Italy (catch all)

[davidbfpo]

Bill,

The media here have reported several Italian ministers saying that they might have to act over the chaos in Libya. Italy has stronger links to Libya than most European nations, leaving aside the flow of refugees via Libya to southern Italy and its islands.

Given that Italy ceased its naval and other agency refugee interception and rescue operation in late 2014, one must wonder what they resources can deploy.

[blueblood]

Bill,

The media here have reported several Italian ministers saying that they might have to act over the chaos in Libya. Italy has stronger links to Libya than most European nations, leaving aside the flow of refugees via Libya to southern Italy and its islands.

Given that Italy ceased its naval and other agency refugee interception and rescue operation in late 2014, one must wonder what they resources can deploy.

Influx of refugees create huge problems, especially with the current trend of radicalization now more than ever. India and Pakistan learned that the hard way. But in case of Europe in general and Italy in specific, it could be a somewhat less difficult of an issue. Internally strong, excellent police and intelligence apparatus (I assume) and sorry to say but racial profiling. All these factors are strongly in favour of Italy.


But externally, I am not very sure of the Italian military's capabilities to fight whatever it is they intend to fight.

I could be wrong and would like to be corrected if that's the case but when an entire of generation of post cold war soldiers and officers assuming that they are never going to fight a war, conventional or not, things could get complacent in terms of mindset and preparation.

[Bill Moore]

Bill,

The media here have reported several Italian ministers saying that they might have to act over the chaos in Libya. Italy has stronger links to Libya than most European nations, leaving aside the flow of refugees via Libya to southern Italy and its islands.

Given that Italy ceased its naval and other agency refugee interception and rescue operation in late 2014, one must wonder what they resources can deploy.

Agree, and the limited capacity issue applies to most European countries. The exceptions are England and France, but even their capacity is much reduced.

While there are many in Italy willing to fight, I also doubt they represent a majority, and question the ability of the Italian government to drum up the will to fight. That could change if there was a major attack on Italian soil.

As I understand it, Italy ceased it refugee interception because the EU failed to share costs for these operations. The refugees may enter the EU through Italy, but many on move to other locations in Europe, so I can understand Italy's demand that EU assist with the mutual security challenge.

[davidbfpo]

Will this report change attitudes in Italy?

A dozen Christian refugees drowned in the Mediterranean after they were thrown overboard by Muslim migrants in a furious row fueled by “religious hatred” on a smuggler boat sailing from Libya toItaly. Italian police last night were investigating the deaths, which emerged from testimony provided by the 100 other asylum seekers on board the vessel....Fifteen Muslim migrants, believed to be from Senegal, Fifteen Muslim migrants, believed to be from Senegal, Ivory Coast and Mali were arrested, accused of having thrown the Christians from Ghana and Nigeria into the sea after the fight broke out. were arrested, accused of having thrown the Christians from Ghana and Nigeria into the sea after the fight broke out.

Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-into-sea.html

A bigger issue is heralded with The Daily Telegraph (UK) headline 'Italians revolt against migrant 'invasion' and starts with:

Italians are in growing revolt against the number of migrants arriving on their shores, with more than 10,000 people rescued from the Mediterranean in the past week alone. The huge influx of asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa is putting an intolerable strain on a country that has been in recession for the past five years...(later)
Nearly 70,000 migrants and asylum seekers are currently being cared for by the Italian authorities and there have been warnings that as many as 500,000 refugees could try to cross to Italy this year.

Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-invasion.html

[davidbfpo]

Prompted by a new item (on a new thread for maximum visibility) I have merged two small thread and renamed the thread as a catch all.

Three posts on Giovanni Falcone and Italian society have been merged here too.