Remembering a Hero Giovanni Falcone
The FBI honored the Falcone today on the 20 anniversary of his assassination. This was one of the first men to understand adversarial global networks and worked to develop his own global network to degrade the Mafia. I'm including the FBI public affairs release that honors him and the Wiki article about him that in my view makes him a hero with few peers. One of his quotes, one he lived and died by was:
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He who is silent and bows his head dies every time he does so. He who speaks aloud and walks with his head held high dies only once.
—Giovanni Falcone
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/may/falcone_051712
Remembering Giovanni Falcone
Italian Judge Assassinated by the Mafia 20 Years Ago
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On May 23, 1992, Mafia hit men detonated a roadside bomb that killed Giovanni Falcone, his wife, and three bodyguards as they drove near Palermo, Italy. The assassination was payback for all the organized criminals Falcone had put behind bars as a prosecutor and judge.
To mark the 20th anniversary of his murder, a tribute was held at FBI Headquarters to remember Falcone as a courageous opponent of the Mafia—and one of the earliest advocates of international cooperation in the fight against organized crime.
Director Robert S. Mueller, who was joined by two former FBI Directors and several Italian dignitaries in paying tribute to Falcone, noted, “Long before ‘globalization’ became part of our vernacular, Judge Falcone recognized that no one department or country could fight crime alone. He went to great lengths to cultivate strong relationships—friendships—with partners here in the United States and around the world.”
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“Judge Falcone always understood that there was strength in numbers,” Mueller said, “and that defeating the Mafia would require true solidarity. Due to his foresight, we have dealt a devastating blow to organized criminal syndicates.”
The relationships that Falcone forged years ago between the Italian National Police and the FBI “have borne tremendous fruit in this age of international crime and terrorism,” Mueller added. “Those friendships have set the standard for global cooperation among law enforcement.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Falcone
Quote:
Exhausted and frustrated by the antagonism in Palermo, Falcone accepted a post in the Ministry of Justice in Rome offered to him by Claudio Martelli, the new minister of Justice in a new government of Giulio Andreotti in March 1991. The transfer was initially seen as a capitulation by Falcone, but he himself thought of it as a tactical move to better fight the Mafia. His first action was to prepare a degree to repair the disastrous sentence by Supreme Court judge Corrado Carnevale, known as the “sentence-killer”, that allowed most of the remaining defendants of the Maxi Trial to walk free from prison. Due to the Martelli-decree led to the immediate re-arrest of the Mafia bosses.[22]
While in Rome he started to restructure the Italian prosecution system, creating district offices to fight the Mafia and a national office to fight organized crime.[22] Next was his move to prevent Carnevale to review the sentence of the Maxi Trial. In a blow to the Mafia, the Maxi Trial convictions were upheld by the Supreme Court in January 1992. To the surprise of many, Falcone's move to Rome was very successful. He achieved a genuine revolution in the judiciary. The Mafia began to understand that Falcone was even more dangerous in Rome than he had been in Palermo.
Will Italy Act Independently to Defend Christians?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0MY0O120150407
Military action inevitable in fight against terrorism: Italy's foreign minister
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The fact that these groups are targeting Christians brings the need to help even closer to home, Gentiloni said, "because it concerns our identity and our roots".
"For years Europe has had a bad habit, a mix of selfishness and cowardice that prompts it to turn its gaze elsewhere when it comes to what happens beyond our little old world," he said.
He said it was important within Italy, which houses the Vatican papal state, to protect Christian sites and minority religious communities, such as Jews, which could become targets.
Falcone's work goes on and on
Thread re-opened after this update on Sicily in the German newspaper Der Spiegel; the title and sub-title:
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How Sicily Became Ungovernable; Italy's poorest region, Sicily, is the country's problem child. Now it has elected a new government. To fix the island, it will have to overcome corruption and widespread Mafia control - and figure out how to convince its population not to leave.
Link:http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-1177068.html?
Italy "punching above it's weight" and expectations
An IISS blog article that describes Italian military deployments (plus the Carabineiri). Created for maximum visibility and it will one day be merged into the Italy (catch all) thread.
So what is going on?:
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In 2017, as shown in the IISS Military Balance+, Italy took part in as many military missions as Germany and almost twice as many as Spain, making it a significant contributor to international peace and security. Italy also has more personnel deployed, at just over 5,000, than either Germany (just over 3,800) or Spain (some 1,700).
However, the extent of future Italian overseas commitments is uncertain. As a result of budgetary constraints, funding for these missions is only guaranteed until September 2018. After this, continued support will be dependent on any new government’s policy. The leading parties in the March 2018 general election appear reluctant to maintain a substantial military contingent overseas.
There is a useful map, especially as some are tiny and others far larger.
Considering the usual perception of Italian politics one wonders how a series of decisions resulted in this? I'd wager that the 5k personnel deployed could match the UK's.
Link:https://www.iiss.org/blogs/military-...as-deployments
"Punching above its weight" under a new government
A short commentary on Italian military deployments abroad, even if some are close to home - as is the new mission:
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Less than a week after the government led by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte took office, the Italian armed forces inaugurated another new foreign mission. Together with the Hellenic (Greek) Air Force, the Italian Air Force will protect the skies of Montenegro, NATO’s newest member, which lacks the resources to do so itself. That is the latest of 24 current or planned missions involving Italian troops.
Link:https://rusi.org/commentary/future-i...ary-footprint?