The dispute between Italian and Indian governments goes on since February, when two Italian marines were caught by Indian authorities and arrested in the Indian region of Kerala.
The two marines were in service with the Italian navy as contractors onboard the Italian private oil tanker Enrica Lexie. On February 22, they were involved in a murder case. Two Indian fishermen had been killed in the same maritime space. Some hours later, Indian Coast Guard had blocked the ship and ordered the crew to dock at the port of Kochi.
Since that moment, India has considered this issue under its own jurisdiction and the High Court of Kerela has claimed the full right to conduct investigations and establish the procedural competence. But the Italian government contended that it was the relevant authority, according to the hypothesis that the double murder was committed in international waters.
The last tug of war started when then Italian foreign minister Giulio Terzi decided to break the agreement with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, keeping the marines in Italy and blocking their coming back to India after a permission to temporarily return home to vote in the Italian elections. The Indian government obviously condemned this decision and Singh considered it as unacceptable, threatening repercussions in bilateral ties between the two countries during an official speech at the parliament.
Indian public opinion immediately focused on this dispute. The memories of empire are strong in India, where Hindu nationalism bucks against the memories of both the British Empire and the Islamic Mughal "invaders" who ruled India before them. Colonialism remains one of the most negative marks on the Western historical heritage and the painful scars in Asia and Africa are still significant.
Nowadays India is one of the most important world powers, with a rising economy and strong military capabilities. Several contradictions obviously remain: environmental pollution, a significant population below the poverty line, social discrimination and division among the different castes, terrorism and crime.
Nevertheless, the Indian market position inside WTO is very relevant and the role played by this country inside important groups like BRICS or Shanghai Cooperation Organization makes India a highly influential geopolitical actor.
Terzi was immediately understood to have made a serious diplomatic mistake and abandoned his initial decision, instead accepting the Indian request, but Italian right-wing parties and movements have started a strong propaganda campaign against this "national humiliation," calling for a "strong" approach by Italy and in some extreme cases even for a war against India.
In Italy, a double-murder case has become a pretext to promote chauvinism and imperialism in a country under economic crisis, creating a dangerous social climate.
Some days ago, Terzi was forced to resign as minister, while Prime Minister Mario Monti has stated that worrying political menaces against Italy have been signaled at the recent BRICS meeting in Durban. Of course this is completely false and no political leaders of BRICS countries have menaced Italy.
Nevertheless this misunderstanding could generate a xenophobic hate against non-Western countries and especially India among Italians. All this nationalist propaganda fails to mention that the two Italian marines were working as contractors on a private oil-tanker, or the numerous other cases of accidental military killings or "blue-on-blue" incidents.
This rough nationalism, more similar to the law of the jungle than to real patriotic pride, still creates serious obstacles on the road to peace, stability and win-win cooperation.
Italy and other European countries seem to be unable to keep the wrong ideas of "Westernization" and "Western superiority" out of their foreign policy agenda, which remains totally linked to US doctrine even 22 years after the end of Cold War.
The author is a journalist-author based in Perugia, Italy, and an analyst for Italian geopolitical magazine Eurasia. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn