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Thread: Italy (catch all)

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    Council Member bourbon's Avatar
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    Default Italy (catch all)

    Italians hail capture of notorious mafia boss as 'the end of an epoch', by Michael Day. The Independent, 8 December 2011.
    Michele Zagaria, head of the Camorra's brutal Casalesi clan, was hiding in an underground bunker beneath his home north of Naples. As authorities dug him out, officers completely surrounded the small town of Casapesenna to prevent his escape.

    "The state has won," the 53 year-old Zagaria was said to have told police sarcastically as they handcuffed him. He had been on the run since 1995 and was sentenced in absentia to life for murder and other mafia crimes in 2008.
    Part of a larger operation against the Casalesi clan this week that nabbed 50+.
    “[S]omething in his tone now reminded her of his explanations of asymmetric warfare, a topic in which he had a keen and abiding interest. She remembered him telling her how terrorism was almost exclusively about branding, but only slightly less so about the psychology of lotteries…” - Zero History, William Gibson

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    Bravo!

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    Default 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:

    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

    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.”
    “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

    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.

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    Default 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

    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.

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    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    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.
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    Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo View Post
    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.

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    Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo View Post
    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.

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    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

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    Default 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:
    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?
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 11-10-2017 at 06:07 PM. Reason: 8,572v
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    Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo View Post
    Thread re-opened after this update on Sicily in the German newspaper Der Spiegel; the title and sub-title:
    Link:http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-1177068.html?
    An insightful article that generated a lot of thought about failing states, even within the West. Italy isn't failing, but regions of it have or in the process of being ungoverned by the elected government. Pockets of corruption and lawlessness can leap frog or spread to adjacent areas are where conditions are permissive.

    A couple of initial thoughts, perhaps more later. Corruption has strategic effects over time, the recent trend in U.S. counterinsurgency is that corruption is largely irrelevant is deeply flawed. Corruption is a key means in the competitive control competition to compete for control over select regions.

    Tactics evolve with means, as criminal organizations gain more wealth, they can shift from using terror as their principle means of coercion to infiltration and influence, resulting in a defacto government or shadow government. The police who are supposed to fight these organizations are quietly co-opted. Then it eventually becomes "just the way that it is." At this point it takes great leaders of great courage to create a movement to change the norm.

    I found the following paragraph to be a ray of hope.

    For a bar owner in Di Matteo's neighborhood, this "gift" amounts to a 6,000-euro (6,960-dollar) reduction in annual profits. Many businesses are no longer able to pay the protection money, some are now unwilling to do so. Stickers from the Addiopizzo organization are now displayed in more than 1,000 shop windows in and around Palermo. The organization encourages consumers to shop in businesses that refuse to pay the "pizzo," or protection money.
    As I pointed out in my book review of the Originals.

    http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...7&postcount=41

    There was another section that spoke at some length on how to mobilize a resistance movement. For example, people prefer to challenge state sponsored oppression / terror as a group. Instead of facing the terror of standing out as lone resister, people were able to see themselves as members of a group based on seeing symbols in many locations that indicates others feel the same way. It’s easier for wan to be rebels to rebel when it feels like an act of conformity. The book provides several examples.

    The stickers from the Addiopizzo are an example of this. Bravo!

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    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Moderator at work

    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.
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 04-10-2018 at 03:53 PM. Reason: 37,842v when merging done
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    Default 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?:
    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
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 06-15-2018 at 06:37 PM. Reason: Was a stand-alone thread with 136v. Update link.
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    Default "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:
    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?
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 06-15-2018 at 06:45 PM. Reason: 42,068v
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