For those of you who do not know him, Dr. Pazienza in brief
It would not be enough to write a whole book to describe this incredible character, let alone an introduction. Unfortunately we are forced to be very synthetic. He has been defined in many ways: Brasseur d’affaires, intelligence officer, freemason, playboy. He has been behind the greatest Italian mysteries of the First Republic and even beyond;
He kept in touch with heads of state, ministers, bankers, director of intelligence agencies, high prelates, and obviously beautiful women. Meant to be a doctor, after he graduated with honors (110/110) from medical college from Università “La Sapienza” Roma, he instead became the special adviser to General Giuseppe Santovito, former director of “Servizio informazioni e sicurezza militare” (former Italian Military Intelligence Agency). He caused President Jimmy Carter’s brother to be defeated at the election, thanks to his investigations into some financial affairs with Libyans and sexual encounters in a Rome hotel, thus leading to the Republican Party victory. Involved in the liberation of the Italian politician Ciro Cirillo kidnapped by Camorra and close to the legendary Roberto Calvi, the God’s banker president of Banco Ambrosiano, he knew personally Aristotle Onassis, David Rockefeller and used to spend his holidays on Persian Prince Ali Reza’s yacht. He personally organized the financing ($4million of gold ingots) of the Polish labour union “Solidarnosc”, with the final goal to destabilize the Communism on an international level and the preparation of the diplomatic meeting between Pope John Paul II and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. And all of this is just a taste. In other words, Mr. Pazienza has been, and continues to be, a multifaceted personality. The kind of man that is increasingly difficult to find today. With his savoir-faire typical of someone who, through thick and thin, as really lived life, he reveals himself exceptionally cultured, ranging from ancient China history to the most unusual details Winston Churchill’s life, his favorite historical character. All things considered, what we can certainly say after meeting him is that Mr. Pazienza is a first-class guardian of the truths concealed behind 40 years of Italian and world history. Get ready for next year’s next book, it will be an earthquake for everyone. We strongly suggest to read his first book as well. The title is Il Disubbidiente. However finding a copy might prove harder than you think since, “somehow”, it has disappeared from circulation.
Below we share some interesting and significant excerpts from our conversation with “Frank”, touching some topics of current concern in world politics and economy.
Libya
The first reflection that must be made on Libya is about the problem of the two Libyas.
The Italians risked taking off Haftar’s position, while Macron had straight away the courage to invite him to Paris. Libyans, as strange as it may sound, love Italians. They prefer to deal with Italians rather than with French. Let’s not forget that the mess, because mess is the only right word to use in this case, which we see nowadays in Libya, broke out thanks to Mr. Sarkozy. Subsequently, Obama, who, despite being a good internal affairs president, has done nothing but mistakes on a the international level, joined the French President in the operation against Gaddafi.
Frequent contacts between the Fayez al-Sarraj’s group and General Haftar’s group are taking place since the only thing that they can do at present moment is to reach an agreement. A key issue in Libya is represented by frontiers, which configuration depends on many interests linked to migrant routes. Al-Sarraj is trying to do everything possible to settle this frontiers matter, but clans and tribes are creating big problems because of the influence they gained in the last years on the territory. Once, every two or three months, Gaddafi use to depart with lorries loaded with loads of money and proceeded to distribute them to the various clan leaders, this how he managed to keep them all quiet.
Now Libya is in a very confusing state that must be removed as soon as possible. Potentially, it is a very rich country, having one of the best petroleum in the world, considering the sulfur rate close to zero.
It is essential that Al-Sarraj and General Haftar find an understanding; at last, Italy also decided to meet the Libyan General.
I believe that Libya will be stabilized in the next 6/12 months.
Trump, the United States, and the Shah of Persia
If you make an analysis of what Trump said during his election campaign and confront it with what he is doing now, you realize that, to name Al Capone in “The Untouchables”, he is “nothing but a lot of talks and a badge”. He backtracked to many times.
Recently, he is making a big fuss about the Iran’s nuclear deal.
Just consider that I was a close friend of Shah of Persia’s family and his son Prince Ali Reza’s partner. Moreover, I was also in the United States a business partner with Bob Armao, who was the Shah’s Chief of Staff in exile. The Shah was dying of cancer, but they did not allow him to enter the United States. I remember spending the 1982 holidays with Prince Ali Reza, who told me “Can you believe it?! We spent the 1978 New Year’s Eve in our palace together with President Jimmy Carter and his wife; President Carter toasted with my father, referring to him as the most faithful friend of America in the Middle East. And just after a few years, they do not even let him enter the United States to get medical treatment ?! “
I remember that at the beginning of Ayatollah Khomeini’s regime the New York Times made an article in which he painted him as an illuminated character.
Today the Iranian regime has stabilized itself and among other things, if you go to Tehran, the worst car you can find around is a Mercedes 500. So to conclude, Trump now is talking so much, but he just should stop talking shit.
National Rifle Association
Everyone still goes shopping for weapons like they were candies. The National Rifle Association is such a powerful lobby that nobody has the courage to take a step against it. It brings millions of votes during each election. The Second Amendment of the US Constitution refers to the 1812 War against England when it was still demanded that everyone had weapons, so that in case of a call of duty, everyone would be ready. Can someone explain what the meaning of all of that now?! It also makes me laugh that by law some weapons cannot be sold as automatic. In fact, you simply go on the internet and for 30 bucks you can buy a small device that turns them to automatic in a blink of an eye.
National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) and US Think Tank
You can be sure that Trump will be present at the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) Gala. The President of the United States must attend these events. Do you know the statement about American elections? To win the American elections you need the three “I”: Israel, Ireland, and Italy. Without the three “I” you do not become POTUS.
In my opinion, Think Tanks nowadays has a far more marginal role. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) counted very much some years ago. It was the one that at the time of Reagan presidency practically imposed Haig as Secretary of State. Now too many of this kind of organizations have been created. The American Enterprise Institute does not matter anymore. They are realities that don’t serve more than just to businessman that, by paying expensive membership fees, can say to be insiders. The demonstration that these think tank are less and less influential is Donald Trump’s election, who had none of them to support him. Trump, from a negative perspective, is the equivalent of Carter. When Carter run for the presidency, he almost didn’t have the party (Democratic) support for election. Meanwhile, his brother Billy was invited for dinner by Gaddafi and bought a villa with George Habash. It is not like now that there are thousands of terrorist groups; At that time there were only two or three. The most important were the one of “The Doctor” because, let us not forget that, George Habash was a doctor.
Italy and international scenery
The future of Europe and Italy in particular, will more with the Russians than the Americans. The Russians, first of all, are Europeans like us; Secondly, we Italians have no raw materials and resources and therefore we must exploit technologies and capitals. Actually, the Russians do not know exactly the amount of resources present in the subsoil of Siberia or in other areas of their territory. I would also like to add that Putin, let me tell you, is a man with a thick skin; this is the reality of the facts. It is useless to say that Putin does not respect democracy. Look, let’s move on.
Surely we must be grateful to the Americans because if it were not for their intervention in World War II, we would still greet each other with the Fascist salute. But we must say that Americans do not understand a single thing in foreign affairs. This is my point of view.
China, New Global Power?
The Chinese intervention in Africa looks like this: the Chinese present themselves, at first as a third world countries benevolent supporter; however, after a while ‘time, they turn out to be nothing more than neo-colonialists. One example that comes to my mind is Chad, where the Chinese have invested a lot and have a great presence on the territory.
A special case concerns Iran, where they have invested so much: well, Iranians no longer know how to get the Chinese out of their way. An anecdote among many others concerns a large oil plant financed by China. It was necessary to build a gas pipeline, for which, as you know, pipes must have high-tech construction specifications. Suffice to say that three Chinese cargo ships have arrived later carrying water pipes instead. The Iranians got really upset, however, considering China’s $ 8 billion funding amount to the plant, they had to stay quiet.
I do not think China can overcome America in its role of leading global power. But I must say that the United States will be remembered as one of the greatest empires of all history, but also as the one that lasted less. The Roman Empire remained great for over 500 years, while the Americans if they continue to act as they keep acting …
(*)Interview by Andrea Bonetti and Alessandro Strozzi
