A new YouTube video purporting that the recent attack on Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has Italian conspiracists all a twitter by advancing the theory that the attack was a set-up to gain sympathy for the politician. Oh really? From the Daily Mail:

TV footage of the politician showing him bleeding profusely from cuts to his lips and gums went around the world in a matter of seconds and were seen by millions.

However, today a video posted on You Tube suggesting the attack in Milan was faked had received almost 500,000 hits in just a matter of hours.

Called ‘Was the attack on Berlusconi a montage?’ the video lasts eight minutes and is on a par with other past conspiracy theories such as the attack on the Twin Towers being a CIA created plot.

The video’s author is unidentified but using footage and still photographs it raises questions regarding several key moments in the aftermath of last Sunday’s attack in Milan.

It asks why the blood on Berlusconi’s face appears to be ‘thick and already’ set and also asks why if as the hospital later said he had lost ‘half a litre of blood’ is his suit and shirt not drenched.

This makes no sense to me. The simplest explanation is usually the best one and it’s not at all difficult to imagine why someone would want to attack and harm Silvio Berlusconi, is it? What would he stand to gain by having someone violently attack him, on purpose? Popularity points is a terrible theory. He’s a millionaire in his 70s known to cavort with hookers! He does not care what the public thinks of him. Certainly not enough to have his teeth bashed out. What a terrible conspiracy theory! Yawn.