What was the reaction to the warning by Russian President Putin when he said that the world underestimates the peril of nuclear war, and that this tendency is increasing?
A specific danger – emphasises Putin – is the “tendency to lower the bar for the use of nuclear weapons, by creating tactical low-impact nuclear charges which may lead to a world-wide nuclear disaster”. This is the category including the new B61-12 nuclear bombs which the USA will begin to deploy in Italy, Germany, Belgium, Holland, and perhaps in other European countries, during the first half of the year 2020. “High precision and the possibility of using less destructive warheads” - warns the Federation of American Scientists – “may lead military commanders to insist on the use of nuclear bombs in an attack, knowing that radioactive fallout and collateral damage would be limited”.
Italy shares the responsibility for the growing danger of nuclear war, since, in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and not being a signatory of the UNO Treaty forbidding nuclear weapons, it is providing the United States with a primarily anti-Russian capacity, not only with its bases, but also aircraft and pilots for the deployment of nuclear bombs. This comes with the explicit or implicit consent (by renouncing real opposition) of the entire arc of Parliament.
The other danger – warns Putin – is the “disintegration of the international system for arms control”, initiated by the retreat of the United States from the ABM Treaty (Anti Ballistic Missile Treaty) in 2002. Created in 1972 by the USA and the USSR, it forbade each of the two parties to deploy interceptor missiles which, by neutralising reprisals by countries under attack, would have favoured a « first strike », in other words a surprise nuclear attack. Since then, the United States have developed the “anti-missile shield”, stretching from Europe to the borders of Russia – two ground installations in Romania and Poland, and four warships cruising the Baltic and the Black Sea. Equipped with launch tubes, these ships are able to launch interceptor missiles and also cruise missiles with nuclear warheads.
Italy shares the responsibility in this case also – the installation of the JTAGS (Joint Tactical Ground Station) at Sigonella (Sicily). This a US satellite station for the “anti-missile shield”, one of five on the planet. The situation is made worse by the fact that the USA now want to retire from the 1987 INF Treaty (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty) - which eliminated the US nuclear missiles based in Comiso - in order to be able to deploy in Europe anti-Russian ground-based intermediate-range nuclear missiles. The Italian government is also implicated, since it endorsed this plan at the North Atlantic Council of 4 December, and is without a doubt favourable to the installation of these missiles in Italy. “If these missiles arrive in Europe, the West should not be astonished if we react” said Putin. A warning which was ignored by Conte, Di Maio and Salvini (1) who continue to beat the drum for the anti-migrant “Security Decree”. But when US nuclear bombs and missiles arrive and put the real security of Italy in danger, they see nothing, hear nothing and say nothing.
意大利也对此负有责任——在西格尼拉(西西里)安装联合战术地面站。这是美国的“反导护盾”卫星站,是地球上五个卫星站之一。更糟糕的是,美国现在想退出1987年的《中程核力量条约》(INF条约)——该条约消除了美国位于意大利科米索的核导弹——以便能够在欧洲部署反俄的地面中程核导弹。意大利政府也牵连其中,因为它在12月4日的北大西洋理事会上批准了这项计划,并且毫无疑问地赞成在意大利安装这些导弹。普京说:“如果这些导弹抵达欧洲,如果我们作出反应,西方国家不应感到惊讶。”孔蒂、迪迈奥和萨尔维尼继续为反移民的“安全法案”而鼓吹。但是当美国的核弹和导弹到达,并把意大利真正的安全置于危险之中的时候,他们却忽视了这些危险,他们什么也没看到,什么也没听到,什么也没说。
Sunday, 23 December 2018 Edition of il manifesto
(1) President of the Council and Vice-President of the current government of Italy
曼利奥·迪努希