#WORLD #WORLDWIDE #ITALY #ANARCHISM #News #Journal #Update - (en) sicilia libertaria: Sicily at war (ca, de, it, pt)[machine translation]

 Sicily is an integral part of the ongoing military confrontation between Russia

and the US / NATO; his involvement is direct, daily, precise due to the role that
the military base of Sigonella and the MUOS of Niscemi are playing, engaged in
the take-off and control of the spy drones that have been flying over the skies
of Ukraine and the Black Sea for weeks. But the presence of unexplored or
partially activated gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, or the need to
control Libyan crude oil fields and refineries, increase their strategic role
given the driving function that the energy question has in the ongoing conflict.
 From the base of the Plain of Cataniathe P-8A "Poseidon" patrol boats go for
anti-virus operations as far as the eastern Mediterranean, the Black Sea or the
Russian base of Tartus in Syria; often in the skies there were real
confrontations with Russian fighters, but also at sea, when, in early February,
the Russian military fleet from the North and the Baltic passed through the
Strait of Sicily, "escorted" by aircraft carriers and ships from war of NATO
countries, including the Italian Cavour.
The annual exercisescalled "Dynamic Manta", for training in hunting and
neutralizing enemy submarines, took place in this electric climate from February
21 to March 4, off the ports of Catania and Augusta, in the lower Ionian Sea,
with the presence of vehicles from war of Canada, France, Greece, Italy, Spain,
Turkey and the USA. The port of Augusta served as a refueling base, while the
civil airport of Catania Fontanarossa was also used for the take-off of the
anti-submarine helicopter squadrons.
Thanks to the timely counter-information of the blogger Antonio Mazzeo and of the
anti-militarist realities, the characters of these operations are now in the
public domain. The Trapani Birgi base is involved with NATO Awacs radar aircraft,
and the USS Georgia nuclear-powered submarine armed with 154 BGM-109 Tomahawk
cruise missiles capable of covering distances up to 2000 km also made an
appearance. . The emergence of this submarine, generally kept secret, is one of
those acts of show of force that characterize the ongoing battle. The port of
Augusta is the only one in Sicily equipped to accommodate the transit and
stopping of nuclear-powered ships and nuclear capacity of the USA, France and
Great Britain. As the Coordination Punta Izzo Possibile denounces, after years of
pressure from below, the Prefecture of Syracuse in 2018 published the nuclear
emergency plan for the area; but no drill involving the population has ever been
done, as planned; no public opinion awareness work on the risks of contamination
and the relative measures to be adopted has ever been carried out; nor are there
any training courses for general practitioners. It is not even known - given that
military secrecy is affixed - if radioactivity checks are carried out every time
vehicles containing nuclear weapons stop in the Augusta roadstead or at the NATO
pier in Priolo. Secret is also the content of the adjacent ammunition depot of
Cava Sorciaro, dug under the rock that bathes that stretch of sea.
During the exercise a large area of the lower Ionian was affected by the ban on
transit and parking for all naval and civil vehicles; the same thing happened in
January between Agrigento and Syracuse for another NATO naval exercise. Another
penalty for Sicilian fishing activities.
The beating heartof this growing military aggression is represented by the US
Navy base of Sigonella, in the plain of Catania, the second largest maritime
military command center in the world after that of Bahrain, supporting the US
Sixth Fleet stationed in the Mediterranean. The US military alone exceeds the
number of 3000, and will become over 3200 in a few months. Among the many other
fundamental strategic roles, as reported by Mazzeo, Sigonella has been
transformed into the control and command center of the US Navy and AGS Global
Hawk drone fleets.of NATO, practically becoming the drone capital of the world;
this has, among other things, entailed very heavy restrictions on air traffic in
eastern Sicily, which were paid for by the civilian airports of Fontanarossa and
Comiso, subordinated to the control of the military radar of Sigonella. At the
moment, a project is underway to lengthen some runways to adapt them to the
landing and take-off of giant tankers for in-flight refueling of fighter-bombers;
the base would become even more central to the US-NATO wars in Africa, the Middle
East and the Caucasus. The MUOS is the fundamental tool for managing these
activities, and is particularly active these days. The arrival of AGS
dronesinvolves further upgrades of the Catania base, which by 2024 will be able
to exercise full military control from the Atlantic to the Black Sea, the North
Sea and the Baltic, up to South Africa, as these drones are able to carry out up
to 100 hours of weekly flight .
But it doesn't stop there. In 2018, the VAS SATCOM Relay Pads and Facility system
came into operation, which allows telecommunications with all US drones deployed
on the planet and, in the same year, the Joint Tactical Ground Station to
integrate and expand the alarm, attention and ready capabilities. information on
theater ballistic missiles. Installations that involved investments of several
hundred million dollars and the influx of other military and civilian personnel
to the base.
An alarming picture, completed by the installation of two new radar-spy systems
in Porto Palo di Capo Passero and Favignana, which will become operational by
next June; and with the constant activity in the military polygons of Punta
Bianca (AG), Piazza Armerina, Corleone, Punta Izzo, Pachino, some in the process
of expansion.
Sigonella is the driving force for all the military apparatuses in Sicily, it has
been and is present in all the American conflicts from Vietnam onwards, it is a
malignant tumor whose metastases - the many other bases, the plants, the
polygons, the layout of the airports Sicilian civilians and ports - they weaken
Sicily and its population every day, steal resources, modify economic and
productive objectives, corrupt Sicilian society, significantly negatively affect
any possibility of rebirth of the island. Salvatore Giuliano's dream of making
Sicily the 49th star of the United States flag has finally come true, we are now
the 51st. Sigonella is now transporting Sicily directly into the ongoing clash
between the US and Russia, not only exposes it, but drags it to the front line,
This is why it is increasingly important to relaunch, strengthen, make the fight
against MUOS, Sigonella and the militarization of Sicily more effective and
radical as a salient part of the fight against war, all wars. A struggle of which
we proudly claim the fact of never having given up a moment, but which must
overcome the stalemate and return to being the driving force of every movement of
social emancipation.

Pippo Gurrieri

https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/2022/03/08/sicilia-in-guerra/
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