Follow-up to my post #277697:
Berlusconi: 'Europe needs America'
By Brian Knowlton International Herald Tribune
THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2006
WASHINGTON Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, addressing a joint meeting of Congress here Wednesday, warned sharply against what he said was a "politically dangerous" tendency in Europe to stand apart from the United States.
"A conception of European unity founded on a fanciful wish for self-sufficiency would be morally suspect and politically dangerous," he said, according to an English-language version of a speech delivered mostly in Italian.
His comments appeared to be a scarcely disguised slap at the ideas of President Jacques Chirac of France, who has supported the notion of a "bipolar world" in which the European Union and the United States serve as counterbalances.
Italy and France are locked in a bitter dispute over Paris's decision to block a possible Italian takeover of a French energy company.
"The West is, and shall remain, one," Berlusconi said. "We cannot have two Wests. Europe needs America and America needs Europe."
The line brought a standing ovation.
[...]
iht.com
Likewise, 700 years ago, Byzantine despot Silvius Berlusconius said, "Christendom is, and shall remain, one... We cannot have two Christendoms. Byzantium needs Latin Europe and Latin Europe needs Byzantium."
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