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November 13, 2011 | | DEBATE Oops? Instead of recovering from his awkward brain freeze at the last GOP debate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry may have stepped in it again at the foreign-policy rematch. Perry proposed starting each nation’s foreign aid at zero every year before allocating new funds—even, he said, with special allies such as Israel. The Daily Beast’s Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer, explains why this is a terrible idea that could leave Israel vulnerable—and could ultimately benefit Iran. Plus, Michelle Goldberg, Jacob Heilbrunn, and more Daily Beast contributors grade the debate. ARRIVEDERCI At least he stuck to his word. After vowing to step down as soon as Italy's Parliament passed an austerity package demanded by the European Union, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned on Saturday. Having dominated the country's politics for 17 years, Berlusconi's premiership has recently been marred by scandals, from his bunga-bunga parties to his country's role in the euro-zone debt crisis, which ultimately led to his ouster. Berlusconi was booed en route to the presidential palace to make his resignation official, with demonstrators calling him a "buffoon" and an impromptu orchestra and choir gathered outside his presidential palace singing the "Hallelujah" chorus. He is expected to appoint technocrat Mario Monti as successor. DEBATE Iran got an earful from Republican presidential candidates last night, with Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich both saying that they’d be open to using military force against Ahmadinejad’s nation if all else failed. Recent reports have pegged Iran as pursuing nuclear weapons. Herman Cain, for one, said he “would not entertain” military force in Iran. On Afghanistan, Romney attacked Obama’s troop withdrawal as overtly political, while Jon Huntsman said he supported an immediate pullout. INCLUSIVE The games must go on: despite the Arab League's suspending Syria over a worsening crackdown on citizen dissent, it will allow the nation to participate in this year’s Arab Games. “We never mix up politics with sport,” said the director of ceremonies. Some 6,000 athletes will head to Qatar in December for the competition. Meanwhile, the regional alliance is imposing tough new economic and political sanctions against the Assad regime in Syria. RESCUE Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos is freed after being held for two days by kidnappers in Venezuela. Details on his rescue are sketchy, but it seems Venezuelan police exchanged heavy fire with his kidnappers in a remote mountain area 40 miles northwest of Ramos's family's home in Valencia, where four men abducted him at gunpoint Wednesday. News of his rescue set off celebrations at ballfields across Venezuela. | | 
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