Several new elements are added, almost daily, to worsen the complexity of the situation, and rumours of an imminent military coup in Islamabad do little to clarify matters.

The Catholic Church is seizing the advantage offered by the debacle suffered by almost all the Italian political parties, and therefore appears set to play a growing role in Italy’s political life, ending up as the principal, though perhaps occult, arbiter of future decisions and orientations.

Italy's opposition has not gained in prestige due to Berlusconi's decline and the economic, political and social crisis afflicting the country. Into this political void the Roman Catholic church has stepped.

Silvio Berlusconi's position in Italy seems weaker then ever. The Vatican however has renewed its dogmatic stance towards Italian politics and will step into the vacuum, increasing its influence and demanding a price for its blessing of the party that will take over from Berlusconi

The austerity measures will be felt primarily by a lower middle-class, already tested by the ever-growing divide between rich and poor in Italy. But a bleak political prospect goes well beyond the sense of panic caused by the economic and financial problems which beset the country

Having narrowly survived a vote of confidence, the Berlusconi government remains unstable. Carlo Ungaro develops three scenarios that could emerge.

An overly obtuse and childish mentality by the Allied forces in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2006 has had devastating consequences for the mission. After destroying the country’s fragile social structure and abandoning the Afghan people, Carl Unargo argues that we will once again betray Afghanistan while celebrating with false confidence its “democratic” institutions.

There are other players to take into account apart from Gianfranco Fini in the latest challenge to Berlusconi’s reign, not least a fickle Italian public and the small matter of parliamentary retirement pensions

The Afghan mission continues to flounder without direction, over a month after the "future of Afghanistan" was discussed at the Kabul Conference.

Samuel P. Huntington’s oft-pilloried work, “The Clash of Civilizations”, has long lost its original academic potency. However it has growing leverage at the grass-roots level where the clash has been reinterpreted to justify growing islamophobia

Petraeus's proposed Afghan militias risk restoring the conditions that led Afghanistan to civil war in the 1990s. This, the Kabul conference and other initiatives have no hope unless civilian command of the military mission in Afghanistan is asserted, argues Carlo Ungaro.

Afghan civil society and NATO war aims: talk to the Taleban and all traditional leaders

Diplomatic reminiscences from Herat in the 1970s; delicate interventions, fragile civil society.

There is a certain kind of drift into a regime that has nothing to do with the introduction of paramilitary stances, Roman salutes or party uniforms: more to do with television

The West turned a blind eye to the potential volatility of Central Asia because it was convenient, in Carlo Ungaro's view. Recent events in Kyrgyzstan show how dangerous this stance is. In adjacent areas of Afghanistan the discovery of mineral riches is likely further to complicate an already fraught situation.

The "Peace Jirgah" called by President Karzai convened amidst accusations that the process has being rigged. But rather than dismissing it as another government failure, Carlo Ungaro says it should be seen as an instrument to help reconcile respected and valid Afghan traditions to the country’s aspirations to be part of the modern family of nations

Twenty years experience in Central Asia informs Carlo Ungaro's view that the allies should radically devolve power in Afghanistan and reconsider its international border with Pakistan

We need to break old assumptions if Afghanistan and Pakistan are to be secured, argues Carlo Ungaro

As the recent popular violence in Kyrgyzstan reminded us, Central Asia is strategically vital. The West needs to work with Russia, and China, to put in place a programme of pre-emptive damage control