interesting repeated announces of a convergence between #Italy and #Germany - need generates unusual partnerships

mutual coaching, with a mutual albeit probably unbalanced investment on change

as, in a multicultural relationship (or so I was taught and experienced over a dozen times, on a personal and business level), usually one of the partners has to take the lead in adapting toward a Weltanschauung

and the one coming from a culture farther away from the shared aim, has, at first, to work more "by the book"

so, get ready (if it is to be successful) for Italy striving to become, in the short term, more German than Germany, to mark the distance from its 2,000bln EUR past

 ... study its history.

most people I talked with dramatically diverge in their interpretation, focusing on either the quarrelous past of Europe (pick any time across history after the V century C.E. and you will find wars between current EU members), or on the institutional history.

but nothing, not even the EU, happens in a vacuum- and, therefore, after WWII, I shifted toward the Cold War.

I always found quite funny how people get insulted or flatly deny that Stay Behind, or any other operation to "keep the pieces together" were just part and parcel of what is the traditional approach of any institution.

as far as I remember, even the Roman Empire played the "cultural diplomacy" game- and those deriding the "ping pong diplomacy" or "Panda diplomacy" either lost touch with reality, or, even worse, suffer of terminal cultural arrogance, assuming that anybody of course should follow their lead.

but you know the old joke? a leader without a following is