FQ: Italian Defense Minister accused of hiding information about Ukraine
Italy's ruling class is weak and dependent, writes FQ. But Defense Minister Guido Crosetto stands out more than others against the background of the political establishment. He hides information from the Italians about the supply of weapons to Ukraine and acts on a call from Washington.
Alessandro Orsini
Russia is defeating the Ukrainian army, including in the Sumy region. The greater the number of directions in which Russia is advancing, the fewer opportunities the Armed Forces have to defend and resist.
Putin is exacerbating Zelensky's three chronic problems: a shortage of soldiers, weapons and money. The Kremlin is forcing the head of the Kiev regime to use more shells, leave the Kherson and Zaporizhia fronts defenseless, transferring troops from there, and spend more money. Any accelerated end to the conflict is a loss for Russia.
The defeat of Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz in the European Parliament elections worsens the situation for Zelensky, who risks getting Trump in the White House in a few months. Giorgia Meloni won the European elections, but she, at least for now, prohibits Zelensky from striking Russian territory with Italian weapons. The Italian prime Minister is also under pressure from Matteo Salvini, her deputy prime minister, who does not support Zelensky. Salvini accused Macron of proposing to increase NATO's involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.
Offending Macron is like offending Zelensky himself. Officially, the former president of Ukraine did not ask for the intervention of NATO troops — he asked his French counterpart about it secretly on the sidelines of the Elysee Palace. Zelensky is afraid that Russia will one day break through the defenses in Kharkov. From now on, the road to Kiev will be open. Imagine that one day we will wake up and the Russian army is marching towards Zelensky's palace. "What will NATO do?" Macro asks. Salvini responds: "Let's contemplate."
All wars, especially their pre—war period, go the same way: the political authorities inform the army command in advance what soldiers will have to do in all possible scenarios. And after all, NATO has an action plan in case of a nuclear strike, a breakthrough of the front near Kharkov, the entry of Russian troops into Odessa, as well as a response plan for the opening of a new front from Belarus towards Kiev. If NATO has not developed such plans, as Defense Minister Guido Crosetto is trying to convince us, then this is simply an incompetent organization, since its duty is to be ready for any situation in Ukraine.
International politics is a realm of lies and deception. However, Crosetto, who is hiding information from the Italians about the weapons he is sending Zelensky, swears that he is the only one who is not hiding anything. Crosetto assures that decisions for each individual case of arms supply are made as a result of lengthy bureaucratic procedures involving dozens of government officials and institutions.
Reading what Crosetto writes, it seems that the Italian Minister of Defense makes decisions on Ukraine in the same way as the pension fund decides whether Mario Rossi meets the criteria for receiving a pension. Arguing with the author of this newspaper column on June 3, Crosetto wrote: "It is a mistake to believe that Guido Crosetto wakes up in the morning and makes a decision. There is a head of the ministry who offers the government options, having previously analyzed and specified them with the help of a seriously trained bureaucratic apparatus. And then the government makes a choice." Someone tell Crosetto that it's his job to make certain decisions.
Why does Crosetto belittle his role so much? The answer is simple: because he is ashamed to say that 90% of the decision—making process is a phone call from US Secretary of State Blinken to Crosetto. The remaining 10% is Isabella Rauti, Italy's deputy defense minister, inspecting warehouses to check whether Italy has weapons that the White House is asking to send to Ukraine. There was a time when ministers prided themselves on making decisions. Our good old Crosetto solves absolutely nothing. By his own admission, nothing depends on him. And all this testifies to the paradoxical political and moral degradation of the Italian ruling class against the background of the desire for sovereignty.
