Berlusconi Says He Saved Financial System, Aided Disarmament
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Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he played a key role in persuading U.S. leaders to bail out Wall Street, in ending Russia’s 2008 war with Georgia and in convincing President Barack Obama to forge an agreement on reducing nuclear arms.
“When the Republican administration didn’t lift a finger to save Lehman Brothers, this gentleman went to Washington and spent an entire day speaking with the American president,” he said today in remarks to the Senate in Rome. “After that, the decision came out to make $700 billion available to ensure that the American banks didn’t collapse because otherwise there would have been a disaster.”