The Art of War
The Impact of the Italian Pentagon
Manlio Dinucci
The
inhabitants of the district of Centocelle (Rome) are quite right to protest
about the impact that the construction of the Italian Pentagon is having on their
archeological park and their green belt (il manifesto, 29 October). However,
another, rather more serious impact, passes uncommented on: the impact on the
Italian Constitution.
Earlier
this year (7 March 2017), we reported in il Manifesto the following:
- There was a plan to bring together all
the Chiefs of the Armed Forces under a single structure, a mini-copy of
the US Pentagon;
- This is an integral part of “revising the
operational model of the Armed Forces”; and
- This
plan is institutionalized through the “White Book for International
Security and Defence” which was signed off by Minister Pinotti.
This plan overrides
over the constitutional bases of the Italian Republic and reshapes the Republic
into a power that takes military action in areas overlooking the Mediterranean:
North Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans. And the basis for this action?
Well there are two: first to support Italy’s own economic and strategic “vital interests; and second, ”; and second,
anywhere in the world – from the Baltic to Afghanistan – that the
interests of the West, represented by the US-led Nato, are at stake.
Functional
to all this is the 2016 Framework Law. This institutionalizes military missions
abroad (which currently total 30 in 20 countries), financing them through a
fund granted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Thus real
military expenditure is increasing: with these and the other heads added to the
Defence budget, it has risen to around 70 million euro on average per day. As
requested by Nato, this will have to balloon further so as to reach around 100
million per day.
Reconfiguring
the Armed Forces for offense requires new generation weapons that are even more
costly. Italy’s latest purchase: the updated version of the US missile Agm-88E
Aargm, the earlier version of which Italy had previously purchased. 25 of these missiles cost 18.2 million
dollars and respect previous models that Italy previously purchased. Agm-88E Aargm is a medium range missile
launched by bomber fighters to destroy radars at the beginning of an offensive,
thus overcoming the defences of the country under attack.
The manufacturing industrial, the Orbital Atk, specifies that “the new missile
is also compatible with the F-35”. Of
course, the F-35 is the US Lockheed Martin’s fighter bomber and Italy is participating
in its manufacturing process through Parliament’s Faco plant managed by Leonardo
(formerly Finmeccanica) and has undertaken to purchase 90 of them. The first
F-35 arrived in the base of Amendola on 12 December 2016. This made Italy the
first country, after the US, to receive the new fifth generation fighter plane that
will also be armed with the new B61-12 nuclear bomb.
However Italy is not only a purchaser but is also a manufacturer of arms. The
military industry is defined in the White Book as the “pillar of the Country
System” since it “contributes, through exports, to rebalancing the balance
of trade”, and to promoting products of national industry in high paid sectors”.
The
results speak for themselves. Leonardo has
jumped to ninth place in the rankings of the 100 biggest military industrials
in the world. Its annual arms sales were around 9 billion dollars in 2016. At
the beginning of October, Leonardo announced that it was opening another plant in
Australia where it is manufacturing arms and communication systems for the
Australian military navy.
In return, to further stimulate production in the military sector which today provides
Leonardo with 84% of its turnover, two Finmeccanica undertakings are being sold
to the Japanese company Hitachi. The undertakings sold are Ansaldo Sts and
Ansaldo Breda, global leaders in manufacturing railways.
With funds diverted from the budget of the Stability Law, the Italian Pentagon,
the new headquarters of the Ministry of
War is built on this “pillar of the Country System”.
Il manifesto,Oct 30 2017
Translated by Anoosha Boralessa
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