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Posted on 06/24/2026 5:40:46 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Italy on Wednesday pushed back against remarks by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that hundreds of U.S. aircraft had taken off from American bases in Italy to support military operations against Iran, saying Rome had authorised only technical and logistical flights.
Rutte, speaking to Fox News television, cited Italy as an example of European support for the U.S. and said 500 U.S. planes had taken off from U.S. bases in Italy "to support Epic Fury", Washington's name for the war it launched alongside Israel.
The remarks caused a political row in Italy, where Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government has repeatedly said it did not authorise the use of Italian territory for direct military action against Iran.
In a statement, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said Italy had acted in full compliance with its constitution, international treaties and agreements governing allied bases on its soil.
"As already clarified in parliament, the government authorised exclusively technical and logistical, non-kinetic activities," the minister said, adding that Italy had refused requests that fell outside those limits.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
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Why do you suppose Italy’s Government is so hell-bent on declaring to the world that they really didn’t help the US much in its fight to keep Iran non-nuclear? What’s the perceived (by them) upside to making such unfriendly declarations when they are allegedly allies of ours?
None of the NATO countries helped us with the Iran War. Why single out Italy?
My guess is that Meloni is moving to the Left in order to stay in power.
Spain and Italy were asked to allow us to use their bases, but both refused.
“None of the NATO countries helped us with the Iran War. Why single out Italy?”
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Article 5 is an agreement to come to a member nation’s aid if they are attacked, not if that nation initiates a war all by itself, without consulting NATO or its own legislature.
“Why do you suppose Italy’s Government is so hell-bent on declaring to the world that they really didn’t help the US much in its fight to keep Iran non-nuclear? What’s the perceived (by them) upside to making such unfriendly declarations when they are allegedly allies of ours?”
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IDK, maybe because most of the world hates us right now and sees us as a bully that has forgotten how to play with others at all - much less well.
It’s a Media lie that the world hates us. The World Cup is proofing that’s not true.
Proving.
US B-52s and B-1B’s operated out of England. Other NATO countries opened their bases only for aerial tankers, AWACS, logistics and other non-kinetic missions. Even Turkey.
Rutte was implying Italy helped more than it did, and Italy clarified what support they provided.
.
Most obvious reason, war is not popular in the U.S. and less popular abroad. Democratic governments hew toward their electorates in some degree.
A vast majority of Italians view US President Donald Trump’s handling of the Iran war negatively, according to a new survey released on Wednesday.
The Youtrend poll for Sky TG24 found that negative views were consistent on the US-Iran war across Italy’s political spectrum, as 79% of Italians expressed disapproval of Trump's handling of the situation.
Among those who expressed negative views, 76% are center-right voters, 91% center-left, and 89% are supporters of other parties.
They probably have an anti Israel constituency in their own country. Seems like unfettered “democracy” is a failure if an idea. Letting people vote for something entirely against a countries history and value allows for an enemy nation to easily conquer you. It is a weakness that has in recent years been exploited globally.
We flew a LOT of bombing missions out of Fairfield, UK. At one point roughly HALF of our operational B1 fleet was operating from there, and some B52’s as well.
Meloni is such a piece of crap. Complete phony everyone fe3ll for because she is cute and feisty.
War should be a last resort, but none of the erstwhile idiots in the “negative” crowd, or any other crowd, for that matter, presented a plausible alternative.
That is a partial, very shallow analysis.
First, always follow the money: The main problem is that the Euro populations, or at least most of them, want their bennies and therefor don’t want to sacrifice them to pay for defense. The US insisting the Euros must do more, in terms of real capability, not better pensions for ex-military and other social diversions, bluntly counters this desire: There’s no real way to escape the fundamental issue, here, and that irritates many of the Euro population to no end — and their pols generally DO respond at least partially to their overall populations.
Put another way, what does dependency so often breed? Resentment toward the provider, particularly when the provider decides to cut back on their largesse. (How many murders and other violence has THAT caused?)
Further, the Euros, partially because they were coddled too much by the US for too long, are deep into a sort of fantasy in which threats are not recognized properly, and that most everything wrong in international relations can be fixed with cordial discussion and negotiations. This fantasy also leads to other inane policies, such as the Euro’s becoming dependent on Russian oil and gas, and the entire Euro green disaster. Some of the fantasy regarding war (”a major war is ‘impossible’ in this age on Euro soil”) was dinged when Pooty invaded Ukraine, but, with Russia pretty much stymied, the Euro’s have largely relaxed again. Clearly, for example, a large portion of the Euro population does not fully understand the Iranian mullahs or respect what minds committed so fully to a goal can accomplish.
Having one’s fantasies challenged is generally not conducive to great relations, on either a personal scale, or international, unless the fantasizer comes back ‘round to reality. The Euro’s as a whole clearly have not.
I don’t know what Meloni’s natural instincts, sans the politics, are, but she has long seemed to be pretty well politically in tune with her electorate.
OTOH, somewhere along the line, Rutte became, at least for the most part, a level headed, practical minded realist. If I ever had a chance to sit down and have a drink with him, I think the first thing I might say is to steal from Heinlein: “My God, it’s good to talk to a sensible man”. He knows how weak Europe is, to the point they barely can get a small percentage of their best equipment to work, or have France and Germany cooperate on an advanced fighter plane. (That latter has apparently completely bitten the dust.) Rutte is also not directly responsible to the deluded European electorate. That helps, and likely frees him up a lot. He seems to have little trouble staying on Trump’s good side and working with him.
Fine. When one of their nations is attacked, we can aid them. Not with aircraft or people flying combat missions, but a large supply of body bags.
Meanwhile, we ought to reduce our bases there since we cannot count on being about to USE those bases for our purposes.
Italy and others refused to allow us to use our bases in this war.
Move troops to Poland and other countries who helped.
Hell with Spain, Italy, Germany etc.
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