As Italy’s new conservative governing coalition begins sifting through the wreckage left by decades of left-leaning government, among its biggest challenges is restructuring a bureaucracy stuffed to the gills with patronage appointments, i.e., incompetents. The new government, writes José Papparelli in the European Conservative, must begin restaffing using people of merit or Italy will continue wallowing in the failed practices of the past.

Palestinian Culture: Unique in its Own Destructive Way
Although the Palestinian Authority enjoys an array of cultural departments and programs, A.J. Caschetta in Jewish World Review finds that all of it – art, education, literature, poetry, music, education and film – is oriented to two goals: the vilification of Jews and the destruction of Israel. Caschetta notes this is in sharp contrast to Arab and Muslim traditions, which include myriad aesthetically normal cultural works. Palestinianism, Caschetta finds, is “a very sick culture”, driven by resentment and fuelled by hate.


