Two Maltas: and John Dalli put the wrong one in the limelight.
Like I always say, there are two conflicting cultures in Malta, and many of the problems we experience are caused by the clash between them or the rise to the fore of the Wrong Culture.
Now there John Dalli goes, put the wrong Malta in the limelight.
Please read the link below, but most of all, this final note by the writer:
PS As an afterthought, I just have to wonder how bright this ‘Maltese entrepreneur’ was. Here he was, a man used to doing business on an island just a few miles from North Africa and the lands of Baksheesh. So, okay, selling influence may be normal-ish in Malta, I don’t know. But for a Maltese to try to deal Baksheesh with a Swedish Lutheran? I’ve been to Stockholm. It is not a place easily confused with a souk.
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http://synonblog.dailymail.co.uk/2012/10/whats-that-bad-smell-around-here-oh-hello-berlaymont.html
Nice piece. Last para says it all.
Oh, so Daily Mail Eurosceptic Mary Ellen Synon is now quotable on Deffney’s. Strange bedfellows indeed.
Kev, I’m not familiar with British journalists and didn’t know Synon was one of your Eurosceptic mates, Now that you mention it however, it explains the general tone of her article.
The Daily Mail in general is the most bigoted, xenophobic, gingoistic paper in the UK. Often referred to as the Daily Dirt, it has long been on a mission to keep Britain out of Europe by fostering fear and mocking anything European.
Perhaps the Daily Mail could remind us why the British Government had to bail out UK banks, if not joining the euro was supposedly so much safer?
The international press seems to in agreement that OLAF did not communicate well, to say the least.
Yesterday, I asked the good lady about her apparent limited knowledge of Malta and the Maltese.
She didn’t reply and deleted my post.
Thanks Mr. Dalli, we are now back to being considered Levantine double-dealers or Greeks bearing gifts.
Time to start scratching our way back out of this hole.
Is the writer implying that Sweden is loath to corruption? Have they forgotten the Bofors scandal when the Swedish arms company offered USD 12 million as kickbacks to Indian government officials in the 1980s?
Several multinational companies have had their fair share of corruption scandals, and far more which were never exposed, of course.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bofors_scandal
I’m not sure this sort of thing is a typically Maltese flaw.
Neil Hamilton was involved in the cash for questions affair.
The MOD sexed up a document relating to weapons of Mass destruction to justify the Iraq war.
Peter Mandleson resigned twice from the UK government before becoming EU Commissioner.
Some UK MPs were found guilty of abusing parliamentary expenses.
Corruption is a vice common that is pernicious in all societies, but some do it with more finesse and double bluff than others.
If it was previously a phenomenon, it now lies squarely within Labour.
Joseph’s mumbled reference to ‘national interest’ when he should have taken the PM to task, after all, Dalli is GonziPN, and a few months from elections to boot, is definite proof.
Konrad Mizzi, Karmenu Vella and Aaron Farrugia must be in an utter panic, forced back to the drawing board.
You see dear Joseph, opportunism has profound long term limits.
I’m not sure this sort of thing is a typically Maltese flaw.
Neil Hamilton was involved in the cash for questions affair.
The MOD sexed up a document relating to weapons of Mass destruction to justify the Iraq war.
Peter Mandleson resigned twice from the UK government before becoming EU Commissioner.
Some UK MPs were found guilty of abusing parliamentary expenses.
Corruption is a vice that is pernicious in all societies, but some do it with more finesse and double bluff than others.
Paraphrasing Winston Churchill; never in the history of the PN, has so much damage been done to the many (PN supporters) by so few (Dalli, Debono, JPO and Musumeci)’
May the few rot in hell.
Sorry I meant Mugliett. Musumeci is as we say in Zejtun, kanol bla krema – a person of no importance.
Have a look at the comments on timesofmalta.com – all the usual Labour trolls (who seem to have the run of the place) are defending Dalli. Hilarious when you consider his ambitions to become PN leader.
No doubt the PN is in a mess, but the PL is getting so entangled in all these contradictions it is not going to be able to avoid constantly tripping itself up.
Read this article yesterday. To be honest it seems more in line with Joe Grima’s line of thinking in your previous post (although couched in more polite Daily Mail anti-EU style). It seems to reflect the (manufactured?) thinking of some in Brussels.
“My guess is that Dalli was guilty of failing the 11th Commandment: don’t get caught.”
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/1851/eu_health_commissioner_john_dalli_resigns_in_disgrace
The person who wrote this piece is not being fair. Corruption is neither a Maltese nor a North African trait but it exists everywhere even in northern, Lutheran countries. Let us not be naive or throw ourselves away.
Have you ever seen a list of corruption indices? Ahna tas-Sawt nirbhu, hi!
I am surprised that anyone is even surprised. I mean the guy had a practice in Libya which specialised in opening doors to business wanted to trade in then Gadaffi’s Libya. I just wonder how those doors were opened?