Publication of a number of essays and shorter notices on NATO by a critical journal is something that – excepting some useful writing in Limes – has not been attempted in Italy for a long time: possibly since before the Seventies, when the Westernization of the Italian Communist Party grew faster and faster, culminating in 1976 when secretary Enrico Berlinguer officially accepted the Alliance and its advantages. Since then, the majority of the working class was cut off from discussion of international issues and their military aspects, and finally expected to accept and carry out decisions reached by the ruling class. It is hard to ascertain how far widespread ignorance of those problems and indifference to them by most intellectuals should be attributed to the absence of serious discussion on matters of foreign and international policy, rather than to the parochialism of our studies, the folklore impregnating Parliamentary debate, or the dispiriting lack of attention devoted to politics by most or our media.

It is easier to assess the damage caused by the fact that the forces now in power are those representing both a distant and even disavowed past of coherent opposition and, at the same time, integration with current economic and political interests in their ever more ambitious strategic and military projections. Nato is the polifunctional force representing both those interests and these projections, as demonstrated by military action against Yugoslavia and by the eastward extension of the Alliance. In fact, studying Nato is tantamount to getting to know the West in all its aspects, including those apparently lying outside the military field: including its political system and interior policies.
This issue devotes to Nato’s new strategies and dynamics a first batch of papers and shorter works; another batch will follow under the title "Nato 2", which is already under way and is due to be published by September 2000. We hope that both issues will prove useful by providing essential documentation not only to the world of pacifism, but also to all those who are interested in international problems.
We are obviously not overlooking other serious crises to which we cannot at present accord our attention. At the time of going to press, tragic events are affecting the Israelo–Palestinian region, as well as the borders between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Both situations could have even more disastrous developments, and might well to a modification of current territorial and political configurations. We shall be keeping close watch on these and other developments in our forhcoming issues.
"Giano" is not, however, a journal exclusively devoted to international politics. This issue also includes six items on Biotechnologies and Society; biological science’s new frontiers, and the natural, vital, barriers which it is being forced to break through by economic pressures and by the development of biotechnologies are topics to which we are going to devote increasing attention.

	NATO
Salvatore Minolfi	After the "Cold War". Geopolitics and NATO strategy
Manlio Dinucci	Superpower influence in USA/Europe/NATO relations
Vincenzo Strika	From War to War. The North Atlantic Treaty in a global context
Diana Johnstone	"As seen, as told": ethnic crime and NATO responsibility in Kosovo
Luigi Cortesi	Italy and NATO
Domenico Gallo	The European Union: from bombs to sanctions
Angelo Baracca	NATO is the new European Defence System
	BIOTECNOLOGIES AND SOCIETY
	Presentazione
Giorgio Nebbia	Biotechnology and trans–genetic products
Angelo Baracca	Science in the logic of marketing
Franco Voltaggio	Biotech, a scientific challenge which should be met
Luigi Cortesi	Life and technology in the time of the Internet
Francesco Lazzari	In praise of imperfection
Luciano Giannelli	Indigenous protest in Ecuador and as part of the broader Latin American picture
Matilde Adduci	Sri Lanka: the cost of civil war
Mario Ronchi	Immigration: moving towards a multi–ethnic, lay society

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Salvatore Minolfi, After the "Cold War". Geopolitics and NATO strategy

The author analyses the changes in structure and strategy that the Atlantic Alliance has undergone in the last decade. These changes are a consequence of the huge transformation of the strategic panorama after the Cold War and the re–unification of Germany. One particular point for consideration is the process of "double enlargement", the increase in operational missions and the extension of the area covered by the Treaty. The author believes that the roots of this process were set prior to the events of 1989 and that in the 1980s the USA had already begun to forecast and re–formulate the question of international hegemony in the context of a post–bipolar and post–nuclear world. The fall of the USSR sharpened the USA’s geopolitical awareness of the two important areas located at the western and eastern extremities of Eurasia and pushed American policy towards unilateralism and interventionism.
This essay is based on a deep knowledge of the international literature on the subject and on the analysis of important strategic NATO documents. It is published in two parts ("Giano", issues 34 and 35) as the forerunner of a more detailed study on a "Global NATO".

Manlio Dinucci, Superpower influence in USA/Europe/NATO relations

The United States is afraid its influence in Europe may start to diminish now that the map of the whole continent is being re–drawn. They need to ensure the process of change does not escape their control or, worse still, bring about the integration of Western and Eastern Europe, Russia included, giving rise to an economic area stronger than that of North America. This explains why in the 1990s the USA (and Great Britain) made a series of moves to strengthen their basic tool, NATO, and sent it into a war on European territory.
The war in question demolished a State, removing a part of it (Kosovo) and working to detach another (Montenegro), while encouraging the creation of new "ethnic States" which further fragmented the region and exacerbated the tension. It is upon this unsafe, rocky terrain that Europe is working to "build peace", at the same time risking finding itself at the front line of a new and no less dangerous Cold War. These developments reveal the weaknesses of a Europe built on foundations of great interests and power, with governments that insist on following their own traditional national priorities.

Vincenzo Strika, From War to War. The North Atlantic Treaty in a global context

This paper deals with the "new order" that emerged after the decline and fall of the Soviet Union, when the United States was left as the only Superpower. This state of affairs became strikingly apparent with the uncompromising policy extended towards Iraq and the oil embargo. Another step was the Kosovo War declared by a NATO that took on the role of the Security Council, completely ignoring international law. The bombing of Iraq by the USA and Great Britain are an even greater violation of international law. These actions have, nevertheless, shown that force is not the means to achieving the aims of the First World Power over small but strategically important countries, and after a decade of US supremacy, on the eve of the 21st century, a new pluralism is emerging.

Diana Johnstone, "As seen, as told": ethnic crime and NATO responsibility in Kosovo

The author provides a meticulous analysis of the two reports published by the OSCE at the end of 1999 under the title, "As seen, as told". She questions both the overall political interpretation that distinguishes the reports and the reconstruction they offer of the violent episodes that occurred in Kosovo, in particular the "Racak massacre" which provided NATO with its "casus belli". Johnstone concludes that Kosovan history cannot be reduced to a list of Serb or Albanian crimes. The "new missionaries of the International Community" will continue to do more harm than good until they begin to recognise the part played by the USA and NATO in the series of options that ultimately led to the war.

Luigi Cortesi, Italy and NATO

Reports. An Indictment against the Italian government for its participation in the NATO war. A political proposal for a "Peace Constituent"
The two documents published come from social movements and not institutional sources. They are the outcome of some reflections on the recent Balkan war. The first is the text of an accusation made by a group of magistrates and lawyers against the Italian government for the active and criminal part it played in the war against Yugoslavia. The second piece is the proposal put forward by the "Forum" of Communist women for a political approach characterised by its commitment against war and the establishment of permanent peace.
The publication of these two reports gives L. Cortesi the opportunity to make a series of observations on the following issues: relations between Italy and the NATO; the need for Italian foreign and international policy to move towards a state of democracy; the struggles of the "Peace Partisans" in the 1950s; the deleterious consequences of the Italian Communist Party’s acceptance of the Western Alliance in 1976; the growth of a new pacifism during the "Euromissile crisis"; and NATO’s present perspective. Two of the most significant passages that emerge from this long debate are the need to deepen the awareness of our era as the "final stage", and the priority, for the peace movement, to fight first and foremost "one’s own" State and "one’s own" government.

Domenico Gallo, The European Union: from bombs to sanctions

Regulation 607/2000, adapted by the Council of the European Union in response to the appeals put forward by the internal opposition, suspends the air space ban but re–confirms the Fry sanctions. The author defines this document as a juridical and political monster. Through its sanctions and embargoes the European Union is perpetuating Nato’s war by other means. In thus doing it reveals its dependence on the American power system and precludes the possibility of creating an independent political identity for itself.

 

Angelo Baracca, NATO is the new European Defence System

As the Atlantic Alliance is being increasingly hegemonised by the USA, the European nations are falling back on an old project for the creation of a European Defence Force. This project was re–launched at the European Summit in Helsinki in December 1999 and works on the premise of the absolute priority of the Atlantic Alliance. On the one hand it would seem proof of the desire to find a sub–imperial role per Europe; on the other, one more attempt to kick off the process of European political unity, which has been meeting obstacles elsewhere. The Alleanza Nazionale (AN) party held a conference on this subject in Rome on 21–22 February last. The event was attended by the political leaders of the government majority, who all brought the same thoughts as AN: the establishment of a professional army; an increase in military spending; the development of new technology; support for the re–development and concentration of the European military industry; and the uninhibited promotion of the export of weapons. The only voice with any tones of realism was that of Senator Giulio Andreotti, who raised some doubts on the feasibility of these ideas.

Biotechnologies and Society

The growing urgency of the problem of biotechnologies has led "Giano" to gather under this title a number of papers and other writings received by our editorial office, which may help reflection as well as internal discussion.
In A surfeit of Science, Vittorio Sartogo criticizes the current notion of progress on which biotechnologies are based; caution and moderation are disregarded, concern is dismissed as unfounded, and a quantitative expansion of the economy is viewed as essential. Hence demands for opening the market–place to trans–genetic products for human consumption and medical care. Patenting is seen as a bonus for consumers and a safeguard against uncontrolled manipulation, while it cannot be denied that the future outlined by science raises justified and radical doubts.

Giorgio Nebbia’s analysis, Biotechnology and trans–genetic products, differentiates between traditional genetics and to–days sophisticated procedures, raising issues of ethics and manipulations of human life. Concentrating his attention on industrial and production aspects, he stresses the agricultural market’s positive reaction to trans–genetic seeds and plants incorporating pesticide qualities whose effects on human beings are still unknown. Consumer opposition has led to a rift between the United States and Europe, accompanied by widespread litigation. Under such circumstances, Nebbia upholds the right for consumers to be informed on the products being marketed, the need for more efficient testing, an updating of legislation, and suggests universities should prepare new, specifically competent professional figures.

In Science in the logic of marketing, Angelo Baracca points out that the general debate on biotechnologies is vitiated by serious conceptual shortcomings. Modern science has embraced the capitalist logic of the exploitation of nature and her resources. Whatever is scientific is held in itself lawful; scientific knowledge’s formidable partiality is underrated and those aspects which rate a low priority are neglected, and their possible feedback ignored. The ways in which nature reacts to change may be unpredictable, as shown by recent developments in non–linear systems. Reliable risk–evaluation is hazardous; science has broken through the barrier of living matter without being able of controlling the consequences of its own innovation.

Franco Voltaggio, Biotech, a scientific challenge which should be met, is aware that we are faced by a civilisation crisis, that "human relations are dominated by capitalism" to an unprecedented extent" and feels that the existing state of affairs should be disrupted. But he thinks one should "closely follow plans and initiatives" corresponding to the system’s trends and start by concentrating attention on "the world of the new science" so as to use "conceptual tools and concrete ideal perspectives" drawn from it to formulate a critique of political economy. The biotech challenge should therefore be met.

Luigi Cortesi, Life and technology in the time of the Internet, replies by raising a number of objections. He both questions the existence of a "new science" and its possible use as a basis for a new critique of capitalism deriving from the Marxian variety. Biotechnologies should be closely watched and viewed with suspicion because their aim is human clonation. This requires mass social and political mobilization from below, to oppose the marketing of human life within the context of a wider, radical alternative model.

In his In praise of imperfection , Francesco Lazzari points out that biotechnological research fits with a model of perfection and therapeutic opportunities, while stressing at the same time its trend toward "selective reproduction" and thus a challenge to nature. The crisis of the sacred justifies the manipulation of life; life is reduced to its "logico–functional structure" as the price to be paid for "improvement of the species". This leads, potentially at least, to a revival of eugenetics; and secular thinking apparently has no substitute for religious ethics.

Luciano Giannelli, Indigenous protest in Ecuador and as part of the broader Latin American picture

There are some new aspects to the recent riots in Ecuador. The attempt to subvert the political system was not led by a handful of army officers, but by a huge popular movement. The strongest and most powerful group that supported this ‘revolution’ was an indigenous one. News about the riots appeared in the press for a very brief period, then faded into nothing. The indigenous leadership of this large movement, which has rejected both traditional politics and guerrilla tactics, is a consequence of the growing importance of the indios in the antagonistic forces active in Central and South America. These forces have responded to capitalistic globalisation with an original way forward for both the economic and political systems of the Latin American Republics. Ignoring the events in Ecuador risks stimulating the same international support that the Indian Chiapas movement conquered, and this could be dangerous if applied to ‘subversive’ action carried out by the Indios in an ‘explosive’ context such as the Venezuela–Colombia–Panama–Ecuador paradigm.

Matilde Adduci, Sri Lanka: the cost of civil war

A bloody civil war has been tearing Sri Lanka apart for the last 17 years. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been fighting the government since 1983 to gain recognition of an independent Tamil state in the northeastern part of the country. This article takes an initial look at the main phases of political and military strategy adopted in vain by the Sri Lankan government to try and reach a solution to the conflict. The article then moves on to consider the consequences of the civil war. The conflict has had an enormous cost in terms of human life; it has had serious effects on the country’s economy and has been the cause of the constant violation of human rights. Despite this, and despite the growing popular objection to the war, a Sri Lankan peace process still seems a long way off.

Mario Ronchi, Immigration: moving towards a multi–ethnic, lay society

This article takes a look at the "Dossier statistico sull’immigrazione" published each year by the Caritas in Rome. The Dossier, presented this year at a press conference by Mons. G. Di Tora and F. Pittau, illustrates the insubstantiality and manipulative nature of xenophobic theories. Despite number increasing by 239,000 individuals last year, there are still only about 1,5000,000 "official" immigrants in Italy. This compares to a European average of 5.1%, i.e. more than double that of Italy. Fears of a non–EC immigrant invasion therefore seem unfounded. There is nevertheless a gradual trend towards a multi–ethnic, "lay" society. This new reality needs to be faced. The repressive proposals of the Right and any attempts to militarise the problem must be rejected, but at the same time we should not simply try to "assimilate" the newcomers, but accept them in the knowledge that respect for another’s differences brings rewards for all.

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