Jaqaw qabduh fl-ahhar?
Almost everything that the government and the Opposition do and say at this stage in the Libyan game makes it resoundingly obvious that they were holding out until even the 0.00000000000000000001% likelihood was eliminated that Gaddafi would get away with it and return to power.
I mean, for God’s sake, did the government have to wait until today to announce that it plans to strip Gaddafi of his Maltese decorations?
The answer to that, in case Dr Luciano Busuttil BA LLD MP is confused by the interrogation mark, is ‘No’.
The announcement wasn’t even made when the rebel fighters got into his compound and sacked it, because there was still that 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% chance that he might pop out of a tunnel somewhere and take back control of Libya (eh, hija, you never know).
When I listened to that tremendous speech which Eddie Fenech Adami gave in parliament in December 1986 (it’s here, a few posts back), I suddenly realised what has gone missing from the Nationalist Party: moral courage, and the ability to distinguish between what is right and just and what is merely convenient.
When Malta decorated Gaddafi back in the 1970s, the Nationalist Opposition boycotted the ceremony. Sic transit gloria mundi.
Here’s hoping the party gets its balls back, before it finds itself savaged by the proverbial dead sheep.
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No wonder they hate Eddie Fenech Adami. He called their bluff and sent them reeling for the next two and a half decades and counting.
“Mr Luciano Busuttil
Today, 11:09
I also stated to the journalist that the Government should try to keep those assets in our economy as we cannot afford to lose them, but if asked to the assets should be released and handed back to their owners, and topped up by all humanitarian aid funds that our people have collected and will collect thanks to the Civil Protection Department initiative. I appeal for participation in this initiative to help the Libyan people. However we must not forget that our fellow citizens have lost everything and are in their way casualty of war and we cannot just shrug and say that they should have been more careful than to risk it all in a country led by a tyrant, as our country, our prime ministers, including Dr. Lawrence Gonzi, tried to keep up excellent ties with Libya, to protect all the investment Maltese have there and vice versa. i hope that this battle for freedom will come to an end very soon as amid all of this we are forgetting the thousands who have given their life just 300 km away from us. i was please yesterday to hear that our prime minister will participate in the summit. am sure he will keep in mind the problems our countrymen faced and our economic interests as well. Thanks. ”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110827/local/Labour-MP-raises-questions-about-Libya-s-frozen-assets.381978
[Daphne – “Thanks.” Love it. “Thanks”. “Good day”. “Keep it up, sweet.” Morons.]
Based on this logic, the Maltese government should withold US funds to compensate video library owners for developing the Internet and putting them out of business.
Forget the spelling, the lack of logic and basic intelligence is way more worrisome.
Jibril invites Luciano Busuttilf to participate in the reconstruction summit, to assuage his concerns.
Luciano Busuttil BA LLD MP: Tjenks, bat now tenks.
This is one super party. It leads the Zeitgeist. Success is guaranteed. It’s what Malta deserves.
timesofmalta.com’s comments-board:
Anthony Pace
Today, 14:49
“About time as well!! And who in his right mind would confer honours in 2004 on a man involved in the Lockerbie and Berlin bombings!! Must only be the PN!!!
Gaddafi gardens should long have been re-named.”
Mela uwx only the PN ara vera hawn mard tal-mohh f’dan il-pajjiz
Being a doctor, however, of the economists’ fraternity, I have an anatomy question.
Are balls attached in any way to the spine?
If so, the present ‘spineless’ bunch of ‘governors’ have no chance of ‘getting their balls back’.
Caution is a virtue!
Don’t you agree?
It takes a wise man to be cautious and a silly one to be rush.
[Daphne – No, I don’t agree that caution is a virtue. What does the word ‘caution’ bring to mind? Accountants, civil servants and the like. The ability (and willingness) to take calculated risks is far more valuable than caution, which would have had us still living in caves. But over and above that, caution does not enter the equation when you’re talking about moral courage and doing the right thing. Something is either morally right or it is morally wrong. Caution does not come into it. I’ll just put it in simple terms: if you don’t cheat on your wife, is it because you’re cautious and don’t want to risk discovery and the consequences, or is it because you don’t want to do the wrong thing?]
In that case (cheating on the missus) a cautiuos man would close the bedroom windows, while the other would meet her at the Ferries.
Just being funny.
[Daphne – It’s actually the other way round, Silvio. The cautious man would meet her at the Ferries and the risk-taker would meet her in the bedroom.]
Pity you weren’t around many, many years ago to give me this tip as it would have saved many embarrassing situations.
Now it’s either the pharmacy or a doctor’s waiting room.
(joking again)
“Here’s hoping the party gets its balls back, before it finds itself savaged by the proverbial dead sheep.”
Golden words.
http://youtu.be/PO70lL3bQaw
The party sadly needs to go into opposition to get its balls back.
I know that would mean we will get dear Joseph as mexxej tan-nazzjon, but at this stage, it has to happen sooner or later.
People with your reasoning will spoil Malta’s future
In keeping with the subject, my reply is: Balls!
Let’s say PN loses the election. What will the Opposition look like?
Who will be most likely to find himself in parliament in 2013?
The most popular PN candidates, i.e. many of the current cabinet members and MPs. That’s no guarantee of any change in party strategy. Same people, same ideas.
Gonzi will resign as party leader and who will take his place? Probably Mario de Marco.
Why not preempt the confusion and have him run as party leader in 2013.
At least PN’ll be in with a fighting chance.
I am glad to learn that the Nationalists in Opposition had boycotted the decoration of Gaddafi with honorary membership to the “Xirka Gieh ir Reppublika” on December 5, 1975, but am flabbergasted to read that it was the same Nationalists in government that gave the “mad dog” a higher decoration of Companion of Honour of the National Order of Merit on February 8, 2004.
When HMS Brazen had left Malta, very few here realised the significance of the ship’s name. Stripping the medals at such a late stage makes this act trivial, opportunistic and sour tasting.
They’re not fooling anybody. What they’re doing is too little, too late, and bringing the type of attention to Malta which is the last thing it needs.
Seeing how they’ve been in bed with Gaddafi for all these years, they would do well to hope that the ground opens beneath their feet and swallows them up, if not for Malta to sink into the sea. For shame!
Come on Daphne, there was always a chance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX5jNnDMfxA
They can stick a fork, he is done. He is running like a jack rabbit now.
With all his oil revenues he could have turned his country into a modern flourishing country. Instead he used his power to squash his own people. What a waste.
You can call it cheap populism or demagogy. It is a disease which has long afflicted the Labour Party, and Joe Muscat is a prime example.
Veru li l-gvern bla bajd, madonna santa. What were they waiting for?
Did you perhaps miss this little treasure in today’s letter section:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110827/letters/Why-Gaddafi-reminds-us-of-Gonzi.382017
Daphne, was it 0.00000000000000000001% or was it
0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001%
Please make up your mind :))
[Daphne – Some common sense, please: the odds got smaller. They didn’t stay the same.]
Meanwhile … New York allows gays to marry, God sends them Irene. Malta allows married people to divorce, Joey is on the way.
The 8pm news on PBS included a slot where a reporter asked people what they think about the Libya crisis.
The reporter went to some club mimli rgiel bil-flokk ta’ taht u bis-suf barra.
When asked about the Gaddafi regime they all agreed that Gaddafi did a lot of good for the Libyans as well as for the Maltese.
‘Mnalla kien l-embargo fuq il-Libya, because that meant the Libyans spent millions of dollars in Malta, even buying their vegetables here.
Thereporter then asked them whether Malta should strip Gaddafi of his decorations. Their unanimous response: if a man does so many good things but makes a mistake (zbalja) should you take away his honours?
It was unbelievable. Perhaps that’s why PBS did it – to show us how bad things are.
Those men in the club said that the only “mistake” (zball) Gaddafi made was to cling to power and that he was a dictator.
This man and his regime killed thousands, tortured people, abducted and ‘disappeared’ anyone he thought was a threat. He ruined the Libyan economy, isolated a whole nation turning them into third class world citizens, institutionalised corruption at every single level of society, and robbed his people blind. But for these Maltese idiots in their bar, he made ‘one mistake’.
If PBS did it to show just how strange Maltese public opinion is on the matter of Libya, I think it was irresponsible to portray this opinion as somehow legitimate or even sensible.
The socialist system allows, ecourages and gives weight to the views of uninformed idiots who feel can speak about anything under the sun.
L-ewwel nitkelmu naqra fuq l-hammiem, imbaghad fuq oxx Zeza u fl-isitess nifs niddiskutu r-regim ta’ Gaddafi. Ma, X’biza ta’ pajjiz – ahna ghal ma’ Gaddafi jmissna morna mhux l-Ewropa.
Ciao, ha mmur inhabbat rasi mal-hajt.
Sorry, il-hajt okkupat. X’hin inlesti tista’ tuzah int.
http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16057919
Sky’s Alex Crawford on reporting from the front line and entering Tripoli with the rebels last Sunday.
Daphne, I’m an LP supporter but in my not so humble opinion, Gonzi acted very prudently in this whole affair. Remember, we’re dealing with a ruthless made man and precaution is better than having to deal with bigger problems later on.
I fully support Gonzi’s action in this Libya drama.
[Daphne – The red alert goes up on any of this government’s policies or attitudes, Mr Grech, when the Labour Party agrees with them. Labour Party agreement and backing = warning sign that there’s something wrong with what you’re doing.]
tony,
U inti x`tistenna minn reporter bhal dik, Daphne Cassar?
Meta tkun qed taqra l-ahbarijiet tkun qisa robot ticaqlaq meta jaghfsula il-molla.
Dan iz-zmien kollu taqra l-ahbarijiet u dejjem l-istess meta tispicca mil-item li tkun qrat tgholli subghaja il-fuq.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fZhEJwWD4s
‘This is one super party. It leads the zeitgeist’
May I reword it?
‘this is Super One party. It believes zeitgeist can be designed’.
Zeitgeist was coined over twenty years ago. It aimed to categorise a hazy, static agglommeration of commonly held opinions upon which to build brand values.
It implied that values are something one can use and experiment with, performing clinic tests.
It worked until its one-way mechanics were disrupted by the increasing access to the internet. The rate of evolution of opinion is now currently firmly beyond anyone’s ability to precede it.
Post No Logo theory indicates that unless a company, political party or any other entity is capable of substantiating its declared values, it faces being abandoned by an emancipated market.
Bmw went from slick to sleaze beacuse of zeitgeist.
Ferrari introduced stringent conditions on who buys their cars. Like Apple, they understood its not the packaged product that creates the community, but the values its members share. (see Sandro Chetcuti)
Nike still suffers its child labour scandal in Afghanistan, irretrievably relegated to tabloid testimonials and bling.
If the Nationalists manage to relate their fundamental concept ideas to contemporary language avoiding contradiction, (they could have with divorce), their product will be, as usual, the one to go for.
The fact that they’re willing to uphold abstract values, deemed niche, is today’s real added value.
Musumeci and JPO are the failed prototypes.