Ukraine and the Middle East, you can only sit at the peace tables if you are well “armed” –

Roberto Arditti

August 18, 2024

Talk is worthless, we can say with a certain frankness. The evidence that emerges with the authority of facts from the two most recent international crises is in fact one and only one, despite its dramatic substance: the use of force is necessary, it leads to concrete results, in many ways it responds to a need for justice. This is true for Ukraine, where, with all due respect to Orsini and those who think like him, only the capacity for military reaction (with NATO finally in the field) allows that nation to exist today rather than fall prey to anachronistic Russian imperial ambitions. This is true for the Middle East, where, with all due respect to Orsini and those who think like him, only Israel’s military reaction allows the continent’s only democracy to resist the frightening aggression that began on October 7. Those who criticize the violence of Ukrainian or Israeli behavior should make peace with common sense and knowledge of history: if someone starts shooting and killing (Putin, Hamas) the reaction cannot be a press release. Here we come to the point that concerns us most closely and that must increasingly characterise Italian and European political and industrial choices.

There is no diplomatic or economic activity with any hope of success without an adequate military and intelligence structure, with the primary purpose of deterrence but capable of being deployed at any time to defend the vital interests of a community, a nation, an alliance. And it is precisely following the serious crises just mentioned that positive signals are emerging both at a national and European level. Let us give some examples to understand each other better, also because these matters should be treated more with facts than with words. On August 2, the strike group of the aircraft carrier Cavour of the Italian Navy concluded its participation in the multinational exercise Pitch Black off the coast of Australia, in which soldiers from 20 nations took part, and then moved towards the Japanese coast in view of new operations. It is the sign of a newly minted will of our armed forces, finally capable of playing a role even in distant theaters. But it is also the sign of a substantial evolution of NATO towards a global alliance, capable of acting in full collaboration with countries such as Japan, Australia and South Korea.

At the same time, orders are being strengthened for new F 35 aircraft to be assembled in Italy (Cameri, in the province of Novara) where work will be done on models purchased from Switzerland and Holland. And since Italy is the only country in the world, together with Japan, where there is a plant authorized to work on the most sophisticated fighter currently in circulation, the time has come to proudly claim this national success, rather than always keeping a low profile. Also because that very plant has ensured for many years the role of “hub” for the maintenance of all aircraft of that type operating in the European theater. We mentioned the F 35, which in reality is much more than a fighter plane. It is in fact a true integrated sky-land-sea system, because that is the only way that military deterrent and attack instruments work in the times in which we live. So much so that the mission of the ship Cavour in the distant seas of the Pacific finds in the presence on board precisely those aircraft a working tool in common with the other Navies.

Let’s look at the new joint Italian-German program to develop new versions of the Leopard tank: the project was born in Germany but the joint development will bring work and knowledge to Italy, because a significant part of the activities will be carried out in our country. Let’s take another example, recalling the start of the collaboration between Italy, Great Britain and Japan for the sixth generation fighter. Here too, an effort that highlights the fundamental concept to be memorized: there is no future in security and defense activities if placed in the hands of a single nation, since only cooperation between allies can guarantee concrete results. We will see in the second part of this year if the conflict desired by Russia and suffered by Ukraine will find a resolution, just as we will see shortly if the very intense talks of these hours will succeed in leading to a significant truce in Gaza. But the lesson not to be forgotten is one and only one: at the peace table you sit with a credible role only if the other actors have well-founded reasons to fear your initiatives. Everything else is academic, almost always useless and boring.