Italy is preparing for war: Crosetto is thinking of reservists but NATO has a problem

Is Italy about to go to war? Never before has this question seemed so topical, especially after the interview – with more than worrying tones – given to La Stampa by our Defense Minister Guido Crosetto.
“There is an ongoing trade war that wants to alter global rules – declared Crosetto -.
Russian and Chinese ships are not attacked and this is announced openly.
This creates a trade mismatch, because their goods have lower transportation and insurance costs, which is reflected in prices.
It's a war that triggers another war." The reference is to what is happening in the Red Sea, where the Houthis have been bombed several times by the US and the United Kingdom after they began attacking commercial ships heading to or returning from the Suez Canal.
These actions by the Yemeni rebels have pushed several naval companies to return to circumnavigating Africa, with a sharp increase in costs and times.
One of the countries most affected by this Red Sea chaos is Italy, with our country, together with France and Germany, soon to create a naval mission in the Red Sea in defense of commercial ships.
“Italy will send a ship to join the others already present in the area for the other missions – explained Crosetto -.
To go faster we have reached an agreement with France and Germany.
We cannot bomb unless there is an international resolution or a request from a friendly country.
We can respond to attacks, perhaps even anticipating them." Hence the fears of Italy going to war: for some time the government has decided to follow the policies of the White House in all respects, as can also be seen from the decision to stop funding for UNRWA as also done by nine others Western countries.
read also Is it right that Italy has suspended funding for UNRWA? Take part in the survey Italy, the war and the reservists Given the imminent naval mission in the Red Sea and the concrete possibility that Italy could soon find itself embroiled in a war, Guido Crosetto underlined the need to also resort to the reservists.
In this regard, the Interior Minister explained that the reservists would be "volunteers who, in case of need, can be activated to support the armed forces", with Italy needing 10,000 of them.
“We don't want war – specified Crosetto -, the reservists are not needed to wage war, but to defend themselves, in support of the regular armed forces, and only in the unlikely case of a direct attack.
There is not an ideological vision, but a pragmatic one.
Like in Switzerland, which has not participated in conflicts for centuries but is ready to defend itself." Italy can currently count on 150,000 professional soldiers, but Crosetto would also like 10,000 reservists precisely to be ready for a hybrid war: not only soldiers but also hackers and artificial intelligence experts.
Is NATO ready for war? According to our Defense Minister, Italy should not only worry about this sort of hybrid war, but also about the current difficulties facing NATO that have emerged in these two years of conflict in Ukraine.
“We find ourselves in a different world – Guido Crosetto specified again during his interview with La Stampa -, in which the actors who are destabilizing it, Iran, Russia and North Korea, have a military production capacity superior to that of NATO” .
The European Union recently admitted that it will not be able to keep its commitment to Ukraine to supply one million rounds of ammunition to Kiev by March, while the United States has long since turned off the taps of military supplies.
All this while it took Russia a few weeks to obtain drones from Iran and ammunition from North Korea, without having to bother China which has so far limited itself to the role of interested spectator in this war.
In short, if Italy were to go to war against the Houthis who are Iran's iron allies, there would be a high risk of escalation with a direct military clash between the two blocs: after having stripped the arsenals to arm Ukraine, according to Crosetto's words, NATO could have military productivity problems, all while our government, instead of thinking of a diplomatic solution, is entirely focused on trying to find the best parliamentary strategy to satisfy the minister regarding the reservists.
read also “Italy at war against the Houthis is almost a certainty”.
Interview with former ambassador Marco Carnelos