Lately, every time we Europeans speak about international policy with people living in the USA, we always end up discussing on the same topic.
Usually we tell them that we care a lot for civil rights and sovereignty; that we see the USA as a dangerous country because of Guantanamo bay and all the laws they passed to cut civil rights in favor of security; that nobody is allowed to invade a foreign country not even when it’s ruled by a cruel dictator or there are false claims about unexisting WMDs.
At this point, instead of answering to the above claims, they repeat endlessly that UN is just a waste of money (but hey, they don’t pay that much anyway), a paralized agency that actually can’t do anything useful to contrast international terrorism, and we’re lucky because at least the USA do something, they defend themselves and the rest of the world.
Your speed limit is 30Kmh. It’s a restricted area and you can’t enter on workdays from 7:30 to 19:30, except that trucks can’t enter from 8:30 to 20:30 all the week, motorcycles non compliant to european standard CEE 97/24 can’t enter on workdays from 10 to 12 and from 15 to 17, cars non compliant to CEE 91/441 are always forbidden, authorized people for sectors B and C can always enter, authorized people loading/unloading can enter from 7:30 to 9:30. Read the rest of this entry »
Ever tried to call a taxi on a rainy day in Firenze? Or even on sunny days at peak hour? It’s simply impossibile. You won’t find any on the street and both radio services (4242 and 4390) will tell you that no taxi is available. After wasting some time on the phone, you’ll end up taking a bus or a shower. Can you believe it? OK, Firenze is not a big city, but millions of tourists come to visit it every year! In a normal market economy this offer-demand problem would solve automatically, cause people would be encouraged to become taxi drivers and finally taxis would increase. Unfortunately Italy is not a normal market economy, and so far taxi licences were constrained by law. But they are no more! Yesterday our government finally abolished license constraints, liberalizing the market. Taxi drivers are upset but I don’t care. Go Bersani go!
Before second world war, Italy used to be a monarchy ruled by the Savoia dynasty. After the war, on June 2nd 1946 Italians voted in a referendum and chose republic for their new government. It’s not been a large majority: republic won for just two million votes and the country was split with a republican north and a monarchic south. On June 13th, King Umberto II finally decided to leave the country, heading to Portugal. Italian parliament then enacted a law that forbade ex-Kings and their sons to enter the Italian territory. This law lasted until 2002, when it’s been removed and Prince Vittorio Emanuele, Umberto’s son, eventually had permission to return to Italy.
