence group. (Berlus­coni is pic­tured at right.)

This is rem­i­nis­cent of the sin­is­ter P-2 Lodge of Licio Gelli, a crypto-fascist gov­ern­ment that ran Italy for many years and whose mem­bers con­tinue to wield great influ­ence. Berlus­coni was a mem­ber of the P-2.

Is this group, in effect (or actu­ally) P-2 II?

“Berlus­coni Wins Cen­sure Motion” [AP]; San Fran­cisco Chron­i­cle; 8/4/2010.

Excerpt: . . . Wednesday’s cen­sure motion tar­geted Jus­tice Min­istry Under­sec­re­tary Gia­como Caliendo, who has been entan­gled in a probe look­ing into a secret asso­ci­a­tion of pow­er­ful fig­ures allegedly seek­ing to influ­ence pol­i­tics and jus­tice. Caliendo has denied wrong­do­ing, and has refused to resign. . . . [Ital­ics are Mine–D.E.]