2017 Eastern Realms Conference

Buongiorno Gialla (BGG) is a morning news show that has been broadcast by STG since 1987. Its anchors since 2011 have been Tania Machetti and Giacomo Vacca. Based from Città Gialla, it reports on events from all around Sartoria, with a focus on Giaroni and the Northern Realms. It is consistently the highest rated morning news show in the Northern Realms. It is well known for its investigative journalism, having received multiple accolades through the years, and its crew has won the AST Award in the category of Best Investigative Journalism, consecutively since 2013.

It has broadcast live every day, since the hostage crisis began.

Transcript from the Segment on the Hostage Crisis
June 25, 09:25AM

Giacomo Vacca: "We enter Day 7 of the Hostage Crisis, with little sign that it is any closer to its conclusion. Early this morning, Press Secretary Nicolò Gabrielli said that Carabinieri presence is indeed being reinforced in Chiavere and Regù, following a sharp increase in reports of suspicious behaviour. Yesterday evening, the D'Onofrio Theatre in Chiavere was evacuated when those in attendance became convinced that there was a bomb in the premises. After extensive searches, the Chiavere State Police concluded that there was no bomb, and attributed the incident to an instance of mass panic. This is the third such incident since the Hotel Molliero was taken.

Tania Machetti: While there has been no official response from the Chavian Chancellor, sources close to the Government House say that he is growing increasingly uncomfortable with the deployment of Carabinieri within Chiavere. While legal under the Internal Security Act, deployment of Carabinieri for active law enforcement outside of Messelia and Verale is very uncommon, and has not been seen in such numbers since the immediate aftermath of the Third Sacuri War. This sentiment was shared by a number of state legislators, who have posted on Upper their discomfort with the deployment of external forces in contravention of common practice, instead of empowering the local State Police.

Vacca: Here to discuss this situation is Matteo Ruggeri, Professor of Political History at Chierana University and Political Analyst for BGG.

Matteo Ruggeri: Always glad to be here.

Vacca: Matteo, perhaps you can start by giving us some context on why this matters so much. As I understand it, any deployment of Carabinieri outside Messelia and Verale is very unusual. Am I right?

Ruggeri: To an extent. According to the Internal Security Act, the Carabinieri are only authorised to conduct ordinary law enforcement activities within Messelia and Verale. They may be deployed to assist with investigations, in an advisory capacity, at the request of local law enforcement. This is actually quite common, since the Carabinieri tend to have more advanced forensic facilities. However, they can only engage in active law enforcement at the request of the Realm Executive or by joint agreement of the First Councillor and the Internal Security Committee.

To be clear, there is nothing illegal about this. First Councillor Valerio is well within his legal rights to deploy the Carabinieri. What happens is that the Carabinieri are very rarely deployed for active law enforcement, to the point that these agencies have developed a very territorial attitude. Aside from that, there is an association of such deployments to situations of national emergency, the most prominent case being the Third Sacuri War.

To give you an example, the Carabinieri were deployed to Chiavere on 1931, following three years of failed attempts by the State Royal Guard to contain the Sacuri. Shortly after, the fighting became very brutal in the city itself, and hugely worse in the rural areas, and food shortages started replicating those in the Eastern Realms. Less than a year after, following the bombing of the Carabinieri Headquarters in Chiavere, the Sartorian Army was deployed. This coincided with the time when the Bloody Hand was at its maximum territorial extent, so the collective consciousness makes a very clear association between the Carabinieri and what might follow.

Vacca: Is it possible then that the deployment might continue, even after the hostage crisis comes to a close?

Ruggeri: I would say it is almost certain that it will. Obviously they will have to be recalled eventually, but given the state of things, particularly the recent cases of mass panic, I think we can safely assume that the First Councillor will want to keep the Carabinieri deployed for at least a few days after the hostage crisis finishes. That might, admittedly, become more difficult if the Chancellor of Chiavere and the Governor of Tavoletro request an early withdrawal.

Vacca: What would happen then?

Ruggeri: Well, we would be on untested waters. Carabinieri have been deployed in this way only twice since the Third Sacuri War: during the 1976 Laminia Riots and the 1983 Earthquake, both times at the request of the Realm Executive, and in both cases they were recalled less than a week after, when local agencies were in a position to handle the situation. A confrontation between the First Councillor and Realm Executives would likely lead to a fierce debate in the Senate, where the Green Coalition would find itself in a very difficult position, having to decide whether Mr Valerio is worthy of their support.

Machetti: What about the hostage crisis? Is it likely it will end anytime soon?

Ruggeri: That would depend on what the Sacuri hope to obtain, and what the Government is willing to tolerate. To be perfectly honest, and this is shared by most of my colleagues, I am very confused about the objective of this hostage situation. I can understand the sacrifice in the Art Gallery, since Sacuri kill children. It's horrifying, but we all know that's what the Sacuri do. Yet holding adults hostage, I know of no Sacuri group that has ever done that.

We know that the Government is willing to confront the Sacuri, we saw it when they engaged the ones in the Art Gallery. It's likely they will want to avoid that result, in the sense that they waited for so long that the children were executed. If it was my call, I would order a rescue operation as soon as possible, surely no later than next week. Each day the crisis is ongoing is one where the Sacuri remain in control, and that is a very dangerous situation for the Government.

Vacca: We have to take a break, but when we get back, Matteo, I would like to talk for a while more about the domestic policy effects of this crisis in the short term, particularly for the Valerio Government. So stay tuned, we'll be right back.