The transition from the old year to the new is, as we know, a time forgood wishes, assessments and new resolutions. And even the rulers, fondof traditions, play their part. ---- Every year, before Christmas, theauthorities send greetings to the military contingents abroad from theheadquarters of the Interforce Summit Operational Command at theCentocelle military airport area in Rome. The President of the Republic,the Chief of Defense Staff, the Minister of Defense and, sometimes, alsothe Prime Minister intervene.But in addition to this usual ceremony, for two years Meloni andCrosetto have been flying directly into the field to personally sendgreetings to the foreign bases where the Italian contingents are based.Last year one was in Iraq, the other in Bulgaria. This year, if Melonidid not fly to Lebanon as she had announced, Crosetto instead visitedthe Italian soldiers stationed in Poland, in Malbork.The government has already on several occasions emphasized the role ofthe armed forces and military missions, claiming the need to publicizeand normalize Italian military interventionism, with the intentiondeclared by the Minister of Defense to "change the perception of thenational military instrument compared to the past". Words spoken, amongother things, on the occasion of the announcement of the establishmentof the "Committee for the development and enhancement of Defenseculture". Of course, the governing party is strongly characterized in anationalist and militaristic sense, and Meloni and Crosetto certainlyfit the role of warmongers to perfection, like the uniforms they wearduring visits to contingents abroad. But be careful, the photo shootsamong Alpine troops and airmen in the so-called hot zones are not only -and not much - the new frontier of public communication by the Brothersof Italy. Obviously this party too, like the others that preceded it,exploits its institutional position to carry out its own electoralpropaganda, especially at a time when the party slogans from "Italianpride" to "national interest" are almost completely comparable with theinstitutional discourse. But in these two years not only has thegovernment changed, the context in which the Italian military interveneshas changed. The invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation inFebruary 2022, and the invasion of Gaza by Israel in October 2023, haveplunged millions of people into conditions of all-out war. Of course,these are not the only wars being fought in the world, but it is inthese that Italy participates directly. The Italian troops are not wherethe bullets fly, at least for now, but they are still deployed close tothe combat zones. Crosetto in Poland last 23 December visited theItalian contingent participating in the NATO mission to defend thealliance's airspace. The Malbork base where the Italian militaryoperates is less than 90 km from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, onwhat is currently the hottest border in the European Union. The soldiersof the Italian mission in Lebanon who were supposed to visit Meloni, inthe framework of the UN UNIFIL mission and the bilateral MIBIL, arelargely located in the south of the country, an area of high tension dueto the risk of a development of the conflict between Israel and Lebanon.In 2022 the visits for the greetings of Meloni and Crosetto had touchedno less important contexts. The first had gone to Iraq, the second toBulgaria. In Baghdad and Erbil, Italy is present with an importantcontingent to participate in multiple missions, including that withinthe framework of the International Coalition against the Islamic Stateand the NATO training mission, which was led by Italy between 2022 and2023. In Bulgaria Italy leads a NATO Battlegroup in defense of thesouth-eastern flank in the context of the war between Russia and Ukraine.In these visits, in addition to greeting the soldiers, therepresentatives of the Italian government have conversations with theambassadors and with the respective authorities of the countries towhich they go.For two years, therefore, the ritual greeting ceremony for the holidayshas in fact been transformed into visits to the troops "at the front"and diplomatic visits to allied countries. If we look at things fromthis point of view, the war seems even closer. And we can also betterunderstand the now famous Santa Claus in a tank, who wishes happyholidays to everyone in the center of Modena on his tracks.It is nothing new that political leaders wear military uniforms -obviously personalized - to take photos among the troops. Conte did itin 2019 in Iraq when he led the government, and Salvini is known forhaving a wardrobe full of uniforms. But now the climate is undoubtedlydifferent, these visits are increasingly difficult to read as simplepropaganda staging, but they immerse themselves in the reality of war.In addition to the changed international context, we observe the state'sorientation towards an intensification of the commitment of the armedforces, supporting the military effort also politically, and the need togive full support to NATO. The party that leads the government today,authoritarian, militarist and Atlanticist, is the one that can bestcarry out this work.Of the approximately 11,000 soldiers deployed in the 38 militarymissions currently underway, approximately 3,500 are deployed in NATOmissions in Eastern Europe against Russia. As part of the initiatives tosupport Israel, Italy sends a FREMM ship to the Red Sea as part of theSafe Mediterranean operation to counter the Houthis who threatentrafficking through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The recently approvedfinancial package gives another 4.5 billion euros to military spending.Meanwhile, in the name of national interest, three new missions werelaunched in Africa in 2023. This is the race towards war in which thegovernment is launched with the support also of the opposition.It is up to us, starting from the territorial struggles and the manyinitiatives that have reactivated the anti-militarist initiative inrecent years, starting from the experience of the Anti-militaristAssembly, passing through the general strikes against the war, to joinforces and stop this race.https://collettivoanarchico.noblogs.org/post/2024/01/10/nuovo-anno-di-guerra-fermiamo-la-strage/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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