La Fiasco Finmeccanica

AlterNet has more on the CIA's Italian Kidnapping Plot:

During the years of the Berlusconi administration, Finmeccanica became a defense giant, in no small part because the Italian government gave the company some $4 billion in interest-free loans that the European Commission says were actually illegal subsidies. In 2003, in a joint venture with the Carlyle Group, Finmeccanica acquired Fiat Avio, another prominent Italian defense contactor. According to sources close to the company, Finmeccanica has also joined forces with other, undisclosed partners.

Could there already be a Berlusconi investment? Although Senator Martone doesn't discount such a hypothesis, he suspects Berlusconi's end game may be more sophisticated. Martone wonders aloud: "With this country's finances in such a shamble, it wouldn't be surprising if Finmeccanica at some points ends on the selling block. And once there, who knows who will come up to buy it?"