Turn on the television and there is the Allied action against the Libyan regime, reported vividly in pictures and words. Open the papers and the detail is even greater. But for those of us unfamiliar with battle and with war, it is almost incomprehensible. Which kinds of aircraft took off from which bases and were away for how long supported by how many refuelling craft clearly is information that should be processed. Only it isn't, at least not by most of us, because we don't understand.
A huge row broke out about intrusive media monitoring of this kind of data by the RAI (Berlusconi controls much of that, the Italian BBC) and other media stations (Berlusconi owns all of that). Announcing the departure of radar-seeking planes, for instance, leads to the radar being turned off and wastes their mission, lamented the Minister of Defence. The coverage drew back, physically kept away from the bases, and informationally bereft. Berlusconi's claims that the Italian jets were flying but not firing fell silent - if they are specialised in finding and destroying radar defences then the ending of announcements and filming of their departure must have profited their undertakings.
Could it be that the Italian Prime Minister is now being kept out of the loop? It's pretty clear whose side he's on, and it's not ours.
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2 comments:
Two hours after the Italian Minister of Defence had complained about journalists reporting the departure of radar-seeking planes, he announced that two additional Tornados had taken off on that kind of mission.
He looks like a madman. We now know he is schizophrenic.
By the way, the Italian press has claimed that the Tornados are capable of "blinding" radar installations electronically, even without dropping bombs. You have to have a Jesuitic mind to be able to see the difference.
Nice article, thanks for the information.
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