Letters
Letters to the Editor •
Appeasement didn’t work in ’38. Are we sure it will go better this time?
Who has written to the editor-in-chief, Claudio Cerasa
19 SEP 26
Translated by AI
The signing of the Munich Agreement. September 1938 (Getty image)
To the Editor – Having examined the legal proceedings involving Sigfrido Ranucci in their entirety, I am convinced that his appeal against Rai regarding his replacement as presenter of ‘Report’ will be upheld. In fact, this outcome would be the most consistent with the line taken in the criminal investigations into the bomb attack, in which the former presenter continues to be regarded as an unwitting ‘victim’, whilst the investigation is increasingly focusing on Valter Lavitola, due to the nature of his activities as a whole.
Giuliano Cazzola
Ranucci will win the appeal – there is little doubt about that – but there is one, and only one, question to be asked. If a company considers one of its employees to be unsuitable for the role they hold, it can replace them. But if, at the same time, it continues to regard them as fully suitable to work for that same company, it should be able to explain clearly why they are no longer suitable for that particular role. If it fails to do so, there is a problem. Or is there not?
To the Editor – I share the positive assessment of the independence shown by the Federal Reserve with its recent monetary tightening, which is all the more significant given Trump’s constant pressure for a cut in interest rates. However, one incident remains to be clarified which, if confirmed, would be serious: the new Fed chairman, Kevin Warsh – a strong choice of Trump’s – is said to have asked the president in advance how he should act when faced with a majority of the committee in favour of raising rates. Trump is said to have ‘authorised’ him to vote with the others, whilst harshly criticising the other members. The Fed’s decision would still be correct, but the method would be incompatible with the autonomy of a central bank. During my time at the Bank of Italy, whenever the discount rate was adjusted, the governor would inform the Treasury Minister only after the decision had been taken: never beforehand, and never by asking for guidance on what to do. This is the crucial point: institutional independence concerns not only the final decisions, but also the process leading up to them, alongside intellectual autonomy and a sense of the institution’s purpose.
Angelo De Mattia
To the Editor – I am making use of the space provided by your column dedicated to university students. You ask us: should a centre-left party foster a culture of defection, or not? I believe that a centre-left party should promote a culture of defection. However, this would only be the case if the left-wing party in question does not identify with the principles enshrined in the Constitution. Which – whether for better or worse, that is for you to decide – the PD clearly does. Indeed, as we well remember, during the last referendum campaign, it proclaimed itself the champion of the Constitution. Therefore, the remarks by the leader of the Gd regarding the organization of deserters, or her more recent comment describing PD members as the ‘grandchildren of communists’ (and therefore pro-Russian), are entirely justified. Nobody, dear Virginia, wants to send you – or any other young Italian – off to fight. Other young people are taking care of that. The Ukrainians. Yet you do not devote a single line to them in your speech. They—who are the ones under attack, as it is always worth remembering—do not organise deserters: they defend their homeland, laying down their lives on the front line. This is the difference between those who love their country and those who love their own rhetoric. Now that you have all the facts, draw your own conclusions. It is more constructive to organise hordes of deserters when no one intends to send you—or any other young man or woman—to war, or to support the new Ukrainian partisans—with whom you ought to be familiar—who are fighting against a cowardly aggressor. P.S. If you hate your country so much and prefer the former option, do not bother; simply purchase a fur hat and a one-way ticket to the USSR.
Gabriele Barbone
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
“Germany, with Hitler as Chancellor, withdrew in 1933. Japan did the same. Italy withdrew in 1937. These last two countries (along with France, the British Empire and Germany itself) were permanent members of the Council of the League of Nations. From the outset, unfortunately, the League of Nations proved unable to curb expansionism or repeated violations of territorial sovereignty, both in Europe and on other continents. Thus, in the 1930s, we witnessed a gradual unravelling of the international order, which called into question the cornerstones of peaceful coexistence, starting with the sovereignty of each nation within its recognised borders. The appeasement policies adopted by the European powers toward the proponents of these trends were evidence of a futile attempt to contain ambitions of such destructive magnitude: the 1938 Munich Agreement, which granted Nazi Germany the annexation of the Sudetenland, a territory of Czechoslovakia, remains emblematic of this. A failure to fulfil their responsibilities led those countries to sacrifice the principles of justice and legitimacy, in an effort to avoid conflict, in the name of any solution whatsoever and of a stability that would, inevitably, prove to be illusory. The strategy of appeasement did not work in 1938. Firmness would, in all likelihood, have prevented the war. Bearing in mind the current conflicts, can it work today?’ (Sergio Mattarella, 5 February 2025)
To the Editor – With regard to my article “La sottile linea che divideva lo stato dal mercato si è fatta più sottile”, published on 15 September, I would like to clarify that the ‘golden power’ did not bring the Italian state into Pirelli’s governance, but was exercised to protect an Italian company from the influence of a shareholder who had come under the direct control of the Chinese state.
Stefano Firpo