For almost a month, Italy has been facing its worst nightmare: the word "war". For historical reasons, that term was abjured believing that putting your head in the sand would protect us forever.
For too long we have unlearned the Sacred Duty of the Defense in Arms of the Country and for too long we have believed that "alternative" (or downright "improper") activities by our military could replace it. We did it for ideological reasons before (while similar and opposite doctrines celebrated it elsewhere with pride), for reasons of emptiness (political, ideal, strategic and ... moral?) Later.
It is not a recent responsibility and it is collective. As such it must be recognized and faced, if we want to overcome it.
Since the Russian invasion began, we have continued to look beyond the border, recounting the event as if it did not concern us. From the moment of sending weapons to Ukraine (shareable or not), Italy is cobelligerant, or in war. And this without parliamentary vote (Article 78 of the Constitution).
The first question to ask should have been only one: "are we ready?". Instead, the answer was political propaganda, as always!
Press releases, compared to which the "eight million bayonets" or the "death ray" seemed serious stuff, have begun to emerge from an oasis of peace (for a career politician) which was via XX Settembre until a month ago .
Have interviews with the minister and the head of SMD been released? Sure, but as usual they were select publications and questions: Admiral Cavo Dragone was asked, for example, about modern aircraft such as the F-35 or about 200 Ariete tanks in service ... And the military chief of the Italian Defense was enough to go along with the questions posed to avoid the real questions in the shade .
The minister? "He was surprised by the surprise for the internal circular" which invited (rightly) to assume an operational posture and warfighting ...
But what did the Hon. Lorenzo Guerini in recent years? Did you have the courage to point out the ridiculousness of the term “dual-use” outside of a policy that has passed (and “managed”) defense funds for decades through ministries that have little to do with it? He would have had to take the responsibility of fighting as a man of the state (like his subordinates) and not dribble "politically" the issues, as a party man.
If Italy had an article of the Constitution that reads "The press cannot be subject to authorization or censorship", would things be different?
In the meantime, we should recognize the reason of those who raised the question of the “non-invisibility” of our fighters with respect to their American counterparts or in service among their (real) Allies.
It should be admitted that out of 200 obsolete, poorly designed and antiquated tanks, only about thirty are efficient. And this not for now but for years !!! And it should be found that if even the wagons Ram if they had already been updated they would already be "dead" tanks in any scenario, including a warehouse! At the same cost of the update - in the program - new and state-of-the-art means could have been acquired for some time (see article).
It could be explained why 20 years of "combat" missions in Afghanistan have been described as a long and expensive outing, only sometimes (and not "daily" - see video) disturbed by some "kinetic activity" (as they used to say until yesterday).
It should be admitted that the entire national land force has been in a very serious crisis for decades and that when a real alarm was launched 2 years and 2 months ago ... (see TG2 of 23 January 2020) the result was ZERO! He sympathizes with the Italian Minister of Defense Honorable Lorenzo Guerini for unacceptable Russian "threats" which - irony! - describe as a "hawk" someone who, in front of the request very urgent of a terrestrial law (about 7 billion euros), sent an undersecretary to bore an audience by talking for well over half an hour about ... nothing! And the minister had already been in office for 5 months, as soon as he took office.
We also remember that, when it comes to complaining to a boss, the Italian military are still those of the"Excellent and abundant", certainly not whiners. To get to shout an alarm, the situation had to be already then dramatic, not difficult".
Would two years of advantage change anything? Surely not much, but better than starting now! And we haven't left yet ...
Political solidarity therefore with the "hawk" Guerini? Of course, dutifully and ritually! But frankly the memory goes to another bird, that of Carosello.
For the good of the country, someone higher up (but not too much, for heaven's sake), should intervene with decision, responsibility and perhaps competence. God forbid that videos of the corpses of smoking compatriots fill our cell phones because of those who led us to face an earthquake in yet another crumbling house.
Note for the Ministry of Defense: Ministere des Armées (the French “Ministry of the Armed Forces”) holds a weekly press conference. We have verified that not newspapers are selected and (shocking !!!) not they want questions in advance. In the true democracies, from criticisms, simple questions or the "unnoticed" evidence of problems, solutions can arise.
Photo: Ministry of Defense
