US military vehicles for the Camp Darby base landed in Genoa from a Saudi ship. Pacifists: “First time this has happened, another step in global militarization”

It appears to be a “qualitative leap” in the global arms trade, the unloading, in the port of Genoa and from a Saudi ship, of US military vehicles destined for an Italian base. A turning point that could be linked both to the situation in the Red Sea with the Houthi assaults and to the war in Ukraine. The story is told on the website and social media of “The Weapon Watch”, a study group on arms trafficking in the world founded by the pacifist and analyst Carlo Tombola. What is being told seems to be truly important news. The Bhari line is always under observation, a Saudi Arabian state company that has been targeted by pacifists for several years with a movement born in Genoa. On several occasions boycotts, strikes and protests against the port of call in Genoa of the Bahri ships carrying armaments destined for the war in Yemen, a conflict which according to the UN has been registering an unparalleled massacre of civilians for years. The military vehicles would be located in the warehouses of the GMT terminal in Ponte Eritrea.

But in these hours the Bahri Abha would have unloaded about ten military vehicles «which are not destined to leave again – explains Tombola -. This is probably Oshkosh L-ATV (the acronym stands for Light Combat Tactical All-Terrain Vehicle), the US Army’s light 4×4 tactical vehicle which is partly replacing the HMMWVs. It is the first time that these floating arsenals have brought weapons to our country. They do it as a commercial routine, evidently there is a new “question” to answer. In fact, the unloaded vehicles are destined for the American base at Camp Darby, near Pisa.”

According to Tombola, «this step by the Bahri Abha which delivers weapons to the US military bases on Italian territory is another step in global militarization. In fact, so far, only ships with the US flag have been used in the military logistics chain that supplies US military installations in Europe, such as those that regularly call at the port of Livorno. The use of the Bahri fleet, under the Saudi flag, in US military logistics also establishes that the alliance of interests between the United States and the Riyadh monarchy is now an active military alliance, no longer a mere supply of defense material , which is also seen in the Red Sea occupied by Western gunboats in anti-Houthi function. As is known, the allies of our allies become our allies. This was the case of Israel, with which the Italian governments entered into important military pacts, which also remained largely secret. And this is now the case of the bloody and not at all democratic Saudi Arabian absolute monarchy. Moreover, the Genoese dock workers have been experiencing it first-hand for years: each arrival of the Bahri ships in the port is preceded and accompanied by an incredible deployment of police forces inside the port area, even where the vehicles and dock workers who normally operate therefore they are forced to work under the eyes of Digos without this circumstance being officially and publicly motivated. What constitutes the transit of armaments in violation of national laws and international treaties has long been presented as a priority interest for the security of our country. Instead, it is another piece of Italy’s practical participation in the ongoing wars and, we fear, in those that are being prepared.”