The G8 Summit Meltdown, and Why Silvio Berlusconi Needs a Holiday

Poor Italy. First, there were the sex scandals. Now, it looks as if the upcoming G8 summit may well crash and burn.

Silvio Berlusconi just can't catch a break.

It all began when Berlusconi decided -- against his better judgment -- to move the summit from Sardinia (where it was already over-budget) to the town of L'Aquila, site of the recent Italian earthquake. As recently as two days ago, tremors as high as 4.1 on the Richter scale were still being felt in L'Aquila, prompting Italians to consider moving the meeting to Rome for security reasons.

Then a group of Italian female academics wrote an open letter to the first ladies of G8 leaders, asking them to boycott said event as a way of protesting Berlusconi's offensive attitude toward women.

Yesterday, the Guardian reported that preparations for the meeting were so chaotic that the U.S. had to organize "Sherpa calls" (yes, that's a technical term for conference calls among senior officials) to salvage an agenda. Some are even calling behind the scenes to push Italy out of the G8 entirely.

Perhaps most embarrassing of all, the G8 is not on track to meet its self-imposed aid obligations toward poor countries, due largely to a shortfall by the Italian government. The U.K. is actually trying to shame other countries -- read: Italy -- into making good on these commitments by publishing their contributions. Good luck with that.

You know things are bad when even the actor Colin Firth feels compelled to assume his Mr. Darcy persona and chide the Italian government for not doing more about world poverty.

I, for one, think that Silvio Berlusconi needs a holiday. You know, maybe he should just pack up his things, jet off to one of his many villas, throw a big party and make that tan line permanent.

Just do us a favor, Silvio. Please don't bring along any ladies.