The order is hidden. No one should know anything about that session of the National People's Assembly at the end of October, a sort of Chamber of Deputies of the People's Republic of Algeria. Silence, on the opposite side of the Mediterranean, is an undeclared obligation. The news doesn't pass. Ignored by most, silenced by Israel's friends in Europe. Yet, the Algerian word on the Middle Eastern war is much more than a provincial "spoof". The pronouncement is solemn, without half sentences, unanimously: «The representatives of the National People's Assembly affirm, as representatives of the Algerian people, their position and their absolute support for Algeria's firm positions regarding the Palestinian question and condemn in the strongest terms the genocide, ethnic cleansing and massacres committed by the Zionist occupation against the brotherly Palestinian people."
The Algeria-Hamas pact
The faces of Abdelmadjid Tebboune, President of the Republic, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and Minister of National Defense, and of the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, during the last summit in Algiers, are the effigy of a holy alliance in the light Of sun. Algeria, the state called loudly and with great fanfare by Italy to replace, in the name and on behalf of Eni, the gas supplies that have failed from Russia, is openly aligned with Hamas. Without ifs and buts. Therefore, on the opposite front of Italy, Europe and the entire West. Not a playing module of any football game, but the strategic political alignment of one of the key countries, Algeria, just 238 kilometers from Sardinia. A decisive state for Italy and Europe starting from energy, the most insidious issue in the hottest area of the current global military scene.
Backs against the wall
It is a short step from the Italian-Western rupture with Russia over the attack on Ukraine to the clear strategic-political conflict with Algeria. A rupture right in front of home, a stone's throw from Teulada and Porto Pino, with an African country passed far and wide as a fundamental ally, in memory of the historic president of Eni Enrico Mattei, to counteract Putin's energy dominance. The disruptive Italian contradiction, however, now crawls in absolute silence. The vote of the Algerian Parliament, in Italy and in the West, is barred to most people, silenced like few others, precisely to signify the great embarrassment of the upper floors of the Palaces of Rome. The obvious effect on energy is a slap in the face: from the frying pan to the fire, from Russia to Hamas' key allies. Until now, the leaders of the Italian government have pretended nothing happened, as if that unanimous vote of the Algiers parliament did not exist. In reality, however, it is there, it is loud and clear. Imperatives of the Algerian assembly carved on the stone of the pronouncements, destined to mark a point of no return.
Total contradiction
If the geo-political contradiction between the Maghreb state and the Italian position escaped anyone, it would be enough to read the final device of the parliamentary stance of the coastal neighbors: «The horrible massacres committed by the army of the barbaric Zionist entity against civilians are firmly condemned Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths of over 8,000 people, most of them children and women, in violation of all United Nations resolutions and regulations. They affirm the right of the sacred Palestinian people to resist and defend their land and their holy places with all possible means, in the face of the oppressions that have been imposed on them for 75 years."
Explosive chapter
The Algeria chapter, perhaps even more than that of Qatar, is therefore explosive, with implications that go well beyond the already very heavy institutional pronouncements. There are at least two disruptive issues at stake, for Italy and above all for Sardinia. The first: energy supply, with the danger that, following international sanctions or decisions by the Algerian government, a decision will be made to deny or sip gas and energy to Italy, completely canceling the already controversial declarations of a few months ago which announced the restart of the Galsi project for the construction of a Hydrogen-ready methane pipeline, i.e. with pipelines already prepared for the future distribution of hydrogen, from Algeria to Sardinia.
The Algerian invasion
The second, as regards Sardinia, is even more delicate: it concerns the robbery of the Sardinian sea on the western coast with the imposition by the government of Algiers of an Exclusive Economic Zone, which extends for 370 kilometers from African territorial waters up to in Bosa.
Taboo topic
A taboo topic for Italian governments who since 2018, the date of the establishment of Algerian maritime encroachment into the Sardinian sea, have done nothing more than a letter of protest to the United Nations. It is forbidden to talk about it, so as not to disturb the great operator, Eni, the state body that has always done hands-down business in gas and oil with Sonatrach, the Algiers oil company. Now, however, the issue goes much further: at stake is sovereignty over national borders, the danger of having the main sponsors and supporters of Hamas and the Palestinian cause on your doorstep. Ignoring or pretending nothing has happened will not be easy, given the increasingly explicit reports from Defense intelligence, with men with stars who, even publicly, are beginning to express serious concerns about what is happening on the western coast of Sardinia.
Escalation of Algiers
A Mediterranean escalation in Algiers, close to Carloforte, Capo Frasca and S'Archittu, which should trigger the alert in any national defense structure. The line followed so far by the Italian flag, however, is to remain silent, so as not to undermine the sovereignist image and not to question the energy agreements with Algeria. However, the leading expert on international geopolitical issues, the director of Limes Lucio Caracciolo, raised the curtain on what is happening on the Sardinian front, confirming our newspaper's investigations into the Algerian border crossing.
Submarines on the coast
His words, spoken at an initiative of the Diocese of Rome, nail down the risks and announce a disturbing scenario. Caracciolo says: «The sea has become land, that is, now the powers and even the lesser powers, which overlook the seas and in particular the Mediterranean, have begun to determine their zones of influence which they call with terms, I was about to say evangelical , however let's say nice, economic areas... etc. etc. In reality, however, they are areas of sovereignty, and in fact this is how they are interpreted. All the countries, except Italy, coincidentally, which overlook the Mediterranean have delimited their areas, each on their own. There are, therefore, continuous overlaps. I'll give you an example: if you go to Sardinia, towards the magnificent dunes of Oristano, take a walk there and you might see a periscope. Well, rest assured that that periscope is a periscope from a Russian-made Algerian Kilo-class submarine patrolling that sea. Because from the Algerian point of view, the sea of Sardinia is the sea of Algeria, just to mention a case that interests us more closely."
Fire chessboards
If the deadly Russian-made submarines, the last two sold to the Algiers Navy immediately after the imposition of the Exclusive Economic Zone on the Sardinian coast, were actually in action on the western front of the island, as stated by Caracciolo, the game would really become heavy. It would be yet another event of unprecedented gravity that would place Italy and Sardinia faced with an increasingly alarming scenario, in the already red-hot Mediterranean chessboard. Continuing to remain silent on the altar of energy affairs, right now, could be too high a risk.