Corridors of Power

Corridors of Power is written by veteran foreign affairs correspondent Roland Flamini and appears in World Politics Review every week by Sunday morning. Click here for the Corridors of Power archives.

ET TU COSSIGA? -- Every Italian political crisis worthy of the name is flavored with a dollop of conspiracy. In Prime Minister Romano Prodi's sudden resignation earlier this week, one conspiracy involves Senator-for-Life Francesco Cossiga, whose defection from the government ranks in the vote that defeated the Prodi administration came as a surprise.

A former president of the republic and still an influential figure in Italian politics, Cossiga is a member of the Christian Democrat party, one of the nine components of Romano Prodi's unwieldy left-of-center coalition. He is also strongly pro-American, so his "no" vote on a motion to increase Italian troops in Afghanistan -- a U.S. request -- was such a departure from his usual position that it was immediately assumed he was doing Washington a favor. The Bush administration would shed no tears if Prodi's departure turned out to be permanent, particularly if it meant new elections and the possible return of Silvio Berlusconi, a bedrock Bush ally.