Meloni, Putin, And Italy Going Polish

Italy's Tragic History

Our recent brief comments about Italy’s new PM, Giorgia Meloni, have sparked quite a bit of discussion, from varying perspectives. I suggested that many of Meloni’s supporters would feel betrayed by Meloni’s adamantly pro-NATO stand—a stand that caused her to publicly rebuke a senior coalition member who views Putin as a friend. My view was that, since Meloni ran on a platform of Homeland, Family, and God, her obeisance to the globalist and godless West—of which NATO is the military arm—would appear to be a betrayal of those principles, no matter what her positions in the past had been. Other commenters disagreed and maintained that Meloni was in a tough position and had no choice but to bow to NATO

Any way you slice it, it has to be humiliating:

Alexander Mckay @WRAMckay

The "populist" dutifully grovels before the imperial overlord.

Today at The Saker there is a lengthy article that goes into all of these issues, as well as a lot of Italian history. I found it enlightening and want to recommend it:

Giorgia’s Tragedy: On Italy Going Polish

Giorgia’s tragedy is also Italy’s. That might be a fair summary, but the article is far too lengthy to summarize. However, among other interesting insights, this short passage caught my attention:

Frodo is indeed the most tragic character in the Lord of the Rings. He belongs to the shire and goodness. Yet he’s also got curiosity and adventurousness that are unusual for Hobbits, even if still not enough to subvert his life. Finally, the occasion comes, and the harmony is broken: Frodo must bear the burden of the ring straight through the desolation of Mordor.

Giorgia Meloni knows the story by heart. She even used to dress up as a Hobbit and write fiction inspired by the LotR. The summer schools of the right-wing youth movement she belonged to and led for a time were called “Hobbit camps”. …

…

Like the LotR, Italian politics is no comforting fairy tale since at least the times of Machiavelli. …

…

The history I have recalled so far should suffice to realize that no one can fancy any real power in Italy without US permission. …

…

So Giorgia would not last a day if she were to take any stance on Ukraine, except for unconditional obedience. Is she feigning? …

…

Yet until recently, she defended Russia and Putin’s actions, even concerning Crimea. What is she doing now, then? I believe she has somewhat changed her mind. …

…

So, what will happen to her? Like with Frodo, I’m mostly concerned with her person. I have watched countless interviews of hers, including in informal settings – when she was asked about her pregnancy in 2016, for instance. I believe her to be a decent person, or at least not to be as evil and cynical as the average politician. I also believe her to be bright, prudent, and strong-willed. Yet in politics as in life, the distinction good-evil is more complex than in fairy tales and Hollywood movies, as exemplified by the havoc these latter and the simplistic narrative of the “Axis of Evil” brought on the masses worldwide.

As the great Solzhenitsyn has it:

“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”

The reality – or I should say the tragedy – of politics is much more resemblant to the epic yet shadowy universe of Tolkien. And the battle in Giorgia’s heart has begun already before the election. …

…

The same people who voted for her are mostly contrary to sanctions, as are the majority of Italians, and many – like me – are even pro-Russian. …

…

In personal terms, Giorgia is much more similar to Putin than to her newly found NATO groomers. Grown up in a modest family, abandoned by her father at the age of one – he was later arrested for drug trafficking in Spain – Giorgia fought all her life while preserving her Christian values. She does not exhibit rosaries, icons, and crosses: in this, she differs starkly from Salvini. And while she is not as debauched as Berlusconi, she is no strict nun either. She is not married; her partner is much more liberal than her. Yet she invites representatives of her party to embrace a sober lifestyle. Only a few hours ago, she declared “we are no monsters nor populists: we are realists” at VOX’s convention, where she intervened together with Trump, Orbán and Morawiecki.

This resonates interestingly with Pope Benedict XVI’s (appreciative) assessment of Putin in his book Final Conversations:

“Our meeting (Benedict XVI and Putin’s) was interesting. We spoke in German, and he knows it perfectly. We did not undertake deep discussions, but I believe that he – while a powerful man – is touched by the necessity of faith. He is a realist. He sees that Russia suffers the destruction of morality. Also as a patriot, as a person who wants to bring it back to its role of great power, he understands that the destruction of Christianity threatens to destroy it as well. He is aware that man needs God, and certainly, he is intimately touched by Him. Even now, when he presented Pope Francis with an icon, he first crossed himself and kissed it.”

Meloni and Putin are both believers who do not parade religion – Putin decried requests for a “spiritual strip-tease” – but at the same time, they realize it cannot be dissociated from politics either. Hence their closeness on the territory of morals. A comparison between Giorgia’s trademark speech and the part of Putin’s programmatic speech Andrei judges the most important and radical (the one including the denunciation of Western Satanism) is striking:

Giorgia:

“Why is the family an enemy?… Because it is our identity… so they attack national identity, they attack religious identity, they attack gender identity, they attack family identity. I can’t define myself as Italian, Christian, woman, mother. No. I must be citizen x, gender x, parent 1, parent 2. I must be a number. Because when I am only a number, when I no longer have an identity or roots, then I will be the perfect slave at the mercy of financial speculators. The perfect consumer…. We want to defend the value of the human being. Every single human being, because each of us has a unique genetic code that is unrepeatable. And like it or not, that is sacred. We will defend it. We will defend God, country and family… Because we will never be slaves and simple consumers at the mercy of financial speculators… I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am Christian, you won’t take it from me.” (English translation by Mercatornet).

Putin:

“Let me repeat that the dictatorship of the Western elites targets all societies, including the citizens of Western countries themselves. This is a challenge to all. This complete renunciation of what it means to be human, the overthrow of faith and traditional values, and the suppression of freedom are coming to resemble a “religion in reverse” – pure Satanism… Let’s answer some very simple questions for ourselves. Now I would like to return to what I said and want to address also all citizens of the country – not just the colleagues that are in the hall – but all citizens of Russia: do we want to have here, in our country, in Russia, “parent number one, parent number two and parent number three” (they have completely lost it!) instead of mother and father? Do we want our schools to impose on our children, from their earliest days in school, perversions that lead to degradation and extinction? Do we want to drum into their heads the ideas that certain other genders exist along with women and men and to offer them gender reassignment surgery? Is that what we want for our country and our children? This is all unacceptable to us. We have a different future of our own.”

How could two so like-minded people end up not only on opposing sides, but actively waging war against each other? Especially in the deadly political environment created by the Western Empire, where the Resistance, the defenders of such simple truths – men and women… – are persecuted into supporting each other?

People familiar with European politics will immediately notice that this is not the first context where such a question is raised. It is the same situation as Poland. …

There’s lots more, but I hope that will whet your appetite. Much that it could teach us, perhaps, about our own politics. And identity as a nation.