Italians: unprepared for war and peace

(To Andrea Cucco)
06/06/22

102 days of war brought to light many aspects of our country that were easily imaginable or had already been realized with the pandemic emergency.

The first is the inadequacy in any real war context of a policy which either anachronistically exalts patriotic “plastic” sentiments or makes the mortification of national interests its flag.

Ripudiare war it is a constitutional mantra that has been reflected in almost a century on the effective solidity of the national military instrument. And remember, like it or not, that the Italian Constitution is not born from a victory or a revolution, it follows a military defeat.

Hypocritical to deny it, if someone today wants to enlist for ideals similar to those of foreign citizens, it is better to forget it: it is only the "Checco Zalone" who last peacefully for an entire career, for others there is only a tear in the morning below. to the flag and chronic abdominal pains.

Even today, months after the beginning of a conflict which is less than 700 kilometers from the Italian border, we are only talking about Ukraine and not about the shameful conditions in which our Defense is operating.

This is how the lists of weapons sent to the front are "classified" without having the decency of other European countries to send a clear message to Russia. But our front is internal, certainly not diplomatic… If in order to survive this government were to incorporate the opposition that remained (cunningly) outside, who could then ask for help? To the next majority of Italians who can no longer vote even "holding their noses"?

Anyone seriously alarmed by empty warehouses or armored vehicles (and not armored !!!) from "peacekeeping" that if they were involved in a conflict (even of medium intensity) would return us only corpses? Negative! Indeed, to look "original" they are even paraded in the parade on June 2nd. Just a supercazzola of comment in the background and who notices it…?

For many ministers, until February 24, 2022, it has always been easy to get by: the widespread censorship of operations abroad (see battle of Bala Murghab) and a public opinion victim of decades of good-natured fairy tales have made via XX Settembre a nice place to "sit".

"Defense" is not - to date - the (effective) ability to protect, even if only with deterrence, the homeland but much more: jobs, short-sighted interests of companies (many of which are "state"), choreography at the service of the government in office ... Do you remember when the country was seriously distressed by Covid and the political strategy "to the day"? The National Aerobatic Team was ordered to fly over the cities ...

As in El Alamein it was "bad luck" and not inappropriate or poor equipment and logistics present only in the speeches of the President of the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of Italy (heroically compensated by the courage and despair of so many young soldiers), "Everything will be fine" it well represented the "concrete" answer to uncertainty. We are still paying for it and will do so for many years to come.

"And oh well, that's how we are ..." - someone will say - “Levantines, a little mafia, always scoundrels. We are not ready for war ... but on the other hand we are excellent for Peace! ".

Here comes another sore front, worse if ever possible than the first!

Those who do not see war are totally unsuitable for the search for peace due to an indispensable prerequisite: the timing.

When weapons speak, it is (other people's) politics that have taken decisions and countermeasures. They are certainly not choices made with a light heart, they are never improvisations.

When hostilities begin right from the start, "peace" is certainly the common goal of the contenders. That a third party starts to wish it (or worse to have the nerve to write it !!!) is a sign of its total detachment from reality.

This is unless you are a religious authority. In this case, aware of the brotherhood between human beings, he must ask for it and, if necessary, lose his life "opportunely" with a trip to the fighting front to well represent those who previously sacrificed himself for what he knew and was.

Let's then take a couple of examples from the last century: the Korean War and (given what threatens on the horizon…) the Second World War.

In just five months, the Korean front went from one extreme to the other and then essentially returned to its origins, thanks to the “boots on the ground” intervention by the United Nations first and then by Communist China.

When do you think peace should have been achieved? In 1950? And if so, in which month? Or in 1953? (The correct answer is not there: formally the war is still ongoing, suspended only by an armistice ...)

Let us then think of the previous and much more famous world conflict. In a few years the German troops, from the Czechoslovakian Sudetenland passed to Poland, to the whole of Eastern Europe up to the gates of Moscow. Only to return defeated in Berlin.

When should peace have been achieved? Over the border in Warsaw, Kiev or Moscow? History would change dramatically.

"Peace" is a fruit that must be reaped when ripe, it cannot be invoked or anticipated without sacrifices and tears. Otherwise, the term to be used is "surrender" and whoever invokes it - even sabotaging and deferring (right now?) The funding promised by many previous governments to the Alliance for their Armed Forces - is neither pacifist nor neutral ... interest (including military) of others.

Photo: ministry of defense / RAI / web