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Mussolini’s great-grandson defends fascism, family legacy: “You can’t define it in terms of…’
Fox News ^ | 05/09/2019 | Barnini Chakraborty

Posted on 05/09/2019 9:28:53 AM PDT by Olog-hai

The great-grandson of Italy’s fascist dictator Benito Mussolini defended his grandfather’s legacy on Wednesday, calling the era “a very complicated, complex period.”

“You can’t define it in terms of right or wrong, good or bad,” Caio Mussolini, who is running for a European Parliament seat, told reporters.

While the younger Mussolini has avoided explicit references to fascist ideology in the past, he has repeatedly hinted he views his great grandfather, who ruled Italy from 1925 to 1945, as an inspiration. Mussolini remains popular with many Italians today who say he modernized the country before ultimately damaging his reputation with racist laws and an alliance with Adolf Hitler.

Though he acknowledged the anti-Jewish laws of 1938 had been “a mistake” and “a shame,” the younger Mussolini said the fascist period had left its mark on Italy in good ways too, including its infrastructure and road network. And though it’s still a crime to defend fascism in Italy, he said the current ban on the fascist salute should be extended to the raised clenched fist of the communists, The Times of Israel reported.

In a recent interview with Corriere della Sera, Caio Mussolini claimed he isn’t a fascist, but on April 16 was scheduled to hold a lecture about fascist doctrine at an event in Padua. It was canceled at the last minute after the media outlet reported that he would be the guest of honor. …

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: History; Local News; Society
KEYWORDS: angelamerkel; argentina; benitomussolini; borninargentina; brothersofitaly; caiomussolini; europeanparliament; europeanunion; eussr; fascism; fratelliditalia; germany; holocaust; italy; mussolini; nato; theholocaust
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To: Calvin Locke
I thought it was Abyssinia at the time?


21 posted on 05/09/2019 9:52:49 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator

I prefer to believe in God rather than self.

And it is true that the “isms” are the problem, but that won’t make them go away merely by acknowledging that.

Those who didn’t care that the Soviets and the other versions of socialists were socialist completely downplayed the danger, and it got us into world wars. Unchecked, it will get us into world wars again, because that is the goal of socialists—the “world’s social revolution” as Benito Mussolini himself put it.


22 posted on 05/09/2019 9:53:02 AM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
In a recent interview with Corriere della Sera, Caio Mussolini claimed he isn’t a fascist, but on April 16 was scheduled to hold a lecture about fascist doctrine at an event in Padua. It was canceled at the last minute after the media outlet reported that he would be the guest of honor.
What a maroon. However, he will fit right in with the majority of the EU's phony rubberstamp "parliament". Thanks Olog-hai.

23 posted on 05/09/2019 9:53:15 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: dfwgator

Refused to or feared to?

Like Solzhenitsyn noted, the only thing that such people respect is “the big fist and nothing else”. An attack on Gibraltar would have brought the big fist of the Allies crashing down on him.


24 posted on 05/09/2019 9:55:55 AM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: plain talk

That footage has Mussolini thinking,

“I can’t f***ing believe they’re buying this Fascismo garbage! Are Italians this easy to fool, or what?”

Ol’ Musso looks like he’s enjoying all the adulation.


25 posted on 05/09/2019 9:57:43 AM PDT by elcid1970 (No matter how bad things get, it can only be worse in New Jersey!)
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To: dfwgator

Kenneth Mars was very under-rated.

He was really humorous in the last episode of Barnaby Jones, The Killin Cousin.

His role was a well meaning misguided PI.


26 posted on 05/09/2019 9:58:24 AM PDT by wally_bert (Disc jockeys are as interchangeable as spark plugs.)
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To: Olog-hai

But certainly there have been a lot of other authoritarian regimes over the years that weren’t expansionist.


27 posted on 05/09/2019 9:58:30 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator

If not out of fear, then out of weakness in terms of resources.

Even Shaka had a large empire, in spite of his relative lack of technology.


28 posted on 05/09/2019 10:00:24 AM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: Olog-hai

Il Duce himself was a die-hard Socialist, all his younger years and until he got on the Nazi bus


29 posted on 05/09/2019 10:00:59 AM PDT by SMARTY ("Nobility is defined by the demands it makes on us - by obligations, not by rights".)
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To: wally_bert

My favorite Mars appearance was Inspector Kemp in Young Frankenstein.

“VALLOWING EEN EES GANDFADDA’S VOOTSHTAPS.”


30 posted on 05/09/2019 10:01:04 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Olog-hai
You can’t define it in terms of right or wrong, good or bad...

How else could you define it? Starting a brutal colonial war on Abyssinia is not exactly a nuanced act. Bringing on another war that ravaged Italy from one end to the other is not particularly ambiguous from the point of view of the Italians who found their backyards a battleground between the Wehrmacht and the U.S. 5th Army for a year and a half, the aftermath of which was ruin, hunger, and lasting poverty. At what point is there a bright side to this?

31 posted on 05/09/2019 10:01:29 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Olog-hai

FDR openly expressed his admiration for Mussolini, and many of his “progressive” New Deal advisors liked what Hilter and Mussolini were doing.

Of course it makes sense. Take away those few outlying nasty bits of National Socialism, and all that remains garden-variety progressive-left Socialism.


32 posted on 05/09/2019 10:02:06 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: Olog-hai

My point is that the great-grandson was only speaking in terms of what Mussolini did domestically. I wouldn’t think Italians would have the stomach to return to the foreign adventures of the Fascist years, although they might like to see some sense of order domestically that Fascism promises to bring.


33 posted on 05/09/2019 10:03:59 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator

He will always be William Tarkington IV.

The episode is kind of lackluster but Kenneth’s comedy saves it.

Barnaby ended on a sort of high note.


34 posted on 05/09/2019 10:04:26 AM PDT by wally_bert (Disc jockeys are as interchangeable as spark plugs.)
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To: Olog-hai

Mussolini suffered a huge reputation hit by his association with Hitler, who he thought was a moron.
But on his own merits, he is no worse that leaders of great Britain, Belgium, Spain, or many other similar countries in that time or space.

But he chose poorly in WWII.


35 posted on 05/09/2019 10:04:32 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ....)
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To: DesertRhino

He chose to use Mustard Gas on Ethiopian civilians, that alone merited his eradication from the planet.


36 posted on 05/09/2019 10:06:09 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: plain talk

I have always wondered what he said in that short film clip. I have seen it for years out there.

Whatever it was, I guarantee it was funny as hell and the crowd was laughing with him. But I’ve never seen that clip with sound.


37 posted on 05/09/2019 10:06:45 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ....)
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To: SMARTY

I hope he gets elected—I know he would not support Muslim illegal people moving in to Italy.


38 posted on 05/09/2019 10:07:01 AM PDT by Forward the Light Brigade (Into the Jaws of H*ll Onward! Ride to the sound of the guns!)
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To: DesertRhino

Even Adolf Hitler never used Mustard Gas in battle, having experienced the effects of it in WWI.


39 posted on 05/09/2019 10:07:29 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Olog-hai

An attack on Gibraltar would have seen half the grand fleet show up. Brits love fighting Spanish. And Franco would have taken a bad hit.


40 posted on 05/09/2019 10:09:53 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ....)
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