#a thriving communist party that can stand up to meloni—oh. wait.

[winterbirb]

Analysis: in the US-Italy power dynamic, the US is the senior partner. However, in the opaque etiquette rules of US Diplomacy(tm), it's considered deeply taboo to remind someone of their status as the junior partner. Thus, the culturally specific technique called the American Smile(tm) is used, wherein the American acts friendly in public.

However, no cultural analysis is complete without recognizing the inter-national history of the two participants. The U.S. and Italy have a long historical relationship, notably including World War 2, where one of the major war theaters was against Italy in Africa; with the combined efforts of the Allies, this ultimately led to the public execution of PM Meloni's fascist idol. According to generational analysis, Joseph Biden, born in 1943-ish, is definitely aware that the U.S. whooped Italy's ass. In Africa.

As the current circumstances of the meeting are about potentials for joint U.S.-Italy policy in Africa, it's quite probable that either one or both leaders were aware of this previous joint U.S.-Italy engagement. As with the senior-junior partner dynamic, the arcane rituals of American Diplomacy make vocal acknowledgement a taboo. But the American Smile(tm) acts as a sort of noticeable negative space, saying things through what's left unsaid.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met at the White House on Thursday, vowing to deepen economic ties and strengthen cooperation on challenges posed by China, while skirting differences [sic] over LGBTQ rights.[...]

Meloni and her right-wing coalition have staked out positions on abortion and LGBTQ rights sharply at odds with those of Biden, a Democrat who used last year's Italian election results as an occasion to warn fellow liberals about dangers facing the world's democracies. On Thursday, Biden welcomed Meloni and said they had "become friends," and Meloni later told reporters that neither he nor the several U.S. lawmakers with whom she met brought up LGBTQ rights. "Nobody asked me anything on this," she said. Meloni said she had a clear preference for Republicans, but that would not stop her from having "a great relationship" with Biden.[...] During a small portion of the meeting open to reporters, Biden complimented Italy on what he said was its strong stance on Ukraine. Meloni said she was proud that Italy has helped defend international law. [...] Meloni must decide in coming months over whether to maintain Italy's membership in Beijing's Belt and Road (BRI) infrastructure plan, a program which Washington has been working to counter. [...]

The Biden-Meloni meeting took place less than a week after she hosted an international conference on migration in Rome, as Italy tries to cope [sic] with a high volume of migrants arriving by boat from North Africa. Italy was planning to discuss with the U.S. how to support [sic] the development and stability of Africa, Meloni's office said.

27 Jul 23