Re: THAT was 58 years ago! AND Italy then switched and fought on the Allied side.
Do you guys hold grudges forever?
Historically speaking, 58 years are just a tic... Bear in mind that many WWII participants are still alive (Licio Gelli, etc.)
Anyway, the point is that the so-called "strategy of tension" that's been carried out in Italy during the Cold War showed that the Italian military and secret services (SISMI) were very close to the US.... If Europe's brand new military is to have any credibility, it'd better pick a French or a Belgian or a Scandinavian boss.
Follow-up to my Byzantine Alliance(*) scenario:
(*)EU - Israel - Russia
Putin Sees Gain in U.S. Distractions
Patrick E. Tyler New York Times Service
Saturday, April 7, 2001
iht.com
He Promotes Russia's Role in Vital Areas as Bush Looks Elsewhere
MOSCOW As the Bush administration continues to review its foreign policy, turning its attention this week to a crisis with China, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is doing what he can to move into the areas where Washington appears to have disengaged, officials in Moscow say.
They report that President Putin is trying to strengthen Moscow's bonds with Europe, increase Russia's role as a mediator in regional conflicts and open new trade links with Asia.
The Russian leader is acting in part, they say, to gain leverage for the day when he and President George W. Bush sit down to chart a new agenda in a relationship that has been cut adrift by disputes and the changes of administration in both countries.
Kremlin officials say Mr. Putin is not only seeking a stronger role for Russia in Western affairs but also a hedge against any Bush administration attempt to exclude Moscow from security decisions that affect Russia's interests - like NATO expansion and missile defenses.
Mr. Putin's actions are also intended to strengthen the case being made by prominent voices in the United States to broaden - not reduce - economic and security ties with Russia, a policy that has had bipartisan support in Washington since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
"Putin is a proud person and smart person at the same time," said Irina Khakamada, a pro-reform leader in Parliament.
"The smart person in him wants a strategic partnership with Europe and the United States, and the proud person in him wants some kind of leverage that will enable him to come to terms with the Bush administration."
On Thursday, Mr. Putin said he would like to undertake a peace mission to the Middle East to help mediate a solution to the rising violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
He has invited the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, and Syria's foreign minister, Farouk Shara, to visit Moscow this month, and he is working with Arab leaders to push for an end to United Nations sanctions against Iraq in return for greater compliance with resolutions demanding a resumption of weapons inspections.
Also, as the Bush administration has temporarily withdrawn from active diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula, Mr. Putin is expected to meet with Kim Jong Il this month in an effort - now joined by the European Union - to persuade the mercurial North Korean leader to agree to reconciliation with South Korea and to abandon the ballistic missile program that has been cited by Washington as a large part of its motivation for developing a missile defense.
At the same time, Mr. Putin is strengthening Moscow's bonds with Europe, Russia announced Thursday that it had opened discussions with the European Union to cooperate with the independent European defense force being formed outside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. (**)
Mr. Putin was invited to European talks last month in Stockholm, and European leaders will gather for another summit meeting in Moscow in May.
Javier Solana, the EU's top diplomat, said here that a "strategic partnership" was being shaped up with Russia "in a very rapid manner and a very profound manner," most notably in the area of crisis management.
In his first year in office, Mr. Putin may have set a record for miles logged by a Russian or Soviet leader, with more than 18 foreign trips, not to mention a record-setting amount of travel within Russia.
Much of his energy has been directed at cleaning up Soviet-era debts and at opening markets for Russia's nearly bankrupt heavy industries.
What initially sent Mr. Putin into motion last June was the prospect of a decision by President Bill Clinton on whether to start building a national missile defense system in violation of a 1972 treaty banning such systems.
That decision was deferred after Mr. Putin helped to galvanize opposition.
Mr. Bush, by contrast, has resisted an active American role in the Balkan conflicts and the Middle East peace effort. He has made clear that the United States will involve itself only where it sees American interests directly threatened.
His presidency has introduced a distinctly negative tone toward Russia, amplified by a contentious espionage dispute and policy debates that seem headed toward a significant downgrading of relations.
In response, Mr. Putin has moved closer to Europe, he has taken an important step toward settling a long-standing dispute with Japan over the Kuril Islands chain and he has sought to open significant new trading links with Asia.
"I think he has made an incredibly effective use of the vacuum of policy we have in the United States, and he has been playing a weak hand rather strongly," said Michael McFaul, a specialist on Russia at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington who recently took a sampling of European views on U.S.-$ Russian relations.
"There are a lot of people around the world not too enamored with the Americans right now," Mr. McFaul said.
"The Europeans see this too, and they are waiting for a response from Washington."
Mr. Putin's diplomacy is also about money.
In Korea, Mr. Putin hopes that reconciliation between North and South will allow the opening of a new rail transport corridor crossing the two countries to connect the ports of Asia with Europe via the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
That would bolster Russia's internal markets along the way.
In Iran, where sales of equipment by Russia have brought U.S. opposition, Moscow predicts that it will sell at least three nuclear power plants at the existing Bushehr site and two coal-fired power plants elsewhere.
Russian arms industries also hope to win contracts to rebuild Iran's air defense network and its conventional armed forces, devastated in the Iran-Iraq War of 1980 to 1988.
While critics point to the danger of selling arms that could be turned on Russia, Mr. Putin contends that Moscow can help bring Iran out of its isolation, something the United States has long sought to achieve.
Mr. Putin has taken care to emphasize that his goal is a constructive dialogue with Washington.
In a recent interview, he told Russian journalists that he was not trying to re-create the old Soviet alliances against the United States.
Russia's foreign policy, he said, "will not include any great power chauvinism."
He declared that he considered the United States "one of our major partners."
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(**) Told you so.... Message 15592240 |
