« THE ART OF
WAR »
by Manlio Dinucci
The NATO Ministers
for Defence (Elisabetta Trenta, M5S, for Italy, and Penny Mordaunt for UK) were
convened in Brussels on 26 and 27 June to approve the new measures of
« dissuasion » against Russia, which has been accused - with no proof
whatsoever - of having violated the INF Treaty. Basically, this means they will
fall into step behind the United States, which, by withdrawing definitively
from the Treaty on 2 August, is preparing to deploy in Europe ground-based
intermediate range nuclear missiles (a range of between 500 and 5,500 kilometres),
similar to those from the 1980's (the Pershing II and the cruise missiles)
which were eliminated (with the Soviet SS-20's) by the Treaty signed in
1987 by Presidents Gorbachev and Reagan.
The major European
powers, increasingly divided within the EU, are re-grouped in NATO under US
command in order to support their common strategic interests. At the UNO, this
same European Union – of which 21 of its 27 members are part of the Alliance
(as is the United Kingdom although it is leaving the EU) - rejected the Russian
proposition to maintain the INF Treaty. On a matter
of such importance, European public opinion is deliberately left in a
state of ignorance by their governments and the major medias. In this way we do
not notice the growing danger which is threatening us all – the growing
possibility that we may one day suffer the use of nuclear weapons.
This is confirmed
by the latest strategic document from the US Armed Forces, Nuclear Operations (11 June), written under the direction of the President of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff. Given that « our nuclear forces offer the USA the
capacity to pursue our own national objectives », the document underlines that they must be « diversified, flexible and adaptable » to a « wide range of adversaries, threats and contexts ». Despite Russian warnings that the use of even one low-power nuclear weapon would begin a chain
reaction which could lead to large-scale nuclear conflict, the US doctrine is
beginning to orient itself on the basis of a dangerous concept - « flexibility ».
The strategic
document affirms that « US nuclear forces give us the means to apply force
to a wide range of targets at the time and with the means decided by the
President ». Those targets (specifies the same document) are in truth
chosen by the Intelligence agencies, who evaluate their vulnerability to a
nuclear attack, and also calculate the effects of radioactive fallout. The use
of nuclear weapons - emphasises the document - « can create the conditions
for decisive results. In particular, the use of a nuclear weapon would
fundamentally transform the context of a battle by creating the conditions
which would enable the commanders to win the confrontation ».
Nuclear weapons
would also enable the USA to « reassure their allies and partners »
who, trusting in these weapons, « would give up the idea of possessing their
own nuclear weapons, thus participating in the objective of the United States,
which is non-proliferation ».
However, the
document indicates that « The USA and certain selected NATO allies would
be able to keep aircraft capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional
weapons ». This is an admission that four countries of the EU which are
officially non-nuclear - Italy, Germany, Belgium, Holland – and also Turkey, in
violation of the non-proliferation Treaty, are not only storing US nuclear
weapons (B-61 bombs which from 2020 will be replaced by the more destructive
B61-12), but are prepared to use them in a nuclear attack under command of the
Pentagon.
All of this is
kept secret by our governments and parliaments, televisions and newspapers,
with the guilty silence of the vast majority of politicians and journalists,
who nonetheless repeat day after day how important « security » is
for we Italians and other Europeans of the Union. It will apparently be
guaranteed for us by the US deployment of other nuclear weapons.
Il manifesto, 25 June 2019
Translation : Pete Kimberley
No comments:
Post a Comment