Radio War Nerd EP #139 — Years Of Lead, Part 3: Ustica, Bologna Massacre & the Radical Implosion
Guest: Annibale, Italian War Nerd
Recorded June 27, 2018
In this third and final part in our "Years Of Lead" series, Annibale walks us through the strange and bloody final period (1977-early 1980s). We start the episode off with a bunch of questions we've been wanting to ask Annibale —then pick up around the time of Aldo Moro's mysterious kidnapping-murder by the Red Brigades, through the final self-destructive violence of Italy's radical revolutionary leftists. Annibale then tells us about the darkest mystery in that era—the Ustica crash, when an Italian passenger plane was shot down by a missile killing everyone aboard, and the deadly coverups that followed the Ustica crash to this day. We also learn about how the links between the Bologna Massacre, when a train station bomb killed 85 people, and the Ustica crash mystery. And there's plenty of strange Italian grotesque, like the famous child actor-turned-neofascist terrorist, Valerio Fioravanti, implicated in the Bologna massacre. A very, very strange and dark finale to a strange and dark period that we knew far too little about. . . .
* Map of Ustica crash showing positions of various NATO jets & bases (in Italian)
* Child actor neofascist terrorist Valerio Fioravanti & his neofascist partner Francesca Mambro, convicted in Bologna massacre
Total time: 2:49:55
Comments (25)
"In 2023, former Italian prime minister Giuliano Amato said that France downed the plane while targeting a Libyan military jet in an attempt to kill Muammar Gaddafi. Amato said that Italy tipped off Libya about the planned assassination and consequently Gaddafi did not board the Libyan military jet.[27][28][29]" Via Wikipedia. Surprisingly, as the English version is known to be edited by the friends of Langley. Wonder what else there is.
This dragon IS lethal, which is why you refuse to name the obvious culprit, and OMG, a betrayal to everything you do: "you will find NOTHING looking into the JFK thing". WUT.
"Why was Ustica so bad that they had to cover it up" with the Bologna bombing?. Annibale, for God's sake, the CIA kills people to avoid embarrassment all the time. You think they would not put a bomb to avoid exposing the fact that Italy has no agency, no independence whatsoever? Your cognitive dissonance is , breathtaking. That word is overused, but right now it fits so well.
"we could discuss this for years"- no, it would take 60 seconds if you listened to your own words.
To hear "Annibale" gaslight himself and us to exhonerate the CIA is such a letdown after the last three episodes. Guess Liberals in Italy still want to save their skin and bacon just like liberals in the US.
Strategy of tension was US policy, ergo this was not "everyone's" bastard child. This was CIA lock stock and barrel.
*Annibale not ambivalent. God that makes no sense now, fuck autocorrect
Listening in tandem with reading Elena ferrante. I wonder if ambivalent has any opinions on ferrante. Covers some stuff he talks about like the Aldo Moro kidnapping. Deals with politics in such interesting ways. And not always explicitly. Often politics is something remote that characters use to form opinions for social climbing. And often the effects of politics on people’s lives, working conditions, and psychologies are so direct even if you don’t hear about the direct inner workings. Just wondering if any of you have opinions since I love your lit analysis too
Also, we need a solid diatribe of John taking down literary luminaries: Pynchon, Zadie Smith, McEwan
To quote Ray Midge, "I love nothing better than a job like that." We just have to find a way to link it to war somehow.
Newbie here asking for help- how come Gary Brecher or War Nerd Radio do not show up on the iphone podcast app? Chapo and Moderate Rebels come right up, so I know I am in the right place.
I'm not sure if it's the same, but for what it's worth I can't get RWN through iTunes like I get the free chapo episodes.I just download them manually from patreon.
We need an episode about Shinning Path in Peru
That's an excellent idea!
In case anyone wants to know the book I gave to Brecher at KGB Bar was “From the Holy Mountain” by William Dalrymple.
Thanks Kevin!
Anyone else have a problem with this episode? When I downloaded it from the feed on to my iphones it was 59 minutes but the direct link here is 2:49
Problem with the RSS feed upload. Should have it fixed in an hour or so. Apologies to all rss subscribers
Is Annibale an author, historian, professor?
"Polymath" is probably the best description. He also values his privacy so I can't say much more.
This series was great, learned a lot
Thanks. Part of the experience of doing RWN being constantly humbled by the greatness of our guests.
Ustica was clearly Putin's fault.
Where was he back then, East Germany? I guess it would've been a day's drive...Come to a skidding stop in the ol' Trabant. Whip out the Makarov and aim at the engines.
Two episodes in two days? Hell yeah