"We will make NATO even greater. Today, all of us allies have laid the
foundations to make NATO stronger, more equitable, and more lethal." At
the conclusion of the Atlantic Alliance summit held in The Hague on June
24 and 25, Secretary General Mark Rutte emphasized the results of what
many analysts (see in particular Gianandrea Gaiani, editor of Analisi
Difesa) saw as a chicken coop theater, with a "peacock master"-Donald
Trump-and countless "adoring chickens," the heads of state of the other
31 member states.
"The United States today appears no longer as a great ally but as the
true master, which, in addition to spying on Europeans like a big
brother, also demands devotion, blind obedience, and glorification of
its own deeds and those of its leader," writes Gaiani. At the Hague
Summit, NATO is effectively dead as an alliance, even though it survives
as a sort of feudal empire in which the sovereign seeks and obtains
subservience and adulation from his submissive vassals.
At the summit, the US president presented himself as the peace-making
knight of the Apocalypse after imposing an armed truce between Israel
and Iran with the sound of super-bombs. He reminded his European
"vassals" that there is no NATO without Washington's overwhelming
military-nuclear power, and if the allies still want US-made armed
forces on the borders with Russia and Belarus, they will have to use the
European Union as a cash machine to finance the reconversion of the
economy and industrial production to military purposes. Above all, they
will have to buy US-made weapons and munitions and support the insane
race for space and nuclear rearmament and Washington's unbridled
ambitions for power in the Indo-Pacific.
To hold on to the much-admired "peacock," NATO partners have agreed to
undergo the greatest economic, financial, and social shock in post-World
War II history: allocating 5% of GDP to military spending within ten
years, focusing specifically on the development and production of
increasingly sophisticated warfare technologies, aerospace and satellite
systems, drones, tanks, and conventional and nuclear munitions. This
hemorrhage of public money will benefit transnational financial capital,
destroying welfare, education, public healthcare, and social services
across the continent. "In the White House's assessment, the 5% defense
target has financial and commercial value: European allies should
purchase US weapons to rebalance the trade balance between the two sides
of the Atlantic and avoid the US tariffs that Trump himself threatens to
impose on all allies on a daily basis," Gianandrea Gaiani notes.
For the most reluctant allies, Mark Rutte has devised an accounting
trick that barely changes the dire future of EU-NATO countries: the 5%
of GDP will be reached by adding the 3.5% share to be covered by state
budgets for weapons and troops, with 1.5% for "national security
spending": cybersecurity, protection of critical infrastructure (power
plants and telecommunications networks), border defense, military police
equipment and personnel, medical facilities against nuclear, chemical,
and biological attacks, conversion of logistics and transportation
infrastructure (railways, highways, bridges, ports, and airports) to
military use, research and innovation in the defense industry, etc.
"Our investments will ensure the availability of the necessary forces,
capabilities, resources, infrastructure, operational readiness, and
resilience, in line with our three core tasks: deterrence and defense,
crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security," reads the
final resolution approved at the NATO summit. We reaffirm our shared
commitment to rapidly expand transatlantic defense cooperation and to
harness emerging technologies and the spirit of innovation to advance
our collective security. We will work to eliminate defense trade
barriers among Allies and leverage our partnerships to foster cooperation.
After launching the DIANA - Defense Innovation Accelerator program to
"accelerate dual-use innovation in new technologies" (millions of
dollars for research and development centers across the country; in
Italy, in Turin, La Spezia, and Capua), NATO launched a Rapid Adoption
Action Plan to "strengthen and accelerate" the adoption and integration
of new military technologies. "The Allies commit to accelerating
adoption procedures, including accelerated procurement, and to
allocating adequate resources to this end," states the final resolution
of the 2025 Summit. "The Allies will embrace greater acquisition risks
in the early stages of development and improve the communication of
demand signals within NATO. The Military Production Action Plan responds
to the need to produce more and more quickly."
Among the most significant developments, especially in terms of
resources and "investments," is the approval in The Hague of the first
Commercial Space Strategy. The strategy aims to enable NATO countries to
"integrate more flexible and timely commercial solutions, both in
peacetime and conflict," offering greater "business opportunities" to
companies operating in the aerospace sector and increasingly closer
coordination with the Alliance.
NATO's business pro-private capital approach, emerging from the June
summit in the Netherlands, has given rise to several multinational,
multi-million-dollar projects. Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany,
Greece, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom, Sweden,
Turkey, and Italy have commissioned the acquisition, storage,
transportation, and management of "essential defense raw materials"
(particularly lithium, titanium, and other rare earth minerals), which
are highly sought after by industries in the supply chain of death. With
the High Visibility Project-the name of the strategic minerals stockpile
program-NATO aims to "reduce demand vulnerability as well as supplier
dependence."
New impetus has also been given to the program to strengthen the NATO
Multi-Role Tanker Transport Fleet (MMF). The NATO Support and
Procurement Agency (NSPA) has signed a contract with the German giant
Airbus Defence and Space for the supply of two additional A330 tankers,
adding to the twelve already in operation with the allied fleet.
Launched in 2012, the MMF program enjoys financial support from the
European Union. One of its main operational hubs is being built at the
Sigonella Naval Air Station, the largest US and NATO base in the central
Mediterranean. At the Sicilian installation, runway expansion is
underway to accommodate the landing of large tanker aircraft from the US
Air Force and Alliance partners, following the acquisition of
approximately 100 hectares of land designated for agricultural use.
Further serious consequences in terms of territorial militarization will
be generated by another major project under the Rapid Adoption Action
Plan, the NATO Innovation Ranges. Specifically, Estonia, Finland,
Latvia, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Italy will create a large number of
"ranges" for the testing and integration of new advanced military
systems. "This is a key intervention aimed at accelerating the
innovative adoption and launch of new technologies and increasing
production capacity through the inclusion of non-traditional suppliers
in the defense industrial base," NATO leaders explain. "These testing
grounds will allow Allied partners to test, refine, and validate
technological products in operationally realistic environments."
Although "apostle of peace" Trump arrived in The Hague with an olive
branch regarding Washington's future relations with Russian President
Putin, the NATO summit's final document reaffirms absolute hostility to
Russia and full military and political support for Ukraine. "United in
the face of profound security threats and challenges, particularly the
long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security and the
persistent threat of terrorism (...), the Allies reaffirm their
sovereign and enduring commitment to provide support to Ukraine, whose
security contributes to our own," the 32 NATO leaders agreed.
Secretary General Rutte's words were even more bellicose. "Russia is a
short- and long-term threat to the Alliance, and our intelligence
suggests it could be ready to attack NATO within the next three to seven
years; the threat from Russia is clear, and we must be able to defend
ourselves," he warned at the opening of the summit. European NATO
countries will shoulder even more of Ukraine's war expenses. During the
first half of 2025, "military aid" worth EUR35 billion was sent to the
government in Kiev, but Mark Rutte reiterated his intention to exceed
EUR50 billion by the end of the year.
The Italian government presented itself more united than ever before at
Mr. Trump's court. Before departing for the Netherlands, Prime Minister
Giorgia Meloni expressed in Parliament her full support and devotion to
the blood, sweat, and tears program of 5% of GDP per year for war
spending. The Milex Observatory on Military Spending has attempted to
quantify the amount of financial resources that will be diverted from
the state budget to fuel the weapons systems market. The 3.5% cash
target alone will entail spending of no less than EUR700 billion over
the next ten years, approximately EUR220 billion more than would be
spent over the same period with a 2% GDP target. If the full 5% target
were met, EUR964 billion would be spent over the next ten years, or
EUR445 billion more than the 2% target, with an average annual
additional resources of EUR44 billion. The many "external" wars that
Italy is engaged in would thus be compounded by a full-blown "internal
war" against the most disadvantaged social classes.
Antonio Mazzeo
https://umanitanova.org/la-filiera-della-morte-vertice-nato/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
foundations to make NATO stronger, more equitable, and more lethal." At
the conclusion of the Atlantic Alliance summit held in The Hague on June
24 and 25, Secretary General Mark Rutte emphasized the results of what
many analysts (see in particular Gianandrea Gaiani, editor of Analisi
Difesa) saw as a chicken coop theater, with a "peacock master"-Donald
Trump-and countless "adoring chickens," the heads of state of the other
31 member states.
"The United States today appears no longer as a great ally but as the
true master, which, in addition to spying on Europeans like a big
brother, also demands devotion, blind obedience, and glorification of
its own deeds and those of its leader," writes Gaiani. At the Hague
Summit, NATO is effectively dead as an alliance, even though it survives
as a sort of feudal empire in which the sovereign seeks and obtains
subservience and adulation from his submissive vassals.
At the summit, the US president presented himself as the peace-making
knight of the Apocalypse after imposing an armed truce between Israel
and Iran with the sound of super-bombs. He reminded his European
"vassals" that there is no NATO without Washington's overwhelming
military-nuclear power, and if the allies still want US-made armed
forces on the borders with Russia and Belarus, they will have to use the
European Union as a cash machine to finance the reconversion of the
economy and industrial production to military purposes. Above all, they
will have to buy US-made weapons and munitions and support the insane
race for space and nuclear rearmament and Washington's unbridled
ambitions for power in the Indo-Pacific.
To hold on to the much-admired "peacock," NATO partners have agreed to
undergo the greatest economic, financial, and social shock in post-World
War II history: allocating 5% of GDP to military spending within ten
years, focusing specifically on the development and production of
increasingly sophisticated warfare technologies, aerospace and satellite
systems, drones, tanks, and conventional and nuclear munitions. This
hemorrhage of public money will benefit transnational financial capital,
destroying welfare, education, public healthcare, and social services
across the continent. "In the White House's assessment, the 5% defense
target has financial and commercial value: European allies should
purchase US weapons to rebalance the trade balance between the two sides
of the Atlantic and avoid the US tariffs that Trump himself threatens to
impose on all allies on a daily basis," Gianandrea Gaiani notes.
For the most reluctant allies, Mark Rutte has devised an accounting
trick that barely changes the dire future of EU-NATO countries: the 5%
of GDP will be reached by adding the 3.5% share to be covered by state
budgets for weapons and troops, with 1.5% for "national security
spending": cybersecurity, protection of critical infrastructure (power
plants and telecommunications networks), border defense, military police
equipment and personnel, medical facilities against nuclear, chemical,
and biological attacks, conversion of logistics and transportation
infrastructure (railways, highways, bridges, ports, and airports) to
military use, research and innovation in the defense industry, etc.
"Our investments will ensure the availability of the necessary forces,
capabilities, resources, infrastructure, operational readiness, and
resilience, in line with our three core tasks: deterrence and defense,
crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security," reads the
final resolution approved at the NATO summit. We reaffirm our shared
commitment to rapidly expand transatlantic defense cooperation and to
harness emerging technologies and the spirit of innovation to advance
our collective security. We will work to eliminate defense trade
barriers among Allies and leverage our partnerships to foster cooperation.
After launching the DIANA - Defense Innovation Accelerator program to
"accelerate dual-use innovation in new technologies" (millions of
dollars for research and development centers across the country; in
Italy, in Turin, La Spezia, and Capua), NATO launched a Rapid Adoption
Action Plan to "strengthen and accelerate" the adoption and integration
of new military technologies. "The Allies commit to accelerating
adoption procedures, including accelerated procurement, and to
allocating adequate resources to this end," states the final resolution
of the 2025 Summit. "The Allies will embrace greater acquisition risks
in the early stages of development and improve the communication of
demand signals within NATO. The Military Production Action Plan responds
to the need to produce more and more quickly."
Among the most significant developments, especially in terms of
resources and "investments," is the approval in The Hague of the first
Commercial Space Strategy. The strategy aims to enable NATO countries to
"integrate more flexible and timely commercial solutions, both in
peacetime and conflict," offering greater "business opportunities" to
companies operating in the aerospace sector and increasingly closer
coordination with the Alliance.
NATO's business pro-private capital approach, emerging from the June
summit in the Netherlands, has given rise to several multinational,
multi-million-dollar projects. Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany,
Greece, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom, Sweden,
Turkey, and Italy have commissioned the acquisition, storage,
transportation, and management of "essential defense raw materials"
(particularly lithium, titanium, and other rare earth minerals), which
are highly sought after by industries in the supply chain of death. With
the High Visibility Project-the name of the strategic minerals stockpile
program-NATO aims to "reduce demand vulnerability as well as supplier
dependence."
New impetus has also been given to the program to strengthen the NATO
Multi-Role Tanker Transport Fleet (MMF). The NATO Support and
Procurement Agency (NSPA) has signed a contract with the German giant
Airbus Defence and Space for the supply of two additional A330 tankers,
adding to the twelve already in operation with the allied fleet.
Launched in 2012, the MMF program enjoys financial support from the
European Union. One of its main operational hubs is being built at the
Sigonella Naval Air Station, the largest US and NATO base in the central
Mediterranean. At the Sicilian installation, runway expansion is
underway to accommodate the landing of large tanker aircraft from the US
Air Force and Alliance partners, following the acquisition of
approximately 100 hectares of land designated for agricultural use.
Further serious consequences in terms of territorial militarization will
be generated by another major project under the Rapid Adoption Action
Plan, the NATO Innovation Ranges. Specifically, Estonia, Finland,
Latvia, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Italy will create a large number of
"ranges" for the testing and integration of new advanced military
systems. "This is a key intervention aimed at accelerating the
innovative adoption and launch of new technologies and increasing
production capacity through the inclusion of non-traditional suppliers
in the defense industrial base," NATO leaders explain. "These testing
grounds will allow Allied partners to test, refine, and validate
technological products in operationally realistic environments."
Although "apostle of peace" Trump arrived in The Hague with an olive
branch regarding Washington's future relations with Russian President
Putin, the NATO summit's final document reaffirms absolute hostility to
Russia and full military and political support for Ukraine. "United in
the face of profound security threats and challenges, particularly the
long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security and the
persistent threat of terrorism (...), the Allies reaffirm their
sovereign and enduring commitment to provide support to Ukraine, whose
security contributes to our own," the 32 NATO leaders agreed.
Secretary General Rutte's words were even more bellicose. "Russia is a
short- and long-term threat to the Alliance, and our intelligence
suggests it could be ready to attack NATO within the next three to seven
years; the threat from Russia is clear, and we must be able to defend
ourselves," he warned at the opening of the summit. European NATO
countries will shoulder even more of Ukraine's war expenses. During the
first half of 2025, "military aid" worth EUR35 billion was sent to the
government in Kiev, but Mark Rutte reiterated his intention to exceed
EUR50 billion by the end of the year.
The Italian government presented itself more united than ever before at
Mr. Trump's court. Before departing for the Netherlands, Prime Minister
Giorgia Meloni expressed in Parliament her full support and devotion to
the blood, sweat, and tears program of 5% of GDP per year for war
spending. The Milex Observatory on Military Spending has attempted to
quantify the amount of financial resources that will be diverted from
the state budget to fuel the weapons systems market. The 3.5% cash
target alone will entail spending of no less than EUR700 billion over
the next ten years, approximately EUR220 billion more than would be
spent over the same period with a 2% GDP target. If the full 5% target
were met, EUR964 billion would be spent over the next ten years, or
EUR445 billion more than the 2% target, with an average annual
additional resources of EUR44 billion. The many "external" wars that
Italy is engaged in would thus be compounded by a full-blown "internal
war" against the most disadvantaged social classes.
Antonio Mazzeo
https://umanitanova.org/la-filiera-della-morte-vertice-nato/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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