Dictators are back in vogue

It's beginning to sound as if Berlusconi is going to refuse to step aside even though Prodi won the elections.

Mr Berlusconi says: "However the official count of the electoral result ends up, and whoever is attributed the majority in the Chamber of Deputies, things are not going to change."

I don't know exactly what would happen if he simply refused to leave office. I suppose it would come down to who the military would side with.

A bit scary, but I can see a possibility Bush might try the same sort of thing.