We are not amused- or are we?

First Michelle Obama towers over her and then hugs her. Then Prime Minister (and second richest man in Italy) Silvio Berlusconi yells across the room to get Obama's attention, in Her Majesty's presence. Later, Buckingham Palace clarified that it was in fact amused and took Berlusconi's behavior as a joke.

I don't side politically with Berlusconi, but I do think that Italians make too much of his misbehavior, with silly claims that he makes them ashamed to be Italian. As they would themselves say: i problemi sono ben altri (they have different- and worse- problems).

Get a look at the incident by searching You Tube with the words "Berlusconi" and "Regina"- you'll see numerous comments left by disapproving compatriots.