CIA Kidnapping Trial Update

It appears that the case over the kidnapping of the imam, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, known as Abu Omar, was suspended yesterday. The judge has ruled that they must await the ruling of the case that the government holds against prosecuters for allegedly overstepping privacy laws and using illegal wire taps.

It seems that Prodi has managed to devert this case successfully so far. It is just interesting that he isn't bashing Berlusconi for having drummed this up which would make for an easy target as Prodi is losing popularity fast. Prodi must have supported it within his reign as well. Therefore, there must be more than meets the eye between the White House and Prodi relations.

Italy Puts US CIA Agents on Trial

As if there isn't enough scandal for Prodi and Bush, Italy is now attempting to call the US secret program of "extraordinary rendition" a crime. The alleged program takes terrorist suspects and detains them in foreign nations and is alleged to torture prisoners.

The program has included Romania and Poland from 2003 to 2005 according to Council of Europe human rights investigator Dick Marty. Italy and Germany had complied with the program at the time and had not revealed the information in fear of breaking relations with the US.

The case involves the abduction and sudden disappearance of Egyptian Imam Osama Mustafa Hassan Nasr that was released in February of this year after 4 years of detention. He was moved to Egypt for detention where he claims to have been tortured.

It appears for Italy, now that things are open, it is time to attack the US. Prime Minister Prodi and his government are attempting to derail the case, however. Prodi accuses Chief Prosecutor Spataro of overstepping state secrecy laws and putting secret Italian security practices at risk.

Not only are 25 US CIA agents charged, which the US will not release to Italy, but at least 5 Italians are charged as well. This includes Chief of Military Intelligence Nicolo Pollari.

In the hearings today, the judge threw out using former Prime Minister Berlusconi and current PM Prodi as witnesses for the case. However, it would seem that at least their top aids are not free from this case.

It will be interesting what this case will make public, how this will impact Prodi's sudden instability amid mutliple scandals and a visit from US President Bush, and to US/Italian relations that have been strained as of late. One is US anger is that the Italians have refused to offer more troops to Afghanistan.

Bush's arrival may have more relevance than to chat about G8 issues and Afghanistan, and it may have a lot to do with this case.

Italy in the 2007 G8 Summit

Putin, Blair, and Prodi satired as in the famed Italian childhood story Pinocchio.

Italy is considered the worst offender in not meeting their G8 agreements in a study by the University of Toronto. It will be interesting to see what Prodi agrees to as his opinion polls are languishing and he has to work together with the highly unpopular George W. Bush.




Bush arrives in Rome today for the first time in 3 years and will be there through the weekend before heading to Germany for the summit. Some of Prodi's ministers are considering protesting Bush's presence.

Meanwhile, Prodi's government is "on the brink of collapse".

Italy won't be fully under the spot light as the US will be in vetoing climate action plans. Additionally, Germany will claim a lot of the media attention in hosting the summit. The next G8 summit will be in Italy in 2009.

The only apparent attention that Italy has received is criticism of avoiding African aid by U2's Bono. Italy owes $350 million USD and hasn't paid it's share of African aid for 2006 or 2007. Prodi promised to pay $540 million USD next year.

Croatian/Italian Relations Revisited

It appears that Croatian/Italian relations have improved as of late with multiple indicators. Recently, relations were strained as Italians revisited grievances of WWII. Economic trade has been applauded on both sides, Prodi has defended Croatian EU acceptance, and Napolitano and Mesic have publically just declared that the WWII past is behind them and prior treaties still hold.

Why the sudden change? Was this a negotiation tactic for something greater? Did the Italians see their concessions as inevitable as the post WWII treaty already addressed the compensation of the war? Did the Italians win something more?

The regional summit meeting that just occured in Czech Republic may have had unsaid additional items that we may come to find out sooner than later. In the meantime, this brings good news to Croatian EU membership supporters.

How Much Longer In Afghanistan?

From the IHT:

The Afghan government has taken over the management of hospitals run by an Italian aid group that pulled its international workers to protest the detention of a staff member by authorities, an official said Thursday.

It appears that even after the Italian NGO "Emergency" left their posts in protest to the death sentencing of the Afghan translator and aid for the freeing of the Italian journalist Mastrogiacomo, their posts were quickly filled by the Afghan government. This does bode as a good sign for Afghanistan as they are not negotiating with influential forces and enforcing their laws and have the resources to back it up. There are other recent signs of success for Afghanistan that seem promising.

With recent Afghan unity and successes against the Taliban, with a small percentage of Italian troops in Afghanistan (1300 out of 32000 NATO troops), and when Italian aid seems unnecessary, there may be attempts for a withdrawal of troops. Especially with Prime Minister Prodi under heat from his party and others, the time may be nearing.

The French have been pressured to withdraw from the Taliban as well recently. French President Sarkozy has also talked of withdrawal which resulted in the release of a French hostage. However, concessions to hostage threats are an unlikely mechanism for withdrawal as nations fall under public scrutiny for showing "weakness" and negotiating with the enemy. Italy has already gone through their own debacle in their concession to hostage takers. We will see if the French actually follow through soon.

Nevertheless, if Italy and France both pull out, that would symbolically show a pull out of spirit for the Afghan movement. The French currently have 1100 troops stationed in Afghanistan and if both nations pull out it would be a 8% withdrawal of troops. Although a small percentage in theory, there may be more witnessing european nations that will have corroding support as a result. The US is already spread thinly with war in Iraq. Hence, NATO members, and especially the US, will probably try its best to deter Italy and France from leaving. Although it is highly politically popular now to be anti-US policy, they will probably not pull out until there is a longer streak of stability in Afghanistan.

Who Has the Conflict of Interest?

From Ansa:

An article approved by the House committee on Thursday would prevent people with businesses worth more than 15 million euros from holding government office. Those wishing to do so would be forced to sell their businesses or put them into a
blind trust.

"We're not expecting people to emulate St. Francis (who gave up all material possessions)... The blind trust isn't a weird concept - it's typically American," said Prodi, a former European Commission chief. But Berlusconi shot back that the reform bill was "an act of political assassination". "It's further proof of the Left's desire to eliminate its most dangerous political adversary, namely myself," said the 70-year-old media magnate, who is Italy's richest man. "We're not in America but in Italy, and things work differently here... Fixing a limit beyond which one has to take all one's assets and entrust them to a person who can do what he wants with them is completely crazy," said the former premier. Since his entry into politics in 1993, Berlusconi has been dogged by criticism, both at home and abroad, for his dual role as powerful businessman and leading politician.

Who has the conflict of interest here? You could easily argue both as Prodi could want to oust Berlusconi altogether as he has only a 2 member lead in the senate. Additionally, there is much to say about Italy's richest man being in politics.

Prodi interestingly references the US as a good example of having blind trust laws. What is noteworthy is how Dick Cheney's involvement in Halliburton has been far from clean. Some may claim that perhaps Prodi should have used the US as an example of how conflict of interest can have adverse affects, including going to war for financial gain.

From SF Gate in 2002, prior to Iraq invasion:

Documents uncovered by the Center for Public Integrity show that Halliburton received $1.5 billion in government loans and loan guarantees during the five years Cheney was CEO. That compares with just $100 million during the previous five years.

Cheney retired from Halliburton in August 2000. He received $4.3 million in deferred compensation that year, plus $806,332 in salary. He subsequently sold more than $40 million in stock options.

Even though he's no longer in Halliburton's executive suite, Cheney reported on his 2001 tax return that he received nearly $1.6 million in deferred compensation from the company last year.

Cheney is still receiving deferred compensation from Halliburton, but neither the company nor the White House would specify how large his payment will be this year or how long the payments will continue.