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NATO holds drills near Italian border, Italians uninformed

German and US Air Force aircraft ahead of the Air Defender 2023 NATO exercise, at Jagel Airfield, Germany.Source: US Air Force

NATO has dubbed it 'Air Defender 23'; the biggest deployment exercise ever conducted by the Western military alliance, hosted by Germany, kicked off close to the Italian border, yet millions of Italians have been kept in the dark.

The two week military drill, which involves up to 250 aircraft and 10,000 soldiers from 25 countries, comes as fighting escalates in Ukraine with former NATO Chief, Blair Rasmussen, warning that NATO members may send troops to the war torn country.

I am afraid the exercise which begins today will only add fuel to the fire at [sic] international level.

It must be said, however, that a number of countries including China, Brazil, Indonesia, and, the Vatican, have been working to promote peace talks.

Fabio Marcelli, International Law Academic

NATO's Air Defender 23 exercise began on Monday with an air show in Wunstorf Air Base in northern Germany.

In the next few days participants will also train in crisis situations over other flight zones, including a small strip of Southern Germany, about 40 minutes away from the border with Italy.

The Italian mainstream media have chosen not to follow up the story.

Here in Italy we are faced with the subjugation of the media, which will respond to the agenda of NATO and its most powerful member, the US, Italians mostly receive misleading information about the war and are kept in the dark about the real danger of further escalation.

Fabio Marcelli, International Law Academic

Since the start of the war in Ukraine in February last year, surveys in Italy have been steadily showing that over half of the Italian people are against sending more weapons to Kyiv.

I am speechless. I'm afraid we have lost our way. I didn't know anything about this exercise in Germany. [It] feels like this world is no longer a safe place for us. It's awful.

Member of Public 01

I am quite worried. We have seen how our life has worsened since the sort of the war.

I didn't know about the drill. We have to be cautious.

The war in Ukraine is much closer than we imagined.

Member of Public 02

About three weeks ago, Italy's defense minister, Guido Crosetto, announced Rome will deploy some 3400 of its troops to the NATO's eastern flank by the end of the year, in addition to about 600 land vehicles and materials, five naval units and about 30 air assets.

Although most Italians are against sending weapons to Ukraine, Italy has so far approved seven military support packages inclusive of lethal and non lethal equipment.

The provision of military support to Ukraine has, to date, cost Rome more than €1 billion.


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