Thread by @AnnaeusS

1/ What on Earth is bottom-feeder #Bannon doing in Italy? He is apparently trying to create some sort of populist "academy" in a medieval monastery. A few questions come to mind. Who stands to benefit from this, or, as the Romans used to say, Cui prodest?
washingtonpost.com

Italian populists are shamelessly pro-Russia. Their wannabe dictator Interior Minister Salvini visits Moscow routinely and was implicated in a scheme to funnel Kremlin money to his party using a huge fake sale of diesel fuel.
Why is an American Trumpist courting

3/ pro-Russia parties? His support is not limited to Italian populists, extending to France and Britain. But he knows that Italy is fertile ground. For one thing, Italy invented fascism. Germany industrialized it, but Mussolini invented it. A minority of Italians remain nostalgic

4/ of the Mussolini era. This minority was silenced for decades after World War 2, but it is re-emerging. Second, Putin had already made inroads with the Berlusconi government, famously donating to Berlusconi the king bed he used to entertain prostitutes. Third, Italy was 100%

5/ white until recently, and has experienced a rapid influx of African, Asian and Middle Eastern immigrants. It actually needs them, to replace the 5 million Italian expats who work abroad, and has thousands of empty villages. But the arrival of all these black and brown people

6/ has led to a rise in racism and white supremacism. In few highly publicized cases, integration has been difficult. In a majority of cases, it hasn't been. But bad news make ratings. All this makes Italy a great laboratory for a neofascist, racist, white supremacist who happens

7/ to be closely associated with Trump. Even though he no longer works at the White House, he continues to push Trumpist ideas worldwide. The second important question is WHO PAYS for Bannon's European adventures? Bannon is a rabble rouser but not a billionaire. He couldn't

8/ afford to live abroad like a dignitary. His Cambridge Analytica work was documentedly supported by sociopathic billionaire Robert Mercer, who is virulently pro-Trump, pro-Brexit and anti-taxes. Is Mercer still paying for Bannon's "work"? Is the Kremlin supporting him? He

9/ certainly benefits Russia's geopolitical goals. Vigilance is in order.
#Bannon #BannonGoHome #facciamorete #facciamoEUROPA #FBPE #Brexit #TrumpRussia