« THE
ART OF WAR »
A call to arms, NATO mobilised on two fronts
NATOME – this is how President Trump, who brags
about his talent for creating acronyms, has already baptised the NATO
deployment in the Middle East, which he demanded by telephone from Stoltenberg,
the Secretary General of the Alliance. Stoltenberg immediately agreed that NATO
must play a « more important role in the Middle East, particularly in
training missions ». He also participated in the meeting of the EU Ministers
for Foreign Affairs, declaring that the EU must stay connected to the United
States and NATO because « even
though we have made enormous progress, Daesh might still rise again ». In
this way, the United States are seeking to implicate the European allies in the
chaotic situation provoked by the assassination, authorised by Trump himself,
of Iranian General Soleimani as soon as he arrived in Baghdad.
After
the Iraqi parliament had considered the expulsion of more than 5,000 US
soldiers present in the country, plus thousands of Pentagon mercenaries, Prime
Minister Abdul-Mahdi asked the State Department to send a delegation to
establish the protocol for their withdrawal. The USA – answered the Departement – will send a
delegation « not to discuss the troop's retreat, but an adequate protocol
for the armed forces in the Middle East », adding that Washington is busy
drawing up an agreement on the « strengthening of the role of NATO in
Iraq, corresponding to the desires of the President, that the Allies should
share the charge in all efforts for our collective defence ».
The plan is clear - to replace, either completely or
in part, the US troops in Iraq with the troops of its European allies, who will therefore find
themselves in the most dangerous situations, as demonstrated by the fact that
NATO itself postponed training missions in Iraq after the assassination of
Soleimani.
Apart from the Southern front, NATO is also mobilised
on the Eastern front. In order to « defend
Europe against the Russian menace », it is in the process of
preparing the exercise Defender Europe 20, which will see in April and
May the greatest deployment of US forces in Europe for the last 25 years.
20,000 soldiers, including several thousand
from the National Guard of 12 US States, will be arriving from the United
States to join up with the 9,000 already present in Europe, for a total of
approximately 30,000. With them, 7,000 soldiers from 13 European NATO member
countries, including Italy, and two partners, Georgia and Finland. As well as
armements which will be arriving from the other side of the Atlantic, US troops
will be using 13,000 tanks, self-propelled cannons, armoured vehicles, and
other military vehicles from US « pre-positioned depots » in Europe.
Military convoys with armoured vehicles will travel 4,000 kilometres via 12
main roads, in connection with aircraft, helicopters, drones and naval units.
US paratroops of the 173rd Brigade and Italians from the Brigade Folgore will
be jumping together into Latvia.
The
exercise Defender Europe 20 will be taking high ground later on,
according to the US and NATO strategy following the aggravation of the crisis
in the Middle East. The Pentagon, which only last year sent 14,000 more
soldiers to the Middle East, is currently sending into this same area certain forces which are preparing for the
war exercise in Europe – 4,000 parachutists from the 82nd Airborne Division
(including several hundred from Vicenza) and 4,500 Marines, including those
from the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan. Other forces, either before
or after the exercise in Europe, may be sent to the Middle East. The planning
of Defender Europe 20, emphasises the Pentagon, nonetheless remains
unchanged. In other words, 30,000 US soldiers will be training to defend Europe
from a Russian aggression. A scenario which could not occur in reality,
particularly because in any confrontation, it would not be tanks that would be
used, but nuclear missiles – but it is a scenario which is useful for the
increasing of tension and spreads the idea of an enemy presence.
il manifesto, 9 January
2020
Translator: Pete Kimberley
INVITATION TO THE CONFERENCE ON 25 APRIL
DECLARATION OF FLORENCE
FOR AN INTERNATIONAL FRONT NATO EXIT
DANSK DEUTSCH ENGLISH ESPAÑOL FRANÇAIS ITALIANO NEDERLANDS
PORTUGUÊS ROMÎNA SLOVENSKÝ SVENSKA TÜRKÇE РУССКИЙ
DANSK DEUTSCH ENGLISH ESPAÑOL FRANÇAIS ITALIANO NEDERLANDS
PORTUGUÊS ROMÎNA SLOVENSKÝ SVENSKA TÜRKÇE РУССКИЙ
Manlio Dinucci
Geographer and geopolitical scientist. His latest books are Laboratorio di geografia, Zanichelli 2014 ; Diario di viaggio, Zanichelli 2017 ; L’arte della guerra / Annali della strategia Usa/Nato 1990-2016, Zambon 2016, Guerra Nucleare. Il Giorno Prima 2017; Diario di guerra Asterios Editores 2018, Premio internazionale per l'analisi geostrategica assegnato il 7 giugno 2019 dal Club dei giornalisti del Messico, A.C.
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