You read it here first last night: Labour Party TV show-host and mass meeting MC is Malta’s head of mission to NATO
Published:
July 3, 2014 at 12:02am
And here he is
Ray Azzopardi, that familiar face with the loud microphone voice, introducing il-mexxej tal-Partit Laburista u s-Sinjura Michelle Muscat at Labour Party mass meetings, is Malta’s head of mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
He’s already our ambassador to Belgium, as you know, but there is only so much embarrassment that can be wrought in that capacity.
A man with a microphone for NATO, though? There’s where the technocrats of the military and the diplomatic corps are dispatched.
Now NATO has got itself Ray Azzopardi. I’m sure he’s going to be ever so able to hold his own.
Lie down and weep, children.
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http://www.foreign.gov.mt/default.aspx?MDIS=354&NWID=5035
Shows just how much Manuel cares about his toy soldiers.
Bunch of liars, crooks and cunts, all of them.
Hear. Hear.
Can’t wait to see the DOI’s pictures of this momentous occassion.
Meanwhile, here is a reminder of what it was like when H.E. Ray Azzopardi became Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium.
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ray-azzopardi_michelle-muscat.jpg
Ooops, sorry, wrong pic.
http://292fc373eb1b8428f75b-7f75e5eb51943043279413a54aaa858a.r38.cf3.rackcdn.com/001f195e06428f599688a3d330754e292616667486-1390915957-52e7b175-360×251.jpg
http://292fc373eb1b8428f75b-7f75e5eb51943043279413a54aaa858a.r38.cf3.rackcdn.com/0905f106b6f31081e0cc40ce6afa0e0c3144916367-1390916109-52e7b20d-620×348.jpg
The Foreign Ministry news item says that Ray Azzopardi and Rasmussen discussed the current geopolitical situation, including Ukraine.
I don’t know if this is NATO trying to be nice to us, or our government lying to make us look normal, as usual.
They probably discussed the UK rain, but misspelled it.
Rasmussen was explaining where Ukraine is.
Part of me wishes I was a fly on the wall during that particular exchange. The other part of me wants to crawl into a hole in shame.
Simple-minded Mintoffian legacy.
I’m sure you’ve met those people going around saying that in reality, a Labour government isn’t too bad; it hasn’t affected them personally and we’re still going about our same lives.
Mind you, these are intelligent people who’ve voted PN all their lives and will continue to do so. They also read this blog regularly.
I despair when faced with these comments (some culprits belong to my close family). It’s true, my quality of life hasn’t changed at all but my status as a Maltese citizen has been ripped to shreds and I’m not being a romantic here.
I have to endure incompetent and embarrassing people representing me internationally, Maltese citizenship sold off at a ridiculous price, my environment is being raped (San Blas is the latest scandal), ex/ wannabe thugs running the country, Maltese culture being reduced to first-class hamallagni and much more. I’m tired of being shamed and shocked at every new scandal.
I’m starting to understand why there were so many switchers during the last election. Everyone is out looking for their own personal interests and to hell with the country.
It’s such a shame because if they had an ounce of common sense, they would figure out that this can only last for a few more years (and that’s thanks to the strong economy that Dr. Gonzi built) before everything comes crashing down. Then they should start worrying about their personal interests.
Qed tara kif mhemx bzonn skola biex tilhaq hi? Zgur li dak hemm ‘Ras mussen’ impressjona ruwhhu ta!
I like the bit about Malta being ‘one of the 22 nations who work with NATO in the Partnership for Peace Programme’
Does the little twerp remember that his former puppet-master (Alfred Sant by name) had rescinded Malta’s participation in that programme back in October 1996 as soon as Labour was elected?
I see that Brussels food is working its magic on His Excellency’s jowls and waistline.
However those of us with a sense of humour can appreciate the comic side of this sorry state.
Ray Azzopardi`s knowledge of torpedo missiles is vast and diverse. They are simply the wrong sort of torpedo missiles required for a NATO mission.
It’s no longer about torpedoes and missiles. Now it’s all about covert penetration and quick withdrawal. Which Ray Azzopardi knows a lot about.
Well, Ray Azzopardi would be an expert on secret weapons, would he not?
Sounds like the corny Koala eats,bshoots and leaves joke. Or the one where the Broadmoor con makes a getaway, ravishing some laundry workers while he got away. The headlines read ‘nut screws washers and bolts’.
And in uniform!
I hope that H.E. Ray Azzopardi did not accept the post thinking that NATO was the North Atlantic Treaty Orgasm.
Tom Dooley ( and the rest )….hang down your head and cry !
Min kellna jirraprezentana bhala head of mission to NATO fi zmien il-PN?
Kellna lil nies professjonali, bil-Baxxter no-nonsense stamp of approval, bhal Noel Buttigieg Scicluna u Pierre Clive Agius.
Tarcisio Zammit, then Pierre Clive Agius and then Vanessa Frazier. All 3 were/are career diplomats.
Another jerk probably, because that’s how it goes in Malta.
Well, there was Vanessa Frazier.
Yes, she is now, wonder of wonders, ambassador in Rome. But then, minister George Vella is her uncle.
The Foreign Minister’s wife is a sister to Vanessa Frazier’s mother. But I do not think political affiliation ever played a part in her choice as ambassador. She is just good at her job. I have had the occasion to work with her and she is a professional diplomat who takes her job seriously and who represents Malta creditably.
Very creditably indeed. Like her very creditable sundress and the creditable spoiled-tart way in which she gave a press conference at Hay Wharf during the Libyan crisis, talking about exit wounds as if they were her Prada handbag.
I think not.
When did I ever mention political affiliation? I’ve gone hoarse trying to make you understand this: in Malta, it is not about political affiliation. There is a circle of friends that includes everyone.
Vanessa Frazier was part of this circle from the word go. Her rise and rise was helped along by Gonzi’s catastrophically bad judgement of competence.
Or perhaps you’re like most of the Maltese, for whom “good at her job” means “can read, write and spell.”
The Malta representative during the PN government was Ambassador Vanessa Frazier, an outstanding diplomat who was Prime Minister Gonzi’s key choice to deal with all matters dealing with defence at the Office of the Prime Minister, and who was a key person during the Libya crisis.
Today she is Malta’s ambassador in Rome. Due to our size, in multilateral diplomacy our country is judged by the quality of people we nominate as our representatives. I need say no more.
I know there is a certain loyalty between colleagues, and a reticence to be invidious, but to call her “outstanding” is a trifle over the top. She’s a consummate careerist, a pushy woman and incredibly well-connected, which just makes her very lucky, not outstanding.
Oh and before I forget: the fact that she was Prime Minister Gonzi’s key choice reveals just what abysmally poor judgement skills he had. Thankfully, he’s out of the game now.
Furthermore, people are judged by their CVs and the positions they occupied before their nomination to the post.
I can just imagine the thoughts that passed through the mind of the Secretary General of NATO when he read the CV of the present incumbent.
Not too sure that she’s appreciative of the trust Gonzi showed in her. I am told that she has, since, passed a number of unexpected declarations about Dr. Gonzi and the Nationalist Party. Times change and so do alliances, at least for those who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals.
Super One is a war machine, isn’t it? I’m sure Rasmussen was ‘impressed’ by H.E. Ray Azzopardi’s CV.
Rasmussen would have been delighted to see a section in the CV entitled “Il-Partnership L-Ahjar Ghazla” and sub-titled “Il-Partnership Rebah.” He would have thought it dealt with some successful propaganda campaign about the Partnership for Peace in which H.E. Azzopardi was involved as a compere.
Kien hemm diversi persuni tul l-Amministrazzjoni Nazzjonalista, Charli Do. Jidhirli li kien hemm ukoll uhud minnhom Laburisti, izda sa fejn naf jien ilkoll ftit jew wisq kwalifikati ahjar ghal dik il-pozizzjoni, minn Ray Azzopardi.
Seems like there is yet another bit of information we heard on your blog first!
‘Police Commissioner expected to step down, deputy commissioner Ray Zammit to take over’ TOM today.
Paulus says:
JUNE 30, 2014 AT 3:15 PM
What about Manuel Mallia’s cousin? Deputy Comissioner Ray Zammit? Seems more likely to me!
“The government officially announced this evening that Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit has stepped down and will assume an administrative role as coordinator for security in national events.”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140703/local/official-police-commissioner-steps-down-will-coordinate-security-at-national-events.526201
He might as well stay home and receive his pay cheque there. Security during national events, my left foot. Can they invent more posts as iced buns?
“Co-ordinator for security in national events” would be Muscat’s adaptation of Mintoff’s kicking upstairs a displaced Commissioner of Police as a Colonel i/c a Task Force. Let us wait with bated breath for the rank apportioned to some co-ordinator i/c SWAT or something similar.
So as from today, are the Police no longer responsible for security during national events.
What will happen of the person appointed to deal with CHOGM security?