Things I write in English
The clash between the Pope and Donald Trump has brought about, on the part of the left, a wave of sympathy for the Pope, who is seen by some as the only “global political party” capable of mounting a real opposition to Trump, rather than merely commenting on his moves.
I have always had a tendency to move not a single finger toward solving a problem until I have grasped its nature, and—above all—until I am certain I understood the mechanism I was about to meddle with. For this reason I regard the idea of “move fast, break things” with deep suspicion: it is not a matter of taste, but the fact that, in most cases, it sounds like a winking version of sloppiness.
In Italy, there has just been an investigation that found a kind of high-end escort network circulating through Milan’s nightlife, employed mainly by sportsmen, footballers, and other millionaires passing through.
Before embarking on a discussion of a thorny and potentially divisive subject, it is only fair—and, I would say, intellectually honest—to make my bias explicit from the outset, rather than letting it emerge implicitly along the way. When it comes to religion, my more “polite,” measured formulation is this: I regard it as the right answer given to the wrong question—a construction that may possess its own internal coherence, yet ultimately rests upon premises that I do not share.
Contrary to what you might think, this post does not intend to discuss whether there are nuclear weapons in Iran, or whether Iran is in the process of building them. On the contrary, I would simply like to talk about how, if the enemy is the United States—or great powers in general—building nuclear weapons is, quite simply, the most foolish choice possible. It means choosing to fight superpowers on the very terrain where they are strongest.
Italian newspapers have given extensive coverage to the visit by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who traveled to several Arab countries to discuss ways of ensuring the flow of oil to Italy. Yet only a handful of Italian outlets have paid attention to the reactions published in the (limited) English-language Arab press. And the most common question has been: “Why is a Western country coming to ask for help against actions carried out by the West itself?”