Analysis by Joe Schaeffer, 247 Real News
We don't pretend to be experts on Italian politics. Nevertheless, the similarities with fake populist Republicans here in America is unmistakable. The warning message: for a deeply unpopular ruling elite, the best way to remain in power at the moment may be to subvert and control the public backlash roiling against it.
It would appear odd on the surface that the ruling establishment's propaganda units seem to be enjoying the rise of "far-right" Italian politician Giorgia Meloni. As big-box stalwart Politico wrote last month:
Crucial to Meloni’s success is that she represents the traditional nationalist right better than [rival Matteo] Salvini, and that she has remained out of government, said [University of Surrey professor Danielle] Albertazzi. “It doesn’t mean she will be successful three or four years from now,” he added. “But this is her moment.”
Numerous other outlets are echoing that last sentence: Giorgia Meloni’s time has arrived. This alone should be cause for skepticism. And, indeed, a review of Meloni shows as much red flags flying as can be found with a hedge fund multi-millionaire posing as an America First devotee on this side of the Atlantic.For an alleged “far right” fanatical nationalist who smacks of Mussolinian fascism, Meloni has a highly disturbing habit of speaking the international language of globalism. Here is how she described her support for the progressive ruling establishment globalist crusade in Ukraine:
“I am backing this because Italy should not abandon its international allies,” she told [UK newspaper] The Times. “I think Italy should show it is a faithful, solid and credible ally, above and beyond the Ukrainian cause, which I support.”
The Italian Post quoted her remarks to Italian television station Sky TG24 on the subject in February. This is indistinguishable from what a member of the Biden administration would say in dropping gobbledygook about preserving the “rules-based international order”:“I believe that the violation of the territorial integrity of a nation, also European, is unacceptable against which the community must react: this is the position of [her political party] the Brothers of Italy,” said Meloni, referring to what is happening in Ukraine. "Russia is certainly a nation very close to the European dimension on a cultural level, but this does not detract from international law and the fact that Italy, which is part of the Atlantic Alliance, today must firmly, without hesitation, reaffirm that positioning and do everything that can be done to defend international law."
Antony Blinken or Jake Sullivan couldn’t have said it better:“We are always for respect for the rules and for loyalty with our international allies who are part of the Atlantic alliance. Indeed, our parliamentarians who spoke today signaled that if Italy wanted to be more central, credible and more considered, perhaps it should respect constraints," continued the leader of the Brothers of Italy, explaining that Italy should contribute more to defense costs as part of its membership of NATO.
"Far-right nationalists" also are not in the habit of joining internationalist think tanks. Yet Meloni is a member of the notorious Aspen Institute. See picture 3 accompanying this article from The Aspen Institute Italia website. Just like a plugged-in RINO here at home, Meloni was invited to speak at CPAC. Italian news site Formiche reported in February 2021:Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the right-wing Brothers of Italy party, is on a star-spangled roll. Rumors obtained by Formiche.net say she might participate, either online or in person, to the next Conservative political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, although her name isn’t on the guest list yet....
If Ms. Meloni does participate, this latest development is yet another step on the American ladder she has been building for some time. A few weeks ago, she became a member of the Aspen Institute, the powerful and influential American think tank led by the political veteran and academic Giulio Tremonti. The halls of Aspen’s Roman division are crossed by all sorts of heavyweight thinkers and leaders, including [Joe] Biden during his tenure as Barack Obama‘s Vice-President.
Meloni did speak at CPAC this year, where she stressed a generic need to be “conservative,” oppose “cancel culture” and defend Christmas, while again stating her strong support for “the side of international law.”It’s the RINO GOP primary playbook and Meloni was reciting it word for word. Formiche laid out Meloni’s carefully crafted strategy to cement her status in the European conservative mainstream. The pattern should be familiar to anyone who has observed the careerist American conservative politician in his natural element:
In September 2020, she became chairwoman of the European Conservatives and Reformist party, the 10th biggest European political family. She explained this by distancing herself from her former flat-out Euroscepticism and embracing the idea that she could best defend the Italian’s interests from within the European institutions....
She is walking a fine line between keeping true to her party’s right-wing ideologies and enhancing them with the international alliances and support that are necessary to become a truly palatable (and effective) global leader.
The bigger picture emerging is that of an internationally savvy politician, one who has understood the limits of extreme nationalism and anti-establishment positions and who is weaving a global web of influence.
Ms. Meloni’s strengthening American ties show that she pictures herself as part of the global congress of institutional conservatives, and might also dampen the “anti-institutional” blowback that rejecting the Draghi government might have brought onto her. Her entrance in the Aspen Institute signals that she has dropped the anti-establishment, anti-“powers-that-be” populist rhetoric, and mark her as a trustworthy, well-connected thinking head.
A May Bloomberg article also touched on the curious gymnastics of the woman whose “party sprang from the ashes of fascism,” as the dominant media outlet so luridly put it. Question: Does the world really need a right-wing Tony Blair?Meloni is now the only real political star untainted by the machinations of the sistema. She’s learned lessons from the failure of the hardcore euroskepticism of [Marine] Le Pen and Salvini — indeed, she’d distanced herself from Le Pen, well before the French elections. Meloni’s positioned herself as a new type of conservative, calling herself “a right wing” Tony Blair. If that's confusing, it's probably intended to be. Many of Meloni's positions are contradictory. She knows Italy needs European Union funds, hence the softer anti-EU stance. But she remains openly opposed to immigration and against European federalism. An unmarried mother, she presents herself as a defender of Christian, traditional family values.
Meloni is supposedly ardently pro-life yet she is already wobbling on getting rid of Italy's notorious Act 194, which legalized abortion in the overwhelmingly Catholic country in 1978, in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned in the U.S. MercatorNet reports:Meanwhile the leader of Fratelli d’Italia, a right-wing party is hedging her bets. Giorgia Meloni says that she isn’t working for the abolition of Act 194, but rather wants to see its first part, concerning abortion prevention, honored. She also points out that the American situation was very different from Italy’s, where abortion is allowed by a law voted by the parliament and not by a court ruling.
A stridently anti-right article that appeared in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper in July 2021 convincingly portrays Meloni as a total political opportunist on the gravely important issue of COVID social tyranny:Earlier this month, Italy introduced a "green pass" for vaccinated people, a requirement for entry into restaurants, bars, museums and other public venues. Meloni panned it as a move that "limits the freedom of citizens, further devastates the economy and de facto introduces a vaccine mandate."
In various tweets she’s called the decision "dangerous and discriminatory" and described the green pass as an "unconstitutional folly" and "the final step on the road to the creation of an Orwellian society." For the Brothers of Italy, Meloni declares, individual freedom is "scared and inviolable."
This is the same politician who, as recently as this March, wrote a panegyric to the green pass idea: "Why doesn’t the EU Commission request an emergency procedure to the EU Parliament to approve the digital green pass? The green pass is the first step to eliminating the obstacles to free movement that have so damaged our economy, especially the tourism sector. It’s a tool that should be implemented as soon as possible."
Accused of hypocrisy, Meloni grabbed the goalposts and relocated them. She claimed she supported a different green pass – one that allowed international travel – but that she was against, had always been against, would always be against, a green pass that limits access to venues within the country.
On this topic, Meloni once again apes the party line language of the progressive ruling establishment:In 2018, discussing vaccine mandates, she wrote the following tweet, which has since been deleted, but had been archived by some savvy Italian media observers.
"On vaccines we need to have the humility of trusting the scientific community," Meloni said then. "I think going back would be a mistake. It’s a topic that must not be dealt with on an ideological level: let those who are competent decide which vaccines are necessary and mandatory."
The progressive ruling establishment crosses all borders. Which is to be expected considering its chief aim is to abolish those boundaries to erect its one-world order. Joe Biden, Pierre Trudeau, Emmanuel Macron are all essentially indistinguishable in this regard. Each is the same flavor of servant on behalf of one grand overarching agenda.America First advocates therefore should have a keen desire to see populist nationalism thrive in countries around the world. In order to truly oppose that which is being planned, however, authentic representatives of freedom and sovereignty must arise here and abroad.
Unfortunately, the ruling establishment is all too aware of this fact as well. Controlling the reaction against it is and has always been a powerful weapon in the arsenal of tyranny.
Free Press International
