Cycwynner
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The Germans call it “Realpolitik”. One country has oil, it’s the starting point of thousands of illegal immigrants, is a natural trading partner and wants to get the best deal out of past “wrongs” and present “assets”. The other either pays for all this or pays another coin, getting a raw deal. Understandable. Not very Ethical, but there again “Realpolitik” is just that.
As far as your comment is concerned there is even more to it than you think. The latest act is not only based on the Economics of a $ 5 Bil. payback for having “occupied” Libya from 1911-1942, but also the “return” of a rare statue of the Venus of Cyrene.
The “occupation” was the legitimate outcome of a war between the Ottoman Empire, to which Tripolitania and Cirenaica belonged, and the Italian kingdom, who won, annexed the area, called it “Libya” and began to populate it with Italians, built roads, schools, hospitals and brought it into the 20th Century. That the forerunner of Italy, Rome, had “occupied” the area for hundreds of years before, that Italian-Romans had created the Venus of Cyrene and placed it on Libyan soil, that Italian archaeologists had rediscovered it and brought it “home” , is prudently “forgotten”.
The “indemnity” for having killed a great many Libyans, who fought on the Ottoman side and subsequently resisted the transfer of these lands to Italy, is Ethical and just, even though it’s quite a precedent, as practically all countries have had such losses in their history. Can you imagine the French asking for an indemnity for the 100 years war?
That Italy suffered far more victims at the hands of Moorish pirates over the centuries, Saracen raiders and the “occupation” of Sicily and Southern Italy, is also conveniently forgotten. On the contrary there is even someone asking for “Sicily to be given back to us”.
It’s loony, but it’s Realpolitik. Take it or leave it.
The most we can hope for is that this transaction ends the quibbling, improves relations between Libya and Italy and creates a better climate for a peaceful Mediterranean.
ps It is really astounding how little is known about "lesser History". The "Moors" as the early Muslim invaders were known, harassed the entire Mediterranean for centuries, "reaping" slave crops from all the coastal Regions. The Saracens (as they were later known) even crossed the entire Peninsula from the Adriatic to the Tyhrrenian (sacking of Farfa/Rieti CE 898), picking up loot and slaves they took back to North Africa. Their main strongholds were Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli.
A mass invasion of Muslims took over most of Spain, Sicily and the Southern Italian coast, before they were stopped, beaten and driven out, principally by the Normans.
Pratica di Mare (Pomezia, South of Rome), near where I’ve been living for the last 25 years, had it’s entire population taken away in 1588 by Hassan Aghà . The “colonisation” of North Africa is a very very recent factor, that lasted a few decades, in lands that had previously been part of the Roman Empire for centuries. The raiding and raping of Europe by foreign invaders of North Africa and the Middle East, also lasted centuries.
We should try and bury the hatchet, respect the status quo and become a peaceful “lake”, like it was under Rome…without loony refunds. |
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