Following the election of Giorgio Napolitano — a communist — as Italian president, there is great rejoicing in the European media who have been eagerly painting a picture of a great, wise and reasonable statesman. This is what the UK Telegraph had to say:

Mr Napolitano is widely respected for his coolness and balance. A former interior minister and parliament speaker, he was one of the major reformers of the Italian Communist party, forcing it to change its name to the Left Democrats and drop the hammer and sickle.

This could not be more absurd. The man is a life—long communist and as such he can neither be great nor wise nor reasonable. Communists believe in something that is patently false and work for things that cannot but fail. They do this in a complete contravention of common sense and in the face of overwhelming empirical evidence showing the wrongness of their course. A man who devotes his life to this cause is none of the above. At best, he is woefully confused.

Vasko Kohlmayer   5 11 06