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The SMoM was a useful entity for NATO when it came to the Cold War. Italy was forbidden from operating a large airforce under the settlement terms. The SMoM all
by Tsiklon 6y ago
The SMoM was a useful entity for NATO when it came to the Cold War. Italy was forbidden from operating a large airforce under the settlement terms. The SMoM allowed Italy to field a much larger airforce than it would have otherwise been allowed to.
It is allowed because the Order effectively predates the nation state as we currently know it today, and it is influential with one of the largest and most influential non governmental organisations ever, the Catholic Church.
- billfruit 6y agoWouldn't San Marino have served the purpose, or even the Vatican?
- Tsiklon 6y agoI suspect there was some diplomatic gymnastics at play here which permitted the Order of Malta to be used this way, perhaps those two examples did not want to involve themselves so openly in the Cold War. I am just guessing at this stage.