++ [ originally posted by Kaiser Franco ] ++
Wow Pado relax. When I said things remained unadressed I wasn't referring to the 350 mil in particular. I know Americans rather give through private channels than through the gov't or God forbid the UN. It was more of a general statement, but whatever. Sometimes we don't address some points because we don't want to start another never-ending argument, and I guess that's just what you were doing there. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought up the Christian Democracy either, or at least I should have put it differently as to not make you believe that I actually like them, which I don’t. But regardless, here’s my take on the subject.
Unfortunately nothing has changed in Sicily. If only, Forza Italia has resumed the good old (Christian democrat-inspired) tradition of appeasement with Cosa Nostra, maybe even taking it to a new level. Today Forza Italia owns SIXTY-ONE seats out of SIXTY ONE in the region’s electoral college. I should check the stats, but I don’t think anyone has ever managed to do that before, even the DC in its peak years. You don’t hear about Cosa Nostra too much these days, or at least you don’t hear it waging a war against the gov’t, and that usuallly means that things are rolling for them. They are all too happy to give their votes to the ruling party while being allowed to carry on with business in return. Even more than Dalla Chiesa, I think it's the memory of those real Italian heroes 10 + years ago, judges Falcone and Borsellino, that is being desecrated today . It’s as if all the good work they’ve done has gone up in smoke and they died for nothing. In the late 80’s/early 90’s things really seemed to take a new turn for a moment. The mafia was finally losing some of its invulnerability (for the first time some of the big guns started collaborating and the mega-trial – "maxiprocesso" - in Palermo’s bunker court sent quite a few of their colleagues behind bars). So much that, like a wounded beast, Cosa Nostra had to respond through a bloodshed and assassinated the judges. Now when did the mafia feel so encircled as to have to resort to eliminating them ? That’s right, in 1992, i.e. right after the collapse of all the traditional political parties through Tangentopoli (i.e. Bribesville), starting with the Socialist Party and of course the Christian democrats, and when the ex-communists, which had been kept at bay for the entire Cold War, finally had a say in governmental matters. So yeah, as long as the Christian democracy was the biggest party in Italy’s political life (i.e. pretty much uninterruptedly from 1948 to 1991), life was less complicated for Cosa Nostra. But for all his cunning and enigmatic personality, I can't believe for one second that Andreotti (the 7 time Christian democrat PM who according to Kissinger was one of the most intelligent men in the world, for those reading) has been kissing the cheeks of the boss of all bosses, Totò Riina, during a trip to Sicily, as the legend goes. While I have no doubt that many a Christian democrat in Sicily were directly collaborating with the mafia, few of them have been held accountable and likely never will, whereas Andreotti has been the object of a proper public lynching and demonization exercise that was uncalled for but which had to be expected (even if he was actually acquitted), considering the timing of his accusation (the early 90's) and since he has simply been the most influential political figure in Italy for decades (that is when he said that "power corrupts only those who don’t have any" btw). So no the DC never gave an apology and didn't need to reconcile with its past, because by definition politicians never apologise and never learn from their mistakes (did the communists turned centre-left who are now in the opposition reconcile with their past? Didn't think so) and because, well, the Christian Democracy simply doesn’t exist anymore…
PS : Little Italy is total crap. Sell it to Chinatown.
PSS : Andy, ok then. Sorry but Im lacking time and I think we pretty much agree now so I don’t have much to add.
PSSS : Emma, so are you for real ?
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