Free Republic

Even while the Civil War raged, slaves in Cuba could be heard singing, “Avanza, Lincoln, avanza! Tu eres nuestra esperanza!” (Onward, Lincoln, Onward! You are our hope!) – as if they knew, even before the soldiers fighting the war far to the North and long before most politicians understood, that the war in America would change their lives, and the world. The secession crisis of 1860-1861 threatened to be a major setback to the world antislavery movement, and it imperiled the whole experiment in democracy. If slavery was allowed to exist, and if the world’s leading democracy could fall apart...

He famously once declared that Left-wing Italian women were less attractive than their Right-wing counterparts. But having proved his point by packing his government with ex-beauty queens and showgirls, Silvio Berlusconi is discovering that good looks do not necessarily go with good tempers. In the latest crisis to hit the scandal-ridden prime minister, his tottering centre-right coalition is under threat after a vicious catfight between two of his most glamourous female allies. In one corner is Mara Carfagna, 34, a former topless model who Mr Berlusconi - without any apparent sense of irony - appointed equal opportunities minister two years...