Souvenirs can be dangerous.
During a political rally in Milan, Silvio Berlusconi (Italian Prime Minister and owner of AC Milan) was struck in the face with a souvenir statue of Il Duomo di Milano and suffered a broken nose along with cuts on his cheek and lip. Despite significant public pressure against Berlusconi stemming from both his personal life and his alleged criminal ties, he remains an influential part of Italian politics.
Apparently the 73 year-old prime minister will remain in charge while he recovers in the hospital, according to Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa, who was present during the attack (Defense Minister!? Nice job, buddy).
But what possible motivation could Massimo Tartaglia, identified as “mentally unstable” by the Italian media, have for the attack? Video of the incident and conspiracy theories after the jump.
So, is Tartaglia a madman? Or is he perhaps a pawn of Roman Abramovich? Follow along as I explain.
First, Berlusconi is reportedly good friends with Vladimir Putin, and in 2007 he attempted a business deal between the Italian state-run energy company (Eni) with Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom. Italy’s parliament blocked the deal due to the fact that Berlusconi had a conflict of interest, causing a rift between he and Putin. Now, Putin is also reportedly very close to Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea Football Club (perhaps you have heard of them).
After the energy deal collapsed, Putin obviously spent the next 2 years plotting his revenge and recruited Abramovich in his efforts. Chelsea’s former gaffer, Jose Mourinho, is currently in charge at Internazionale Milan (AC Milan’s rival), and thus Roman saw the opportunity to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Hire Tartaglia to hurl souvenirs at Berlusconi, thus gaining revenge on the Italian prime minister, and make it appear related to the football rivalry, thus making Mourinho look bad.
No? You’re not buying it? Well, perhaps Tartaglia is actually an AC Milan fan. One who is angry that the club have not won the Serie A title in 5 years and is embarrassed at losing to a team that plays in pink. Or maybe he’s just crazy.
Wish I’d done this to Glenn Roeder, with a statue of Darren Huckerby.
BREAKING NEWS:
Heath Ledger’s replacement in the next Batman installment has been found.
u75: he kinda looks more like Danny DeVito’s replacement as The Penguin
Is there a reason he’s green? I assume it’s not the photo, but that Dearest Silvio is actually verdant.
It should have been you, Gillette & Hicks.
is this how Chelsea finally gets to purchase Pato?
Tartaglia isn’t a madman, Tartaglia is a pimp. But I did not know, until this day, is that it was Barzini, all along.
@Georger: +1 horse’s head
Is there a Sacco and Vanzetti joke to be made here as well?
@u75: No. Sacco and Vanzetti actually had principles.
Actually, I guess there was a joke there after all.
Urgh! Hulk angry!
dude, Hulk plays for Porto