American Murders and Italian Pride

Dear Americans,

Now you have to shut up and listen. Italians are some of your best friends. Not only because we contributed to build America, but because we continue to believe in it. Our ties go back to Cristoforo Colombo, if you see what I mean.

But now you really upset us. I am confident you upset the vast majority of italians. You managed to unite an historically (banana) split nation over one issue: the murder of Calipari.

What really went on is fairly clear by now. Mistakes have been done on both sides. Italy has not properly informed the US forces, because of your absolute opposition to paying ransoms. The US officers, on their side, showed a considerable lack of expertise. They made this accident possible, when it clearly was avoidable.

What is really upsetting is your attitude. You must accept that you do not have the monopoly of the truth; nor you have the monopoly of democracy and rule of law. There are verious way of letting democracy spring, and you do not always choose the most appropriate, let's face it.

Moreover, you must be able to understand that to be your ally is not easy. The way you treat us, and other allies, is often bully. This is wrong. You must be able to listen, and follow the advice of your friends. It is of no use to seek for our help, if you don't cherish the most important part of it: wise words of disagreement. And you must be able to accept our discontent, when you do not behave up to your standards.

Previous accidents happened. Other accidents will happen again. Of course, there was no plan to kill Calipari. But this is beside the point. You cannot deny everything and complacently attempt to justify what happened, and pronounce a self-pardon. We do not like that. It is far from the behaviour that we would expect from a country that believes to be the political leader of the world.

Leadership has its own rules. It is not because you are de facto very powerful that your action will be backed by moral authority. To the contrary, a leader should understand when it is time to give orders and when it is time to apologize and make up for tragic mistakes.

I hope you understand,
in faith LZ