The spectre of online Putinism in Giuseppi’s attack on Elly

Those who live by open primaries die by online primaries. It is somewhat ironic that the leader of the centre-left coalition is to be chosen via the Rousseau platform, an online participatory mechanism which, in the days of Casaleggio and Grillo, selected a rather precarious party leadership on extremely narrow grounds. The practice began when the PD agreed to elect its secretary, Elly Schlein, based on the opinions of those outside the party—and perhaps even opposed to it. Moreover, as Filippo Sensi and other PD leaders, interviewed by Fabrizio Roncone in the Corriere, suspect, there is a very real risk that a selection process exposed to anonymity and fake accounts could pave the way for interference by Russian cyber agents capable of using and abusing algorithms and artificial intelligence to destabilise Putin’s enemies in Europe.

In Germany, the AfD stands with Vladimir Vladimirovich, not merely to pump cheap Russian gas into the German economy; nor is there any way that a party steeped in neo-Nazi ideology could act as a counterweight to the denazification of Ukraine – these are mere fabrications and simplistic scenarios concocted by the heirs of the KGB and the Stasi; In France, Gaullists and the liberal centre are in crisis, whilst the popularity of radicalised figures such as the pro-Russian and anti-Semitic Mélenchon and Le Pen is on the rise, with Marine potentially holding a significant lead; she may well be ‘Mélenchonised’, but only to a certain extent, her historical tendency is to strip Europe of its meaning and come to terms – perhaps without drawing too much attention to it – with the enterprising master of the Kremlin, obviously on his terms, if there is no other option; The only country missing is Italy, whose centre-right government has behaved in a manner so surprising and disappointing to the Tsar that it has, much to Moscow’s chagrin, essentially aligned itself with the willing allies, NATO, Kyiv, the Baltic states and Brussels to stem Russian neo-imperial expansionism, making discreet but effective use of economic sanctions and armaments.

Cleverly, Giuseppe Conte has stuck to his two main points: a new foreign policy and no military support for Kyiv – that’s the first point. And then a coalition vote on the leader that is as open as possible, with a massive online component in the Lavrov camp’s primaries, as Pina Picierno puts it. From Schlein’s interview with Cerasa a couple of weeks ago here, it seemed that the option of changing sides was closed off to the Five Star Movement leader due to the PD’s firm – though not unnecessarily rigid – pro-Ukraine stance. But nothing is truly set in stone when the aim is to chase easy consensus. So now we’re moving from the ‘hardware’ of denied arms to the ‘software’ of possible online combinations for building a vast audience of pacifists and those who have given up. Conte is extremely skilful at weaving the spider’s web of dissatisfaction with Schlein, both inside and outside the PD (where he has Goffredo Bettini as his fiery special envoy). Schlein responded with a firm stance, pointing out that she has more popular votes than all the others combined—a valid argument. However, the votes that now matter are the preliminary ones, the primary votes that will choose the prime ministerial candidate, and this is where the nod to online Putinism becomes evident.