F-35 and Libya. What is Italy doing?
All the latest news from Italy with the F-35s between the US and Libya in Giuseppe Gagliano's italics
As pointed out in a previous article, Turkey's hegemonic ambitions on the Mediterranean continue unabated.
Indeed, on January 13, the spokesman of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Ahmed al-Mismari, said that Turkey continues to mobilize its forces in Libya by consolidating the military infrastructure of al-Watiya and Misrata also through an air bridge aimed at the transfer of military equipment.
While the military operations, albeit at low intensity, therefore continue with the aim of consolidating the Turkish military presence, the first day of meetings of the Political Dialogue Forum took place in Geneva which, at present, has not yet produced any political solution. in relation to the mechanisms for appointing future Libyan executive bodies.
For some time now, the Mediterranean has been the subject of a conflict between regional powers in order to create areas of influence – determined conflicts also for energy resources that will prove increasingly decisive – therefore we cannot fail to underline on the one hand the political absence on the part of the 'EU – torn apart by conflicts of interest -, the uselessness of UN initiatives and on the other hand the political and military absence of our country humiliated by the story of the fishermen of Mazara del Vallo.
Paradigmatic from this point of view is the paradoxicality of the choices recently made by our country: Turkey carries out linear and coherent political choices in the Mare Nostrum while Italy sends the Cavour aircraft carrier to the United States to verify its technological compatibility for the use of the fifth generation Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightining II stealth aircraft in version B with short take-off and vertical landing.
The fact that this mission is part of the agreements between Italy and the US – we also allude to the annual symposium of the US Navy Surface Forces in 2021 which was attended by the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone – and that it is independent the Libyan question does not diminish the incongruity of our country's choices.
In fact, our Navy must first of all defend national interests in Libya. In fact, from a foreign policy point of view, what is the point of having our aircraft carrier compatible with F-35s if we are then unable to defend our vital interests in Libya?
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/f-35-e-libia-cosa-combina-litalia/ on Fri, 15 Jan 2021 09:54:10 +0000.