After failing to intimidate and engage with the larger powers of the World, Italy has bravely turned its attention toward the Balkans, where arriving with two destroyers and a speech about “ancient glory” still counts as strategic influence.
If Bismarck was still alive today, he would adjust his original quote on Spain and apply it to Italy: "Italy is the strongest country in the world, because it has been destroying itself for centuries, and it still manages to exist."
“We are a decisive regional actor,” stated one Italian official while purchasing a province from a Croatian shady dealer, as Italian arms have never managed to occupy anything themselves alone.
Military experts describe Italy’s strategy as “looking important near smaller countries.” This is exactly true, they're big among the small, and this is their only available extent. Too clumsy and incompetent for the big game, yet not fully able to play the small game independently either.