Dear Blog Readers –
One of the joys of working for a television news agency is that we are constantly on the move covering everything and anything that falls within our area. In the AP Television Rome bureau we don’t have a beat. So we cover the Vatican, Politics, Migrants, Entertainment, Crime, Natural Disasters, etc etc. One has to resign oneself to never being an expert on anything and always facing stories like a blank slate ready to learn, absorb and ask questions. Yes, we do build up knowledge on stories we cover frequently (Vatican, Migrants), but never enough.
This week was typical. Here a little behind-the-scenes with AP diary for this past week.
On Wednesday I took the train to Milan to cover Russian President Vladimir Putin who came to Italy for Russia’s National Day at the EXPO 2015 in Milan. He was to visit the Russian Pavilion and join Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi for a joint press conference before flying down to Rome to meet with Pope Francis.
Just two days earlier in Bavaria at the ending of the G7 meetings, US President Barack Obama had some pretty harsh words for Putin. When asked about the situation in the Ukraine and the fragile Minsk accords Obama responded,
“Ultimately, this is going to be an issue for Mr. Putin. He’s got to make a decision: Does he continue to wreck his country’s economy and continue Russia’s isolation in pursuit of a wrong-headed desire to re-create the glories of the Soviet empire?”
I was eager to hear Putin’s response to that comment and was hoping that I might even get to ask the question myself.
We all gathered early in the media area waiting for the opening ceremony with President Putin and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. We were subjected over and over again to a video on a large screen showing food production in Russia and quoting Tolstoy I believe. I listened to it so many times that I memorized it…
“The bounteous steppe awash with rye, nary a castle, sea or hill to marr the eye…” it then went onto say “it is not just about the blini, caviar and honey….”
After hearing the video about 25 times, I wandered around to the edges of the barriers and found a group of Russians with flags holding up a sigh “Putin, Save the World.”
Italian PM Renzi arrived and was left—like the rest of us – cooling his heels waiting for the Russian leader to arrive.
Putin eventually showed up over an hour late. The Russians waiting along the barriers cheered wildly. I was struck by his coldness. The man has a frigidity about him which was in sharp contrast to Renzi’s chatty, friendly, joking manner. In his opening remarks, Renzi joked that he was a little worried that the Russian leader might offer him some heavy-duty Russian beverages when the visited the Russian Pavilion before lunch, Putin did not respond. There was clearly more feeling between Putin and former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi who regularly joked around at press conferences together in Italy and Russia.
After a brief opening ceremony the two were taken off to the Russian Pavilion where they tried some Russian delicacies (no vodka for Renzi apparently) and saw some Russian dancers.
Then on to the press conference. If anyone out there is interested in knowing what really winds up a television producer it is when some fire hydrant from Russian security with a bad attitude parks himself in front of your live shot a few minutes before a press conference. When all other forms of persuasion failed, I tweeted his photo. He moved. Never underestimate the power of a tweet.
Shortly before the press conference, we were told that the two leaders would be taking exactly two questions from journalists – one from a Russian, one from an Italian. Oh well.
Neither of the journalists asked directly about Obama’s comments but they did ask about the US-EU sanctions on Russia and the Minsk accords.
I must say Putin was cool as a cucumber, getting back at Italy over the sanctions right where it hurts he said,
“We talked about sanctions but with our feet on the ground, not about repealing sanctions and reducing sanctions, we talked about how sanctions prevent us from working.”
Then he seemed to be addressing Italian businesses which in northern Italy have been struggling with a stagnating economy as he continued, “We have some projects together in infrastructure for instance and it is so obvious that Italian enterprises that won the tenders are interested in completing the projects but they are blocked because with these sanctions they cannot be completed so we must find the way out…”
He made it clear he could find other companies from elsewhere to finish the projects for him. Ouch, that hurt.
He also took a whack at his opponents in the West when he seemed to turn the Ukraine question on its head saying:
“We have devoted so much attention to the Ukraine crisis. We all know there is no other solution, only peace can be acceptable and Italy has also supported that. For the Minsk agreements to be fully implemented the protocol actually included all aspects – political, social, humanitarian, and military aspects — but they are not all being fully implemented.”
So he passed back the responsibility for the flailing Minsk Accords back to the West.
Having cooly polished off his work in Milan, Putin flew down to Rome where he met with Pope Francis. He was also an hour late for that meeting and reportedly sped down Via Della Conciliazione in a 13 vehicle convoy (somewhat less than Obama’s mega convoy see Blog Post: President Obama in Rome). I did not cover the Pope-Putin meeting so I don’t have any particular behind the scenes descriptions other than to share the statement from the Pope’s spokesman on what the two men spoke about for 50 minutes in the library of the Apostolic Palace.
“….the conversation mainly focused on the conflict in the Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East. Regarding the situation in the Ukraine, the Holy Father said that we must engage in a sincere and great effort to achieve peace and emphasized the importance of rebuilding a climate of dialogue and the need for all concerned parties to implement the agreements of Minsk. Another topic was the essential commitment required by all parties to address the serious humanitarian situation and allow wider access to humanitarian workers in the region.”
The Pope has said he wants to visit Russia, but there are still issues to be ironed out with the Orthodox Church before that will happen.
*************************
Next story – we had another prominent figure visiting Italy this week ….Queen Letizia of Spain. The Queen was nominated to be Special Ambassador for Nutrition by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
AP Television Cameraman Pietro De Cristofaro and I rushed to the FAO at the last minute to cover the Queen because our London desk called to tell us the news that King Felipe VI, Letizia’s husband, had just stripped his sister of the title of Duchess. His sister, Cristina de Borbon, is about to stand trial for tax fraud.
Cristina de Borbon was given the title “Duchess of Palma de Mallorca” by King Juan Carlos when she got married in 1997. Juan Carlos abdicated in favor of his son amid a series of scandals last year.
When we arrived at FAO we found a huge pack of journalists eagerly awaiting the Queen. My Spanish journalist friend and fellow twitterer (whose name I won’t mention) quickly showed me some recent photos of Letizia looking anorexic and said that the Spanish press thought it was a bit of a paradoxic that they name her Ambassador for Nutrition when she doesn’t seem to get enough nutrients herself.
The Queen breezed in looking absolutely gorgeous in a white tailleur. I was checking her out closely to see if she looked skeletal and anorexic, but to be honest she just looked beautiful.
She made a speech about food and a healthy diet that didn’t make much news and unfortunately did NOT feed us journalists with some juicy tidbits on her sister-in-law’s new duchess-less state.
*********************************
And on I go….from the Queen to a poor little, spunky migrant girl sitting on a piece of cardboard on the street outside the bus station in Rome.
As anyone who reads this blog knows, the migrant situation is out of hand in Italy. Hundreds of migrants are trying to cross the Mediterranean every day from Libya in cheap rubber dinghies and old wooden fishing boats. Italy has asked Europe for help in rescuing them and Europe responded with Navy ships. At the beginning of this week, our office had the pleasure of dealing with the Irish, British and German navies who were all involved in dramatic rescue operations off the coast of Libya and provided us with footage. They then brought the migrants to Italy.
Other European nations are happy to help only so much. Europe is discussing the possibility of taking 40,000 migrants from Italy and Greece, but so far there has been no agreement on the date (the UK will not take part in this).
According to the Dublin II accords from 2003, an asylum-seeker must ask for asylum in the EU member state where he or she entered, and that is decided by the finger-printing upon entry. While in Sicily, I have seen the police finger-printing migrants upon their arrivals in the ports, but not everyone is being finger-printed. Syrian, Eritrean and Sudanese migrants avoid being finger-printed so they move quickly out of Italy to the north and ask for asylum elsewhere. Italy, overwhelmed by migrants, often does not insist on the fingerprinting, instead leaving the migrants free to go. Keep in mind, The International Organization for Migrants says that nearly 55,000 migrants have arrived by sea in Italy from January – June 8 of this year.
So this week hundreds of migrants – Eritreans, Sudanese, Ethiopians and Syrians got blocked in Italy because the border controls were tightened into Germany due to the G7 summit and because France blocked the border at a key crossing point at Ventimiglia where travelers pass into France to the Cote D’Azur.
I was sent to cover the story in Rome at the Tiburtina bus station where I found hundreds of people lying around on cardboard, waiting for people to pass buy and give them something to eat. I spoke at length to Abdul Aziz from Sudan, who told me he was from Darfur, his whole family had been killed by the Janjaweed fighters and he has spent six months traveling through the desert and into Libya to get to Italy. He said he was 28-years-old.
I asked Abdul to tell me about how he got from Darfur to Rome and he said sighed and said it would take too long. Then I asked him about his trip across the Mediterranean. He said he was on an old wooden fishing boat and was one of the migrants put below in the hold. He said the smell of all the humans sweating was sickening and suffocating.
Abdul wore a baseball cap pulled down over his head. He told me that when they were in Libya ISIS fighters attacked him and others and demanded they give them everything they had. He said the only thing he refused to give was his cell phone which has contacts of people in Europe. They then beat him on the back of his head with the butts of their guns. He pulled off his hat and turned to show me the gash on the back of his head. He had a lot of gray and I wondered if he really was 28. I thought about how everyone says Obama has become so gray while coping with the pressure of being President. I figured the pressures of surviving such a journey can turn a young man’s hair white. Abdul told me he was traveling with a young boy from Sudan and they hadn’t eaten in two days. He explained that someone gave them 53 euros for a bus from Sicily to Rome and now he just had to wait until he found enough money to get a bus to Milan or Turin.
After the interview I told him I would take him to a nearby coffee bar and get him a sandwich and to bring the boy he was travelling with. As we walked off, an Eritrean man came up and walked with them. He was very agitated and spoke aggressively in Arabic. They exchanged a few words and then the man walked away. I asked Abdul what the man had said. “He said you are going to take me to the police and get me finger-printed.”
I stopped and said, “Abdul, if you don’t trust me, you don’t need to come with me. I want to buy you a sandwich, that’s it. But I understand if you don’t want to come.”
Fortunately Abdul trusted me and we got some sandwiches and they headed back to the cardboard seat under a tree at the bus station.
AP television Cameraman Gigi Navarra and I continued to wander around trying to get others to speak to us. Nobody wanted to talk. One 18-year-old Eritrean boy named Henriok, who spoke perfect English, told me that all he wanted from me was money. I don’t want to give you an interview, I don’t want you to give me anything but money for the bus to go North. I said I could not give him any.
And although it wasn’t an interview, I think this gritty little girl sitting on the ground watching us best summed up how they felt about journalists and TV cameras.
What a cornucopia of information! Wow! As I was reading the put in piece I kept expecting you to say that he finally rode in bare chested atop a grizzly bear! (Would not surprise me in the least! LOL)
I was wondering with regard to the migrant situation if you could provide further insight to the recent statements made by Renzi…actually it was more of a gauntlet thrown down by him to the EU demanding that member nations step up their acceptance of their share of migrants rather than having them “bottleneck” in Italy, or he would be forced to drastic action (or similar words). What drastic measures could he mean?
Hi Kay — Yeah, I don’t think I would have been surprised if Putin rode in bare-chested on a Grizzly bear either. Sigh.
On Renzi and the migrants — I was just at my hair-dresser (see response to Adri above) who happens to be much more insightful than most people I know. Renzi has been threatening Europe that if they don’t start helping Italy by taking some of the migrants he is going to implement “plan B”. Yes, a very ominous sounding Plan B. Well, my hair-dresser said, “What Plan B? He never even had a Plan A!!!” And that is the truth. There has never been any planning to any of this. So now they are talking about repatriation of some of the migrants (extremely costly and difficult to implement– I read today in the paper when they repatriate they need to assign two police officers for every migrant forced on a plane), or they are going to stop the Irish, British, German, and Belgian Navies, which are now helping rescue migrants, from bringing the migrants to Italian ports. Don’t think that is going to work either. They are also talking about giving the migrants some sort of temporary passes to let them cross the border more easily. But the French are already blocking the migrants at the border, so how would that work? Renzi can threaten all he wants, but he actually is in a difficult situation with few valid options.
What a week. Putin is a bully. Queen Letizia has the coolest haircut I have seen in a while, and that little migrant girl broke my heart. The migrants face the harshest of existences. As bad as they have it now, just imagine the circumstances that drove them to leave their homelands. Do you find it emotionally difficult to cover the story, or do you actually feel morally compelled to shed light on their plight? I am very grateful for the coverage. Here in the U.S. it is being given more and more attention, which I think, can only be a good thing.
Ah, so you noticed the haircut too. I was so inspired by her lovely haircut, I decided to go get mine chopped off. I just got back from the hair-dresser now. I had told my colleagues while we were editing the video that I was going to get my haircut like hers and they all warned me that it would be disastrous. They said that she has plenty of hairdressers following her around to make sure it looks perfect all the time, but since they know I can’t be bothered much to do anything with my hair, I should leave it long so I can just tie it back all the time. Oh well, too late now.
On the migrants story, I think all of you blog-readers have realized by now that I am very passionate about covering that story. I always like to find the women and children and want to hear all their stories. Sometimes I get a bit emotionally involved, but not usually when I am out covering the story. And yes, I do feel compelled to tell their story — I feel the story is so important and so indicative of how our world is changing rapidly. The migrant story is also so telling of what is dysfunctional about Europe — the countries of Europe cannot get their act together to come up with a strategy to cope with the migrant flow. The are unable to act so each country does what it wants and Europe as a whole flounders.
So much to think about in this post — how the desperate migrants act like Putin – arrogant, because they have nothing else but their arrogance to defend themselves with. For all his power, Putin has painted himself into a corner, and keeps blaming everyone else, but it doesn’t get him any more room. And the migrants, who have no power at all, not even food, are arrogant and suspicious, like Putin, angry at everyone else. Who knows why they really came – but this we do know, if they had had any real chance where they were they would have stayed there. Yet, they have no real chance in Europe, whose economic woes do not make them want to welcome tens of thousands of unskilled workers with no resources. And nothing seems to be changing in Eritrea or the Sudan or Somlia or any of the places they come from. They must believe they are travelling in hell. I wonder if Putin believes that. I wonder if the Russian people belive Putin now, believe that he has made wise choices for them. A lot to think about. Thanks —
I also wonder what the Russian people really think about Putin. We in the West have such a bad opinion of him — for obvious reasons– but I think he may actually be very popular among a lot of Russians. I am not going to say any more than that because I really do not know. On the migrants, I am having a tough time figuring it out. Have so many migrants who have come before them to Europe ended up so much better off that they have sent back word to all those back in their villages that Europe is the land of milk and honey? When will another message start going back? Who knows? Thanks for your thoughtful comment.
A tale of three very different parts–all interesting. The first one seems a bit disgusting (probably because of the “main player”). I did see a picture of him and his “old buddy” embracing in today’s “Italian Reflections Daily.”
The middle was interesting in that I’m not sure I even knew Juan Carlos had abdicated in favor of his son. If I did know I have forgotten. And she is beautiful.
And the third part was sad again and also a bit disgusting in that the rest of the EU doesn’t seem to be doing diddley-sqat to help Italy with the migrants. I expect the little girl could also be seen as sticking our her tongue at them too, not just the reporters.
A presto
Yes all very interesting and makes one think the world is a rather mixed-up, screwed up place. Yes, I think you can say that little girl was sticking her tongue out at everyone not just journalists.
Wow, what a whirlwind, from heads of state to homeless migrants!! I’m not sure how you handle the pressured both on your time and emotions connecting with so many issues and such extremes.
I’m sure little outlets like buying the migrants sandwiches alleviates the pain somewhat but you better than the rest of us know it is only a bandaid. Do keep writing it keeps all of us more aware of what is happening in our world.
Thank you Dad. I am actually feeling a bit weary today. Tomorrow I leave for Milan to cover Michelle Obama’s visit to the EXPO and then to US military families at the Vicenza Military Base. Meanwhile, the Pope’s much-awaited encyclical is coming out on Thursday, and migrants are getting blocked at the French border leading to a bit of an Italian-French political stand-off. Too many stories happening in Italy right now!
I learn so much from you. Thank you for showing so many different perspectives of global issues. You do a great job and make me think about humanity on so many different levels. You are a true journalist who does make a difference.
Thank you Donna, that is so kind of you. I am not sure how much of a difference I actually make, but I do love my job.
[…a group of Russians with flags holding up a sigh “Putin, Save the World.”]
It’s a very poetic line.
Some are still holding up that sigh – but the world is not yet saved, by Putin or anyone else. (sigh)
Wasn’t that an amazing sign: “Putin, Save the World.” Alas, there is no human being who can save the world, but I think people often crave larger-than-life leaders who they can throw all their trust (faith) into. Remember when Obama was running for office and people joked that he could “walk on water.”