The war explained to Italians

The Italian government is doing far more for Ukraine’s defence than it admits; it is preparing substantial military aid packages and is ready to grant licences for the construction of Aster interceptors for the Samp/T batteries, which provided vital support during the Russian attacks. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s stance remains firm in her support for Kyiv, although a leadership confident in its actions and the soundness of its decisions has no need to hide when it takes a course of action that concerns not only support for an ally but also the defence of a national security interest. And this is the problem: in four and a half years of Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine, and following Moscow’s increasingly brazen provocations towards NATO, politicians have failed to make Italians understand why, when we talk about arms for Kyiv, we are talking about something that also concerns Italy; why the conflict being fought in Ukraine has implications for our country’s security; why defending Kyiv is not a provocation against Russia but a means of averting a war in which we might one day find ourselves much more directly involved; why pacifism means taking up arms to defend the peace we still enjoy in Italy.

After four and a half years, the government fears public opinion that is among the most hostile when it comes to military support for Ukraine, and this is a harm that the entire political spectrum has inflicted on citizens by allowing party infighting to drown out the country’s urgent needs, thereby stunting the ability to understand of a population treated in an increasingly infantilising manner. Pro-Russian forces or those opposed to aid for Ukraine are gaining ground in many European countries, even in those where governments act without needing to beat about the bush. In Italy, rather than asserting and explaining to the public why sending weapons is not charity, nor provocation, but the protection of national interests, the government has preferred to act in secret, giving a responsible action the unjust appearance of a shady affair.