In the West's efforts to arm Italy against the threat of Red attack, the 1947 Italian Peace Treaty has proved embarrassing: it limits the Italian air force to 350 aircraft. This means that whenever the U.S. delivers new planes to Italy, the government must scrap older planes, although they may still be useful as trainers or transports. But the Italian government thought of an ingenious—and legal—dodge: instead of destroying the old planes, it transferred them to the Knights of Malta,* who are theoretically sovereign, issue their own passports, send diplomats to half a dozen Roman Catholic...
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