Godammit I am not supposed to agree with Meloni as much as I have recently.
979
AssistanceCheap3792 days ago
+380
Turns out that even though some Europeans dislike each other, they dislike foreign influence even more and we are seeing a shift in Europe from national identity to a continental identity. And having the US mess with European allies that you disagree with but still accept, tends to sour relations. It’s like someone messing with your cousin. You can mess with them, others can’t.
380
[deleted]2 days ago
+41
[deleted]
41
xxfblz2 days ago
+10
Yeah, yeah, the old Emperor-God's or Camus' Caligula's shtick. There are healthier ways to get people to not trust power.
10
Equivalent-Word-76912 days ago
+9
It's like Lord of the rings, Melkor, Sauron and Tolkien's eucatastrophe
Trump is Sauron and though his evil reign will be an eucatastrophe 🤣
9
lllDogalll2 days ago
+3
He's been shit for India though. Our PM did a rally for him in his local state during covid so tgat probably increased infections and did a reciprocal rally endorsing him which is a bad look for a foreign nation to try to interfere in another nation's elections. (It didn't anything coz unlike India, American institutions were more robust and election manipulation is trickier there) And still when he was elected instead of extending a helping hand to a wannabe dictator in a democracy he fucked Indians over with tariffs and this stupid gulf war that might disrupt the stuff we cook our food with which is paused only coz of local elections (also petrol but we have been boiling frog to high prices since long)
3
mschuster912 days ago
-16
The problem is, who fills the gap? And I don't like the answer. Even an authoritarian-led US is still better for the world than China, which has been a solidified dictatorship for decades now.
-16
KereruBod2 days ago
+11
Why do we need to fill a spot of top country in the world? Maybe China will have the largest GDP of a country, but that doesn’t mean they get a medal or staff that declares we must follow them. Recent events have probably shown that its not a great idea to have a ‘leader’ country since you can never guarantee when things will sour and ruin it for everyone else.
Maybe once the dust is settled, the US will still be strong, China just as strong, EU just as strong and we all just accept we have to figure things out together.
The leading question is then, won’t that create alliances that then lead to war, but I haven’t seen a world order yet that can successfully and permanently stop war.
11
Calimariae2 days ago
+16
Dude, the U.S administration's official stance on climate change is that it's a hoax.
16
Jakespeare972 days ago
+14
I don’t see how China is worse than the US when it hasn’t tried to export its political system outside of its former territories. The US has a far worse track record of supporting coups, paramilitaries, meddling in elections and invading countries.
14
RiskyP2 days ago
+6
Yeah - they’ve been the bad guys all along
6
2enty41 day ago
+9
It should have always been like this idk what happened that made everyone worship the oh so great US. Being allies doesn't mean being their puppet
9
Short-Peanut10791 day ago
+1
Who really likes foreign influence to begin with? Doubt anybody really
1
E_Kristalin1 day ago
+4
Orban.
4
Brief_Hospital_17662 days ago
+87
I know, it feels dirty. But hey ho, even a broken clock?
87
ScottyBoneman2 days ago
+50
Even there there's supposed to be a ceiling of twice a day.
50
KidTempo2 days ago
+11
Depends on how broken the clock is...
11
ScottyBoneman2 days ago
+5
I only know of twice or fewer...
5
lolofaf2 days ago
+5
If the clock goes backwards it could be more than twice!
5
ScottyBoneman2 days ago
+1
I guess that would be 4 times at constant speed. Thanks!
Might be less 'broken' and more 'incorrectly assembled '.
1
KidTempo2 days ago
+3
If the clock was running really fast, it could be "correct" several times a day.
3
rapax2 days ago
+37
She's a populist. Back when large parts of the right voting Italians liked Trump, she was his biggest fan. Now he's no longer liked, she opposes him.
37
ThePlanck2 days ago
+30
I think we have just got used to right-wing political leaders being grifters only in it for themselves.
As much as I disagree with Meloni politically, she appears to genuine in her beliefs and is attempting to do what she believes is the right thing.
30
Seanspeed2 days ago
+38
She does what she thinks will seem popular. Genuine is not the word I'd use at all.
38
BalkanNoBalkan1 day ago
+12
Isn’t that what leaders should do though? Represent what the people think?
12
niconpat1 day ago
+6
Yes but people want (think) everything to be great for everybody all the time and that's not possible.
6
Visible_Handle_37701 day ago
+5
To a point, perhaps, but there are issues with that approach in reality. For one, the people aren't experts, and can often want things that aren't actually best for the country or even themselves on aggregate. Leaders should be experts, or surround themselves with experts, and understand that what is popular isn't always what's actually best. In addition, populism can have a tendancy to repress minority rights, even if that opinion is popular, it may be better for a country to not indulge the opinion. Finally, I don't know about Italy as much, but in the US, the general approach of populism has been less about appealing to an actual majority, and more about polarizing and galvanizing a subset of the population, so they politician may be trying to find what is popular, only for that group, and not care about the actual majority of people.
5
Capable_Kiwi25141 day ago
-4
No, doing whatever you think is popular is not what representative democracy is about.
-4
upthetruth11 day ago
+1
Large scale immigration?
1
Glum-Breadfruit-64212 days ago
+8
Who could have imagined this a year ago… unreal.
8
TummySpuds1 day ago
+3
It certainly shows the current state of the world if she keeps coming out as the voice of reason
3
Winslow_991 day ago
+3
I always considered her as reasonable right wing, such a rare specimen
3
Little-Chemical50062 days ago
+566
A team can come back after losing. But robbing another team chance to compete using diplomatic privilege so you have a second chance? Yeah, that gonna stick forever.
566
Dominarion2 days ago
+82
They also need to come over the Zidane curse and weaseling thrpugh the backdoor would just have made it worse.
82
Used-Gas-65252 days ago
+30
You mean the Zidane that cost France the WC against Italy with his dumb f****** temper?
30
Dominarion2 days ago
+59
Yeah, the Italian player called his sister a s***, Zidane lost it. But the Italian player never apologized foe he said and since that, Italy never got passed through the group stage in the World Cup. It didn't even qualify for the last 3.
*shrugs* it's a funny quirky thingy. I don't care a ding about pro Football, it easily irks the Italians.
59
HofT2 days ago
+31
They did win the Euro in 2021
31
Dominarion2 days ago
+24
Thank you for proving my point. They got a good team but they got the yips as soon as the World Cup is concerned. Because of the curse.
24
HofT2 days ago
+13
Meh, I think you're too hung up on that. It was a funny meme at the time and that's it. Keep in mind, they still qualified in WC 2010 and 2014. If you're into Italian football, you'd understand it's a systematic problem that many have been pointing out for a while.
13
Steveisnotmyname_2 days ago
-9
Do you also believe in the tooth fairy?
-9
Dominarion2 days ago
+9
It's football dude. Who gives a shit? Its probably rigged, the players must all be on some PED, FIFA is corrupt as hell. Might as well have fun than taking this c*** seriously and being "rational" about it and try to understand the stuff that happens using seriously incomplete parameters. A curse is funnier than some naive explanation about how the calcio got institutional problems bla bla bla.
9
SilverAss_Gorilla2 days ago
+18
He didn't call her a s***, I don't know why people insist on making Zidane out to be a blameless saint when he's had a ridiculous temper his whole career. Materazzi was pulling his shirt so Zidane told him he could have his shirt after the game if he wanted it so bad, to which Materazzi responded that he would rather have his sister's. And as per usual Zidane lost his shit and completely overreacted.
18
Dominarion2 days ago
-18
IGAF, really. I just have to say "oh lol Zidane's curse! Italy is fucked until Materazzi apologizes to Zidane' sister" and a bunch of assholes get all worked up.
I'm not French, I don't care much about Italy except they elected a fascist as PM, which tells me there are dumber people than the Americans, *since they got their country destroyed the last time they let a fascist run the government*.
At least back then, they didn't vote the fascists in, they had to.make a coup. They've got dumber it seems.
-18
XF101 day ago
+2
Bet you are a French butthurt to have lost the World Cup lol
2
Dominarion1 day ago
-1
I'm not French. I don't like football and people who vote for a fascist PM.
-1
XF101 day ago
+1
Seems like you are from Quebec which is french-speaking Canada,at very least you clearly speak French and are thus very likely to cheer for France and hate Italy
>fascist PM
Come on a conservative leader isn't automatically a fascist. It's like calling every progressive a communist, the world isn't black and white
1
Dominarion1 day ago
If you knew anything about Quebec, you'd know wdgaf about Football. We care about hockey. When FIFA came around sniffing to organise a couple games for the World Cup here and asked for money, we told them to f*** off.
We don't root for France because the French are dicks.
Our team qualified for the World Cup, come to think of it. I had to check, but we did too 4 years ago.
0
ThePr1d32 days ago
-4
Frenchman here delete this. Our love for Zizou is only matched by our hatred for Italians (and Argentinians ofc)
-4
CGNYYZ2 days ago
+2
Like when Denmark replaced Yugoslavia in 1992 and ended up winning it all?
2
decmcc1 day ago
+2
what about Ireland. Robbed of a spot Henry's handball in 2010. Alphabetically speaking, we're right there!
I don't want everyone I know asking to come stay with me though, so I'm torn. I have a 1 br apartment and 2 dogs.
Ireland could qualify if we could qualify through the Middle East region, just getting out of Euro groups is so damn hard
2
55101 day ago
+1
I felt bad for Ireland, but I also hated how many Irish people who were against VAR were suddenly for VAR after that incident.
Like, on one hand I was glad, because I support VAR, especially for things like playoffs and knock-out tournaments (although I think the implementation could use some improvement). But on the other hand, it was such a dumb reason to change their mind. Like... it wasn't exactly a Black Swan incident. Bad calls of that nature used to happen all the time. Like nothing about it was unpredictable or unimaginable.
1
3000doorsofportugal1 day ago
+2
Yea the rest of Europe would NEVER let them forget it.
2
ZaireekaFuzz2 days ago
+334
Italy has the second most World Cups in history, and are one of the truly legendary national teams. Accepting this would bring a level of generational shame that would be leagues beyond even the embarrassment of having missed out on the last few World Cups.
334
momogoto2 days ago
+93
As an Italian, I totally agree. It's a real shame.
93
JoSeSc2 days ago
+31
Surely even if Iran would not participate Iran would be replaced by a team from AFC not UEFA
31
Dominarion2 days ago
+34
If only Materazzi apologized to Zidane's sister, Italy wouldn't be in this mess.
34
ThatWeirdItalian2 days ago
+9
Hey, I Guess is never too late to switch sides, right!?
9
joluboga1 day ago
+3
Italy AND GERMANY are tied for the second most WC in history.
3
decmcc1 day ago
-2
I would love to see the collective tears shed by all of South America, France, Germany and England when Italy would go on and win the thing (because they are tournament specialists) with a series of 0-0 games where the keepers saves them in penalties.......I've just realized that Buffon was actually what was holding Italy up for so long.
-2
quidamquidam2 days ago
+212
It was a stupid idea by the stupidest american of all time.
212
ScottyBoneman2 days ago
+77
There are clearly millions of dumber Americans, come now.
77
Prior_Industry2 days ago
+30
He's the highest ranking dum dum. The leader of dum dums if you will.
30
el_sandino2 days ago
+12
You mean his voters?
12
cdreobvi2 days ago
+18
Leave it to Trump and his friends to completely miss the point of fair competition.
18
DzoQiEuoi2 days ago
+22
American corporate sponsors want the most lucrative “franchises” in the competition to maximise profits.
22
Schlonzig2 days ago
+7
Nevermind that FIFA has strict rules about politicians meddling with the sport. I know they won‘t have the balls to disqualify the US team, but boy, wouldn‘t that be epic?
7
_KarsaOrlong2 days ago
+4
Sadly, they will do nothing to the w***** of the illustrious FIFA peace prize. Infantino just wants to collect money from powerful governments, not fight for accountability.
4
Jasperneal2 days ago
+5
wasnt this an idea of Paolo Zampolli and not actually trump himself???
5
spam__likely1 day ago
+1
Nah. The stupidest are the people who voted for him.
1
Moontoya2 days ago
+25
Add in the recent Papal fol de rol with the mango moron and you've another solid reason Italy wants nothing to do with it
25
Frequent-Chain-60822 days ago
+34
Very well done!
34
Dookie1202 days ago
+33
Imagine how clueless you have to be to suggest a bullshit plan like this. Not only a huge insult to Iran but to your OWN nation of Italy. They’d carry that shame till the end of time ffs
33
SoftDrinkReddit2 days ago
+19
100% any Italian i have spoken to about this said f*** no they'd rather miss out then get a pity handout spot
19
CityRulesFootball2 days ago
+33
Accepting it would be such a disgrace to even non political fans. If Iran withdraws it should be in the AFC not to Europe.
33
nilssonen2 days ago
+11
*I'm 100% against this in any form*
With that said, the only option if you were to do this is the team that lost to them in the quailfier, UAE.
11
_KarsaOrlong2 days ago
+13
Good sportsmanship. Iran isn't even in UEFA, not sure why Italy would be their replacement anyways.
13
ladygagafan12371 day ago
+7
It’s ultimately up to FIFA on how they want to handle replacing them or not. But if they do it could be Italy since they are the highest ranking country that hasn’t qualified, UAE which was the Asian team that got the closest to qualifying, Bolivia who lost the intercontinental playoffs is another potential option, or they could just cancel the matches they were supposed to play and give the 3 points to whoever they were going to play.
I would not like to see Iran forced to withdraw. And I certainly wouldn’t want to see Italy qualify in that way. Italy is my team and it would just be embarrassing if they got in that way.
7
NGGKroze2 days ago
+9
Taco probably taught "Hey, they have the same colors on the flag" and tried his best
9
pillgrinder1 day ago
+8
She’s not politically stupid, and accepting this deal would be a national shame for Italy.
8
Adidas6q2 days ago
+15
Saremmo stati gli zimbelli ripescati che sarebbero comunque usciti agli ottavi
15
DownWithTheSyndrme2 days ago
+4
And she is 100 percent correct.
4
Ikarus_2 days ago
+4
Imagine winning a World Cup you didn't even qualify for...
4
pyfinx2 days ago
+7
Fair play.
7
IntentionDeep6512 days ago
+2
fifa ceo isnt sweating bullets right now lol
2
MagnificoReattore1 day ago
+2
Infantino is such a slimy corrupted turd.
2
According_Most29142 days ago
+3
The US are truly spinning in the drain.
3
bk-122 days ago
+1
In 1992 originally, Yugoslavia qualified for the final stage of the European Championships, but due to the Yugoslav wars, the team was disqualified and their qualifying group's runner-up, Denmark, took part in the championship.
Just saying..
1
[deleted]2 days ago
+10
[deleted]
10
VanLunturu1 day ago
+2
That's their point
2
Slight-Ad-65531 day ago
+2
sure took part - We still remember that party
2
Nurkanurka1 day ago
+1
That'd be a reasonable way to replace a team who for some reason can't play the championship. And for Iran replacement that would be the UAE. Not Italy.
1
I_SawTheSine2 days ago
+1
If it can't be Iran it should be be an AFC team.
Give the place to Palestine.
1
Fernand_de_Marcq2 days ago
+1
A World Cup where every penalty will be a political issue.
1
ch4ppi_revived1 day ago
+1
As much as I agree, but how is Meloni entitled to decide that?
1
Ill_Wolverine_62652 days ago
Bravo, c'est courageux comme position, elle devrait aussi interdire que la mostra de Venise accepte les russes.
0
jcrestor2 days ago
-4
Important context: the Orange Scourge blurbed something, and one minister in Italy‘s government says that participation is the result of the qualifications, not political decrees.
-4
eni222 days ago
+10
Its the sport minister. Its not a random guy.
10
RelegatedRick2 days ago
-10
Che cazzo 💔
-10
vamphorse2 days ago
+13
Ma scusa, saresti orgoglioso di andarci in quelle condizioni?
99 Comments