European hypocrisy and Italian complicity
While the Zionist state and US imperialism continue their aggression against Iran, Italian military bases are already being put to use. There is no need for a formal American request, which may or may not arrive. The Sigonella base is fully operational: 24 US military flights already took off from the base before February 28, bound for the Souda Bay base (Crete) in preparation for the attack. This constitutes an indirect logistical use for resupplying forces and transporting troops. In any case, this is a military use within the context of a war of aggression.
This is certainly not the first time. Giorgia Meloni herself recalled the bilateral agreements between Italy and the US on the use of bases, signed in 1951 and 1954, then renewed in 1995, and carefully guarded by Italian governments of all political colors. These agreements are largely (scandalously) secret, allowing the logistical and “technical” use of military bases without the need for special political authorization. Similar arrangements, in various forms, apply across the countries of the Atlantic Alliance.
The hypocrisy of the European imperialist governments is striking. Formally, none of Europe’s imperialist governments is directly involved in the Israeli-American war on Iran. This is partly because Trump’s line marginalizes the old allies (including Great Britain) from any foreign policy decisions, presenting them with a fait accompli without even informing them. But none of the European leaders has the will or the interest to oppose it. After all, as officials unofficially admitted on the sidelines of EU meetings, “America is doing the dirty work that we are unable to do”.
This is a full-fledged confession, already made a year ago by the German government in support of the Zionist genocide, and now reiterated regarding the war on Iran. It is a synthesis of envy, impotence, and complicity.
The facts speak for themselves. The same Germany of Merz, who only a few weeks ago in Munich lamented the American breach of the Transatlantic Pact, rushed to the White House on the fourth day of the war to demonstrate its relations with Trump. To the point that even the compliant German press has described the episode as humiliating for Merz. Macron’s France described the American attack on Iran as an act outside so-called international law, but concluded that Iran must not defend itself in order to avoid escalation. Meanwhile, the aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle has set sail to protect France’s interests. Only the Spanish government – which has also increased its military spending – has declared its opposition to the war, following polls revealing that 80% of the Spanish population is against it. But this dissociation does not translate into a break, and it is combined with a request for respect for Spain as a loyal member of NATO. Meanwhile, French, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish military ships are heading for Cyprus.
The Italian government is participating in European hypocrisy from a particular angle, and with increasing difficulty. Over the past year, Giorgia Meloni has supported Trump’s figure and line in every possible way, presenting herself as a bridge between America and Europe in the name of the West. But Donald Trump’s reckless political course, both in domestic policy (Minneapolis) and foreign policy, and the growing backlash against Trumpism among broad sectors of public opinion, are making Meloni’s support for the American president increasingly difficult to sustain. They also expose her to the risk of political backlash, which is all the more worrying on the eve of a decisive referendum for the government.
Hence the Prime Minister’s embarrassed silence on the war with Iran, her contortions, her grasping at straws. On the one hand, “we are not at war and we do not want to enter into one.” On the other, military aid to the Gulf monarchies and the defense of bilateral agreements between Italy and the US on the use of bases. Underlying this is a logic of exchange: it is no coincidence that a few weeks ago NATO recognized Italy’s leading role in its base in Naples, the largest Western military garrison in Southern Europe.
Is it just subservience to the US? Just ideological complicity with Trumpism? No, there is more to it than that. There is also the specific interest of Italian imperialism in the Meloni government’s foreign policy. Italy’s projection in the Middle East took a leap forward with the Mattei Plan. Business with the Gulf monarchies involves all the major energy companies and the entire Italian arms industry. Minister Crosetto’s trips to the United Arab Emirates are not tourist visits; they follow the route of contracts in infrastructure, logistics, shipbuilding, and military production. Qatar’s naval fleet, for example, is largely Italian-made. All this means not only profits, but also the expansion of Italy’s areas of influence, greater access and diplomatic weight, to the detriment of other competing imperialisms, such as France’s. This is a prize to be defended, especially in a context of war.
The reason why Italy participates in Trump’s Board of Peace, unlike other European imperialisms, is not only because it is US imperialism that is dealing the cards in the Middle East after the carnage in Palestine. It also stems from the fact that Italian imperialism now has new cards to play in the region and new ambitions. And it is precisely the current scenario of war and possible regional upheaval that makes Italian participation even more important for national (imperialist) interests. The real political scandal on the left is that in September, the Trump-Blair-Netanyahu colonial plan that gave rise to the Board of Peace did not receive a single vote against it in the Italian Parliament. Not one.
Italy’s participation in the Aspides naval mission in the Persian Gulf, moreover in a leading role, follows the same logic. It is not only military alignment alongside Israel against the Houthis and the Palestinians. It is also the protection of its own negotiating role at various tables in the Middle East. And today it also represents involvement in the war scenario, with the serious risk of direct enlistment.
Question: is it a coincidence that in the spring of 2024, in the midst of genocide, that military mission was voted on in Parliament by a united national front ranging from Giorgia Meloni to the M5S to the PD? So much for opposition! “Pacifism” bowed to the tricolor, even in the face of a post-fascist-led government. And today, not surprisingly, no parliamentary “opposition” is calling for withdrawal from that mission.
The rejection of the American Zionist war on Iran must therefore be combined with the demand for a break with Italian imperialism, its interests, and its compromises. The struggle against war ultimately means a struggle against one’s own imperialism — otherwise it is no struggle at all.
Italy out of the Board of Peace, out of the mission in the Persian Gulf, out of every theater of war!
Italy out of NATO, NATO out of Italy!
Communist Workers’ Party
