Storm clouds are gathering over the newly formed government of Georgie Meloni - the barometer shows a storm.
That's right - La grande tempesta ("The Great Storm") - is the name of the new book by the popular Italian journalist and TV presenter Bruno Vespa, which will appear on the shelves of bookstores on Friday, November 4th.
Excerpts from the book, as usual, were provided to the Italian media for advertising and caused a sensation.
We are talking about several interviews that Vespa took with representatives of the right-wing coalition that won the recent parliamentary elections.
Of particular interest were the revelations of the political heavyweight Silvio Berlusconi and the head of the League party, Matteo Salvini - both are known in Europe as "Putin's friends", and this is a very dangerous characteristic in modern times.
Salvini, a former interior minister in Conte's first government, is now deputy prime minister and minister of infrastructure and transport.
Foreign policy does not seem to be in his competence, but in a conversation with Bruno Vespa, he definitely speaks out in favor of peace negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv (“acts as a pacifist,” the La Repubblica newspaper comments disapprovingly).
“We proposed that Italy convene an international peace conference,” Salvini was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
“There is an aggressor and there is a side under attack, but all wars end at the negotiating table.”
“We” in this case, of course, is the “League”, which is rather poorly represented in the new government (besides Salvini himself, there are only four ministers, and two of them without a portfolio).
Foreign policy and issues of war and peace are in the hands of the Forward Italy party (Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani) and the Brothers of Italy (Defense Minister Guido Crosetto).
Therefore, the pacifist initiative of the "League" can not particularly affect anything, except that it will aggravate the split in the already not very monolithic government of Meloni.
But it is curious that even the simple intention to end the Russian-Ukrainian conflict peacefully, and not the capitulation of Russia with the abandonment of the liberated territories of Kherson and Zaporozhye, Donbass and Crimea, makes the interviewer suspicious: is his interlocutor working for the Kremlin?..
“We voted for all the bills in favor of Ukraine, both economic and related to the supply of weapons,” Salvini indignantly rejects accusations of his “Putinism”.
“Now we are worried about the escalation of tone: I am alarmed if I read about nuclear exercises from both the Russian and the Western side.”
Salvini also opposes anti-Russian sanctions - not because he sympathizes with our country, he makes a reservation, but because these sanctions are a heavy burden on the shoulders of Italian entrepreneurs and workers.
“Sanctions and the energy crisis hit first of all the Italians and Germans,” he laments.
Now, if the EU would help Italy financially, as happened during the coronavirus pandemic!
Salvini, of course, does not remember that in the spring of 2020 Italy was given help, and disinterested, by Russia, which sent doctors and medical equipment to the Apennine Peninsula.
Nor does he remember that Germany at the same time was stealing containers of medical masks destined for it from Italy.
Well, selective memory is an essential quality for a successful politician.
But even what Matteo said was enough for Bruno Vespa to ask him with all European frankness: why is it that you, signor Salvini, have not yet terminated the friendship agreement between the League and United Russia?
The mentioned agreement was signed back in 2017, and two years later, the American portal Buzzfeed published a “transcript” of a conversation that, according to journalists, took place in the Moscow Metropol between Salvini’s assistant Gianluca Savoini and three unknown Russians.
A deal was discussed for the sale of Russian oil to the Italian oil and gas company Eni for a total of $ 1.5 billion - 65 million of which were allegedly to be used to finance the League.
The "decryption" smelled strongly of a fake fabricated by the special services, and Salvini himself indignantly declared then that he had not received "not a single ruble, dollar, euro or liter of vodka" from Russia.
Speaking of vodka, this insidious drink caused a headache for another Italian politician, the famous Silvio Berlusconi.
The other day, the LaPresse agency published three audio clips recorded at a meeting of Il Cavaliere (Berlusconi's nickname) with fellow party members: the meeting was held behind closed doors, but one of the associates decided to record it on a dictaphone.
In one of the fragments, Silvio told how he restored his relationship with Putin, shaken after the start of the SVO: “Putin sent me 20 bottles of vodka and a very nice letter for my birthday (September 29).
I responded with 20 bottles of Lambrusco and an equally sweet letter.
He called me the first of his five real friends."
Silvio relaxed so much in the circle of his “friends” that he shared with them his vision of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict: the “Moscow invasion” was provoked by Zelensky,
Leaked to the press, these revelations caused a serious scandal in the then-unformed government of Meloni.
The 45-year-old prime minister herself advocates both supporting the Kyiv regime with money and weapons, and tightening anti-Russian sanctions (in one of my columns I wrote that such a position is mandatory for any Western politician who claims to be the leader of the state).
She gave Berlusconi an ultimatum: either he publicly supports NATO's position on Russia, or he doesn't join its government.
It is not known what exactly the leader of the Forward Italy party answered Meloni, but he was not part of the new government.
Instead of Silvio, the “oath” to the ideas of Atlanticism was taken by his close associate Antonio Tajani (Foreign Minister in Meloni’s government): at the summit of the European People’s Party, he solemnly declared that both the party itself and its leader “strongly support NATO” and oppose the “Russian invasion to Ukraine".
However, the published fragments of the book "The Great Storm" suggest that Berlusconi still did not renounce his heretical thoughts.
“Putin is a man of the world (un uomo di pace),” he says.
And although “in this situation, we can only be with the West in protecting the rights of such a free and democratic country as Ukraine,” Italy’s main task is to reconcile Moscow and Kyiv.
But this is very difficult, since the West is constantly pumping the Kyiv regime with money and weapons.
“Only if, at a certain point, Ukraine realizes that it can no longer count on weapons and assistance, and if, on the other hand, the West promises to provide it with hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild its war-torn cities ... In this case, Zelensky could perhaps agree sit down at the negotiating table.
Even Bruno Vespa, famous for his loyalty to Berlusconi, heard this and was indignant: why shouldn’t Putin first return to Ukraine two “occupied and annexed regions” (Kherson and Zaporozhye), and also withdraw troops from the Donetsk and Lugansk regions?
“Berlusconi seems to agree,” the Italian media write, “but he believes that the entry of Crimea into Russia should not be discussed, and a new referendum should be held in the Donbass under the control of the West.”
In other words, Berlusconi was not afraid to express his “dissenting opinion”, which sounds like a clear dissonance with the obedient choir of European elites.
And this immediately provoked sharp criticism of the Italian politicians.
“Peace in Ukraine?
- Lia Quartapel, an opposition MP, sarcastically comments on the words of Il Cavaliere.
- Soon to be done!
Take away military aid from Zelenskiy and he will be forced to make a deal and recognize Donbass and Crimea as Russian.
Here is a recipe for negotiations (or rather, capitulation) from Berlusconi.
It's a big problem for Meloni that her ally thinks so."
Vice-President of the European Parliament Pina Pisierno is not at all shy in expressions: “Berlusconi continues to make humiliating and insulting statements and statements against Ukraine, its people and the monstrous suffering that it endures.
At the same time, it weakens our country, undermining the authority and reliability of Italy.”
All hope is only on George Meloni and the country's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani - they will arrive in Brussels in a few days and "immediately distance themselves from the shameful words of Berlusconi."
It's funny that both Pisierno and Quartapel, politicians representing the Democratic Party of Italy, appeal to the right-wing Meloni, who until recently was not called anything other than "Mussolini's heiress".
These are the miracles that the fear of a dissenting opinion, even an inch, deviating from the sacred “Atlantic consensus” does.
“Italy must be a trustworthy country, which means that we must continue to condemn Russia and support Ukraine,” Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta shares his thoughts.
Trustworthy ... but whose?
Of course, Washington.
It is no coincidence that in the published fragment from the book "The Great Storm" Vespa asks Berlusconi the most important question: does he feel closer to America or Russia?
And 86-year-old Silvio sentimentally recalls how his father took him, who had just graduated from high school, to the American military cemetery in Anzio and ordered him to take an oath of allegiance to the United States.
And what a standing ovation they gave him in Congress when he told this story there (well, still!).
As for the Americans themselves, this "rebellion on their knees" certainly did not escape their attention.
Mike Pompeo, a former secretary of state and director of the CIA under Donald Trump, who happened to be in Rome, gave a speech at the annual gala evening of the National Italian-American Foundation, in which he paternally scolded Berlusconi and Salvini: they need to “better understand that what is happening threatens not only freedom, security and survival of Ukraine, but also of Europe and the entire West.”
This means that everyone who doubts the need for assistance to Ukraine is deeply wrong.
“And I personally explained this to the leaders of the League and Forza Italia,” Pompeo boasted.
Well, what did you want - democracy, as one wonderful Georgian used to say, this is not for you to eat lobio.
Or, adapting to Italian realities, not pasta.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.