Fabrizio Tassinari

EU top court toughens migration rules on ‘safe countries’ Italy’s Giorgia Meloni must justify why nations are deemed safe and allow legal challenges to that decision, says ECJ

EU top court toughens migration rules on ‘safe countries’ https://on.ft.com/44XJvw7

Shopping when in Rome…

Italy just cancelled a concert by conductor and Putin ally Valery Gergiev. Yet last year alone, it issued over 150.000 visas to Russian tourists.

This morning for Il Riformista on the paradox of Italy’s attitudes toward Russia.

Andrea Bajani in corsa per il Premio Strega con "L'anniversario": se ogni famiglia è felice a modo suo La recensione de L’Anniversario, il breve racconto di Andrea Bajani candidato al Premio Strega. Ogni famiglia oggi è felice a modo suo

I am neither a literary critic nor a fortune teller, but a couple of months ago I reviewed for my newspaper the novel that yesterday won Italy’s most important literary award, the Strega prize. Well worth reading (the novel).

www.ilriformista.it/andrea-bajan...

Italy: Government approves 500,000 work visas over next three years The Italian government has approved the legal entry of an additional 500,000 migrant workers for the three-year period 2026-2028. An increase on the current period. Between 2023-2025, it authorized 4...

The Italian government decided to issue 500,000 permits for migrant workers for the period 2026–2028.

This is slightly higher than 450,000 in the current period and significantly higher than the annual ≈70,000 permits per year under previous governments.

www.infomigrants.net/en/post/6550...

An Onion front page with the headline: Congress, Now More Than Ever, Our Nation Needs Your Cowardice Who will stand up for our democracy? This question, fraught in even the most peaceful times, has only grown more pressing as our country approaches its 250th anniversary. Each passing day brings growing assaults on essential liberties like freedom of speech and due process. Meanwhile, our delicately assembled legal system faces a constant barrage of threats. Even as this issue reaches publication, the U.S. military has been deployed against peaceful protesters. We teeter on the brink of collapse into an authoritarian state. That is why, today, The Onion calls upon our lawmakers to sit back and do absolutely nothing. Members of Congress, now more than ever, our nation desperately needs your cowardice. Our republic is a birthright, an exceedingly rare treasure passed down from generation to generation of Americans. It was gained through hard years of bloody resistance and can too easily be lost. Our Founding Fathers, in their abundant wisdom, understood that all it would take was men and women of little courage sitting in the corridors of power and taking zero action as this precious inheritance was stripped away—and that is where we have finally arrived. Now is not the time for bravery or valor! This is the time for protecting your own hide and lining your pocket. Now is not the time for listening to your idiotic constituents drone on about what’s happening to their precious democracy. This is the time for getting down on all fours and grov- eling. Now is not the time to say, “Enough is enough,” and have the tough conversations about resisting the ongoing assaults on American liberty. This is the time to let the wave of apathy and indifference roll over you as you think about getting a really nice renovation to your house in Kalorama. But what can I, one coward, do alone? you might ask.

Donald Trump just unilaterally bombed Iran. A masked gang is terrorizing our streets. America has rapidly devolved into an authoritarian state.

That's why, today, The Onion has purchased a full page ad in today's New York Times with a simple plea to Congress:

Sit back and do absolutely nothing.

“How inclusive, really, is this widely accepted fantasy of a country perpetually frozen in the 1950s, that foreigners and Italians alike consume with such gusto?”

Good news is no news, but the USIP website back online is definitely something to celebrate.
2 cheers for the rule of law and peace research. ✊

Ukraine stages audacious attack on airfields deep in Russian territory Strikes come as Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he will send delegation to Turkey for peace talks this week

Shall henceforth be known as Pearl Harbor with a cause.

on.ft.com/3FIxDnM Ukraine stages audacious attack on airfields deep in Russian territory

For Ukraine it was the month of the Leopard: everything changed in order for things to remain tragically the same.
My frontpage editorial on il riformista this morning

Trump plans to impose 50% tariff on EU imports from next month US president accuses bloc of taking advantage of US on trade

Wished someone in Europe said enough with flooding the zone, rather than falling over each other to please him.

on.ft.com/4jhKtr0

How to be a great thinker Seven habits of highly intelligent people

As someone who is worried about our capacity for deep thinking in times of screens and social media, and started writing about this recently, I just love this piece by @simonkuper.bsky.social on habits of great thinkers!

This all applies to writing as well. Do read it. 👇

on.ft.com/43s9t8T

The Gaza Health Ministry has released a new 1,000-page document with the names, ages and other statistical information of 52,959 Palestinians killed in Gaza.

The first 100 pages (over 5,000 names), the age is listed at 5 years or younger.

The first 18 pages the age is listed as 0 (under 1 year)

I was U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. I resigned because of Trump's foreign policy. | Opinion I served in our country's foreign service for three decades. The Trump administration's Ukraine policy will make the U.S. less safe.

“Unfortunately, the policy since the beginning of the Trump administration has been to put pressure on the victim, Ukraine, rather than on the aggressor, Russia.”
It must take a lot of guts for a US civil servant these days to resign and then publish this
www.freep.com/story/opinio...

Kremlin Rejects Zelenskyy’s Istanbul Peace Summit Proposal, Calls It “Political Theater” Kremlin dismisses Zelenskyy's invite for direct talks with Putin in Istanbul, labeling it a political spectacle and preferring representatives for negotiations.

Putin rejecting the direct talks that he had proposed is the most pathetic bluff attempt I have seen in a long time.

united24media.com/latest-news/...

New pope breaks with Francis to support Kyiv and ceasefire push Pope Leo XIV calls Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy days after his election as head of Catholic Church

This is remarkable.

New pope breaks with Francis to support Kyiv and ceasefire push.
on.ft.com/4iTUnih

A whole lot of running this month.

This is what courage looks like. Kudos to the team at 60 Minutes.

Words cannot describe the sheer PR genius of the Vatican LinkedIn account posting the job vacancy for the Pope.

Fascinating (and surreal) charts on the Conclave in Italian prime time news #TG1.
Election night is amateur hour in comparison.

Our cover this week.

Just dropped on Prime Video.
No marketing operation will ever top this.

Vicepresidente Usa a Roma, città blindata. Previste strade chiuse, divieti di sosta e bus deviati JD Vance incontrerà la premier Giorgia Meloni venerdì 18 aprile

So we are not bending over backwards to please Americans. But can please someone explain to me why Rome has to shut off on Easter weekend in a Jubilee year to host someone who loathes Europe and met the Italian PM 12 hours ago in D.C.
www.romatoday.it/cronaca/vanc...

One thing I’ve learnt since moving back to Italy is the incredible amount of beauty that can be found in ordinary things and in lesser known cities. Consider Bari:

Behold the brand new collection @netflix.com of Italian masterpieces from Rossellini to Fellini to Sorrentino.

EU issues US-bound staff with burner phones over spying fears European Commission officials heading to IMF and World Bank spring meetings advised to travel with basic devices

“Officials said the guidance for all staff travelling to the US included a recommendation that they should turn off phones at the border and place them in special sleeves to protect them from spying if left unattended.”
on.ft.com/4cAcW9N EU issues US-bound staff with burner phones over spying fears

It’s painful to watch and share this but it must be painful. We must never be desensitised about so much human suffering and the cruelty that caused it. #Sumy

L’effetto collaterale del caos dazi è di forzare l’Europa a delineare i contorni del mondo post-americano.
Mio editoriale stamane su Il Riformista.

YouTube video by Screen Themes Love Actually (2003) - 'Prime Minister's Love Theme' scene [1080]

“A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend.”

Some inspiration ahead of Meloni’s visit to Washington and Vance’s visit to Rome.

youtu.be/5mc2IWZOWXA?...

Hegseth has found the perfect way to avoid blame for the Signalgate chat: admit nothing