Twenty thousand soldiers More Americans on European soil, concentrated in Italy and Germany. President Biden himself has announced a personnel and financial reinforcement of the forces. In the afternoon, the Pentagon specified that the United States would send a “short-range air defense” battalion to Italy, consisting of 65 military. A unit subordinate to the Short-Range Air Defense Battalion stationed in Germany. Whether it is the total number of soldiers or just the first contingent of others is unknown at this time. Beyond the numbers, the news itself is relevant, especially in a country concerned with arms shipments and subordination to Washington’s decisions Posted Politics in flicker. It was not for nothing that Madrid’s head of government, Mario Draghi, immediately specified: “The defense minister describes it to me as an adjustment that is already planned,” but admitted that “of course, the air defense system must be strengthened on the eastern flank of the alliance. “. In any case, “there is no risk of escalation: we must be ready, but to date we do not see any risk of escalation”.
However, the White House decision is a first concrete effect of the “new NATO doctrine” being developed in Madrid in response to the threat. It’s a matter of understanding the modalities. Italy, like the rest of Europe, already has a significant presence of bases (there are 10 today) and men (less than 15,000), but like all European countries, it has onereduce quotas Starstripes at the lowest conditions from the second half of the twentieth century, from the Cold War onwards, with some “targeted” reinforcements after September 11, 2001 or 2017, when Sigonella served as the base for the Alliance Ground Atlantic Operations Surveillance, the program that launched the provides real-time data and protection to Alliance member countries through radar and drones, while maintaining air border control and maritime security. However, it is from here that the Global Hawk drones skim i Borders of Ukraine and they control the movement of Russian troops from where they can launch them Reaper drones already employed in Iraq. In short, this appears to be one of the candidate bases for reinforcements along with Aviano and Camp Derby.
“The decision responds to different needs,” explains the former general Vincenzo CamporinoI led NATO troops in exercises in Norway and Turkey during the Cold War as a deterrent against Russia. “Meanwhile, it responds to a need for defensive reinforcement of our territory, because Moscow’s threats against Italy must not be forgotten, as well as the fact that Trieste is closer to Kyiv than Palermo, in short, the conflict is real near our borders“. The reinforcement is not only for immediate readiness against the Russian threat, but also has symbolic meaning. “It serves to make Putin understand that thealliance it did not divide and remain inert, but rather has solidified, and for him this is certainly a major defeat and a problem that Russia, increasingly isolated, will have to deal with for a long time. It also serves NATO, says the general. “The strengthening is not only aimed at the East, but also serves to strengthen the Eastsouthern area and the Mediterranean Sea This is also a critical area militarily, as it is no secret that Russian naval forces with fleets and submarines capable of conventional attacks are appearing there, as they did during the Cold War. Not only that, we are talking about hybrid warfare that we live in Mediterranean Sea- We are aware that the area is critical due to phenomena affecting security and territorial borders, because we suffer from the reflections migrations more or less induced, we have the problem refuel food and energy. In short, the Mediterranean is an area extremely critical and it’s important to make it clear to the other countries in the alliance that they don’t see it as such because they aren’t riparians.
More will be known about the announced reinforcements in the coming weeks, and there will likely be impatient reactions to the American presence at our bases. “I’m sure, but technically absolutely nothing changes. let me explain. If more NATO forces arrive on our territory, the rules remain the same as always, so the deployment of another country’s forces from our territory is tied to it being a NATO-like deployment with the NATO label. So much so that there were very specific and explicit reservations at the timeinvasion of Iraq in 2003 because it was not a NATO operation and American forces could not be sent into combat from Italian territory. It’s a golden rule of employment. I don’t see anything fundamentally changing other than greater deterrence capability.”