According to Euronews, citing an unspecified currency, Italy has apparently promised to pay Libya compensation for the time that Italy was its colonial ruler (see the video below). This sets an interesting, different tone in current international relations, especially since the current government of Italy is the most right wing since Mussolini set foot on Libya, and one wonders if it is due to Italy’s oil and gas dependency on Libya.

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In contrast, new sanctions are being announced today by both the U.S. and the European Union against Zimbabwe’s current administration, in a further display of gross international inequalities in power and the double-faced morality that accompanies it. No sanctions have ever been imposed on the powerful who violate international law, and conduct dubious elections of their own, and none have been called before war crimes tribunals for their actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Note that the sanctions against Zimbabwe are taking place even as the government holds formal talks with the opposition on forming a government of national unity, suggesting that sanctions are not part of a process to force a lessening of Zimbabwe’s political violence but are instead oriented toward “regime change.” In the process they end up eroding the credibility of the opposition as well.