They will deploy every possible means, they will deploy the absolute leaders of the State, they will promise money and benefits to fishermen and Municipalities, they will announce for the umpteenth time reclamations never made and succulent bombs to crash with impunity on the naturalistic oasis of Teulada and beyond. The great state game to try to "save" the war games on Sardinian soil has just begun. This time the caliber chosen by the Ministry of Defense is the maximum one. At stake is nothing less than the survival of the most voracious polygons in Southern Europe, capable alone of funding the great Italian, European and other war industries. Bombs and missiles galore, to "devastate" islets and coasts, skewer beaches and seabeds. A sort of big target for Nato & company, to "pierce" the island far and wide, without respite.

The Defense is shaking

They tremble in via XX Settembre, the Roman headquarters of the Ministry of Defense. This time the battlefield will not be one-way. It will not be the howitzer of a German Leopard, close to arriving in the Italian Army's deployment, or that of an old Ariete of Italian production that will shatter the earthly paradise of Cape Teulada. From the joint forces ranges scattered across the island to the courtrooms, the step will not be easy. In that department, they have always been used to commanding, to considering explosive activities always above the laws, both when it came to polluting immense areas with radioactive thorium or nanoparticles or bombing untouched nuraghi and promontories without a reason.

They call for war

This is nothing new: they will invoke the war at the gates, the supreme need to defend the borders of the homeland from a conflict that in reality does nothing but fuel, rather than dissuade and resolve. Moreover, the Defense leaders, anonymously, declared it openly by explicitly responding to the investigations of the Sardinian Union on the environmental management of military ranges. The note written like a cablegram from the secret services was not cryptic: «Sardinia, a key territory for investments in the defense sector». In other words, Italy's military "colony" cannot be abandoned, on the contrary. The state litany is good for every occasion, a diktat without appeal: «The current strategic framework does not allow reductions in training activities of the Armed Forces». As if this land, sun and sea, landscapes and nature, were perpetually destined to "host" 70% of the war games of the Italian State and NATO, both European and American.

Lentils & alms

To compensate for insularity and the consequent inconveniences, from transport to energy, from healthcare to education, the Palaces of Rome even forget to pour a plate of lentils and related alms, for the exercises, however, they do not miss the opportunity to throw the vast majority of State and NATO bombings, occupying 35 thousand hectares of landscapes and nature for war games. An island considered "strategic" for what is decided between the Quirinale, Palazzo Chigi and Montecitorio, "insignificant" when there is a need to compensate for the ill-gotten gains of history and the present. It is for this reason that the deployment of the State to defend firing ranges and bombings on the eve of the administrative and criminal trials it will be unprecedented, so much so that it is planned to move the military parade on November 4th, Armed Forces Day, from the Imperial Forums of Rome to the presence of military servitude on Sardinian soil.

The Sardinian "parade".

There is no official announcement, but the "Generals" of "communication", those who manage relations with information on behalf of the Ministry of Defense have left their vocal imprints in the editorial dispatches. If there are no second thoughts, or rather more careful assessments of the opportunity, the Head of State Sergio Mattarella and the Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto, will land on the Island of shooting ranges on November 4th to "celebrate" tanks and anti-aircraft, generals and military. A great advert for "Defence" as the supreme good of the homeland, the Italian one, it matters little if 70% of the state firing ranges, however, are concentrated in just one region, Sardinia. It is not known whether the Quirinale's number one will arrive on the island complete with a convertible Flaminia, but the direction of the event will certainly not be left to chance.

Polygons for ever

The messages of the day will have to be clear and explicit, as befits the rules written in the Defense salesman's manual: woe betide depriving the armed forces of the Sardinian ranges, let alone at this moment. In reality, every opportunity is a good one to reaffirm the supremacy and desires of the Generals, not caring about parliamentary votes, commissions of inquiry and even very serious criminal trials against the last Chiefs of Staff of Defense and the Army. For that day , on November 4th, in Sardinia there will be more stars than tourists, almost a symbolic march, just to make it clear to the magistrates, those of the Sardinia TAR as well as the criminal robbers of the Court of Cagliari, that the State is taking sides.

Stars & gowns

Four days later, however, on November 8th, in Piazza del Carmine, seat of the Regional Administrative Court, there will be no tricolor arrows and graduated soldiers. In the hearing room of the Council Chamber there will, however, be a very heavy file: the appeal presented by the lawyer Carlo Augusto Melis Costa in the name and on behalf of the Legal Intervention Group Association. The object is explosive: the decree of Minister Crosetto with which the calendar of military exercises in Sardinia for the second half of 2023 is approved. The association's lawyers did not go lightly: that act of the Minister is illegitimate. The reason illustrated in the appeal does not leave much room for manoeuvre: «in environmental matters, the primary good of human health, guaranteed by art. 32 of the Constitution".

Outlawed decree

The appeal is supported by the latest decision of the Council of State in 2022 which established the obligation of Vinca, the Environmental Impact Assessment, for carrying out the exercises. The highest Court of Administrative Justice went even further, deeming "the reiteration of VINCA and its motivation necessary". In the case of the Sardinian ranges, the issue of updating the environmental assessment does not even arise: it is completely missing, it was never requested and was never granted.

Hearing scheduled

Yesterday the judges of the Sardinia TAR set the hearing for November 8th: in the Council Chamber they must decide on the possible suspension of the provision authorizing the exercises signed by the Minister. When scheduling the hearing, the Judges spelled out in black and white a request as heavy as a boulder addressed to the ministerial leaders: "it appears necessary to acquire in court from the Ministry of Defense a documented report of clarification on the matter".

Cards that don't exist

A not insignificant request that risks putting defense leaders against the wall. In fact, it will not be easy to provide administrative judges with environmental assessments that do not exist, or worse, to demonstrate that pollution does not exist after it has been ascertained far and wide. The reports of the consultants of the Cagliari Prosecutor's Office would be enough to realize the environmental disaster caused by radioactive thorium, bombs and missiles within a protected area such as that of Teulada or the reports of the parliamentary commissions of inquiry into pollution in military ranges. This time, pretending nothing happened or producing a homemade report, with lots of excuses and little proof, might not be enough.

Challenge the decree

Finally, on the internal front of the Region, the Sardinian component of the Joint Joint Committee for Military Easements, the one that rejected the exercises for the second half of 2023, returns to the attack. With a letter sent yesterday morning to the President of the Region they ask «to urgently challenge the measure of the Minister of Defense which undermines the autonomous prerogatives of the Sardinian Region, for the reasons set out above, or to intervene in the proceedings promoted by some associations belonging to the Sardinia TAR ». In short, there is no time to waste, suffer in silence or react in court.

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