If anyone wants to see just how far that Martha's Vineyard "stunt" initiated by Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis has gone, take a look at what's going on in France and Italy:
According to the U.K. Express: (https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1698722/emmanuelmacron-italy-france-migrants-latest-ocean-viking-gorgiameloni)
A diplomatic row between France and Italy erupted last week when Rome forced Macron's hand to accept a humanitarian rescue ship, the Ocean Viking with 234 migrants aboard, after Italy had refused it a port for weeks.
The presidents of Italy (https://www.express.co.uk/latest/italy) and France (https://www.express.co.uk/latest/france) sought to tamp down tensions over migration Monday by asserting the need for “full cooperation” on a host of issues and the importance of strong bilateral relations after days of diplomatic barbs over the fate of migrants crossing the Mediterranean. In response to Italy's demand France accepted migrants from the Ocean Viking rescue ship, President Emmanuel Macron retaliated by suspending its participation in an EU solidarity pact to accept 3,000 relocated migrants this year from Italy and sent officers to reinforce its southern border crossings and prevent migrants from entering.
The nicey-nice talk is just that -- nicey-nice talk, and Italy's president is largely a ceremonial one. What happened was a full-fledged row.
It began as a migrant issue. What is going on in Europe is that assorted European NGOs sail ships to pick up illegal migrants from distant places like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Eritrea, and sub-Saharan Africa, at sea, ensconced on humansmuggling racket ships departing from Libya and serving as a kind of cartel taxi service, bringing the illegal migrants into Italian ports, which are the closest to the Libyan coast. Italy takes in tens of thousand of these illegal migrants, which is proving profitable indeed for the human smugglers, but costly to Italy, which must pay for their welfare and upkeep, as well as tolerate the crime, the litter, the sexism, and the stone-age sanitation practices, sometimes even tent cities.
The European Union has nominally vowed to share the migrant "wealth" by distributing the unvetted illegal migrants throughout the Eurozone, but many countries don't keep up their end of the bargain, leaving Italy holding the migrant bag.
Italy put its foot down and dispatched one of the NGO migrant taxi-service ships full of illegal migrants to the French port of Toulon. Italy's newly elective conservative prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, kept her campaign promises to Italians by effectively taking a page from the gubernatorial decisions of Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis, who dispatched a plane full of illegals recruited from their landing pad in Texas over to the tony sanctuary-island Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. Like Martha's Vineyard's wealthy hypocrites, according to the press accounts, France backed out of its E.U. deal to take in migrants, in order to make sure no more such migrant ships come to its ports from Italy. Italy was apparently supposed to just keep them, although as of now, it's unclear as to why the Italian navy can't force the ships back to the Libyan coast where they came from.
The raging statement from Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni -- you've got to listen to it in Italian with the sound on -- pretty well demonstrated that this was someone who full well knew the damage and hypocrisy of France, whose policies effectively enticed migrants to dump their homelands and come up to Europe for the welfare. Meloni's edgy workingclass Roman accent speaking in the sharpest of furious tones, pretty well conveys the Italian sentiment and is something to hear.
She's informed, she's furious, and she's laying it out to everyone, basically out-Martha Vineyard-ing even Ron DeSantis as she forced that ship to France.
For the smug Eurochickens out there, starting with Emmanuel Macron of France, she's gotten word out now that Italy's not one to mess with these days, they've had it with being Europe's punching bag on migrants. Expect the Europeans to adjust their expectations accordingly.
