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OSSERVATORIO INTERNAZIONALE

La comparsa di attori statuali e non, che dispongono di armi di distruzione di
massa, dall’Iran alle mille facce di al Qaeda, proseguendo fino alla Corea del Nord, ha
portato sia le due superpotenze, USA e Russia, sia l’Alleanza Atlantica e con essa l’intera
Europa, a ridefinire i parametri dell’equazione su cui si fonda l’intero sistema di sicurezza
internazionale. Inoltre, la presumibile uscita di USA e Russia dal Trattato INF è uno dei
principali fattori, che influenzerà il concetto di sicurezza del futuro. Non a caso, il 1° feb-
braio 2019, il Segretatio di Stato americano, Mike Pompeo, annunciando la volontà degli
USA di ritirarsi dal Trattato INF.
Un nuovo capitolo di storia si sta aprendo.

The International geopolitical changes, taken place since the end of the Second World War, have
gradually affected the military strategies of governments. As a matter of fact, since the 1980s, they have
had two main aims: both ensuring the defense of their territories and of their own interests and keeping
an acceptable balance with the “enemies”.
During the years of the “Cold War” the values of this “equation” were mainly the two superpo-
wers, the USA and the USSR. First, the treaty to restrict nuclear weapons INF (Intermediate-Range
Nuclear Forces Treaty) and then the treaty, signed in 1990, on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE)
became the “pillars” on which the whole architecture of the European security has been built.
The European strategic scenario has been completely transformed and most of the risks that a con-
flict could arise (which was potentially dangerous immediately after the end of World War II) have disap-
peared. From the 1990s onwards the political transformation culminated in the unification of Germany,
the breaking up of the Warsaw Pact, the end of the Soviet Union, and the admission to NATO and to
the European Union of so many countries which had been previously opponent. Disarmament agreements
seemed to have a marginal role, as if the history of political and military opposition in Europe had ended
definitively.
However, the evidence has shown that this was not the case. The appearance on the international
scene of new actors/adversaries has in fact marked the passage from a bipolar to a multipolar system that
has led to a rapid change in the world balance. The appearance of state and non-state actors, who have
weapons of mass destruction, from Iran to the thousand faces of al Qaeda, continuing to North Korea,
has brought both the two superpowers, the US and Russia, and the Atlantic Alliance and with it the
whole of Europe, to redefine the parameters of the equation on which the entire international security
system is based.
Furthermore, the presumed exit of the USA and Russia from the INF Treaty is one of the main
factors, which will influence the concept of security of the future. Not surprisingly, on February 1, 2019,
the American Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, announcing the US desire to withdraw from the INF.
A new chapter of history is opening up.

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