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Global Antiterrorism and You
// What the Italian Crisis Means for Europe
Since the Second World War, Italian governments have lived short and stormy lives. Romano Prodi's cabinet is the 61st to govern Italy since 1945, meaning that the average lifespan of an Italian government is approximately one year. That's not long by anyone's standards. Given that Mr. Prodi has led his cabinet for a whole nine months, in Italian terms his government is already getting on in years. In general, it would be nothing new if Mr. Prodi's government went down in history after next week.
So what is interesting in the story of the little Italian government that could, that just narrowly avoided being edged into retirement, is not the crisis in the government itself, but its cause. And the conclusion is simple: Romano Prodi almost became yet another political victim of America's global antiterrorist campaign, which began in Afghanistan in 2001 and is continuing in Iraq.
For the support that they have given to President Bush over the last few years, European leaders have paid a high price. The right-wing Spanish leader Jose Maria Aznar lost his seat as the head of the cabinet. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has lost his halo and is now being brushed aside as a lame duck. Finally, the antiwar mood in Italy cost Romano Prodi's predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi, his seat as prime minister, since Mr. Berlusconi never agonized over whether or not to send troops to Afghanistan and Iraq.
The next in line was Romano Prodi, who really should not have had to pay for someone else's mistakes. After all, the hash that has been made out of Afghanistan and Iraq wasn't made on his watch. In addition, Mr. Prodi has made no small effort over the last year to distance himself from his predecessor's politics, which sent Italian troops to Iraq last year. However, when he succumbed to the sway of transatlantic cooperation and tried to continue Italian participation in the international contingent in Afghanistan, it almost meant his resignation. Which is easy to explain. Although the international force in Afghanistan has a UN mandate, the NATO peacekeeping operation in the country looks upon Italy as President Bush's little baby. And there's no way to change that perception.
Basically, the animosity in the Italian parliament towards President Bush was vented at Prime Minister Prodi. And the Italian government crisis has exposed a fundamental problem of Europe as a whole: the growing demarcation along the lines of what relationship to have with overseas allies. If "New Europe" – Poland and the Czech Republic – still insist on proving their loyalty to Washington and not only stay in Iraq but allow the American missile defense system to be expanded onto their territory, "Old Europe" will attempt to do everything in its power to make sure that its politics are not considered "pro-American." But under those circumstances, is it even possible to have a unified foreign policy for all of Europe? The crisis in Italy has shown that it is doomed to become the next victim of the global antiterrorist campaign.
Sergey Strokan
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 26, 2007
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