Muscat jaghmel misprint iehor
First he rushes off to Libya when he should have been making his debut in parliament. Then he rushes back to tell us that the Labour Party is conducting bilateral relations with the Libyan state. Then he announces that he was privy to the treaty signed between Libya and Italy and the government was not – for which read, ‘I am more important than the government.’
And now it turns out that, poor sap, he didn’t know the treaty was published in full by the Libyan news agency Jana. His attempt at coming across as a politician who has the trust of Gaddafi’s people where the government does not has backfired. He has come across instead as a politician who is remarkably ill-informed and is clueless as to what is going on. Shouldn’t Malta’s leader of the opposition have made a point of getting hold of any recent treaties between Italy and Libya and reading them, given that they are of possible relevance to this country? But this leader of the opposition doesn’t even know that treaties are public information when one signatory is a democratic state and, more to the point, a member of the European Union. This is what I mean when I say that the government is giving Muscat enough rope to hang himself.
And this man has a doctorate in public policy? Give me a break. It’s too much like Anglu Farrugia’s doctorate in law (magna cum laude, ta, hi….).
The Times – Friday, 10th October 2008 – 10:14CET
PN says Italy-Libya treaty published in newspaper
The Nationalist Party said today that part of a treaty between Libya and Italy which Joseph Muscat was given access to during his recent visit to Tripoli was actually published in a Libyan newspaper more than a month ago.It said in a statement that the treaty signed between Libya and Italy on August 30 was published in full by the Libyan news agency Jana.On his arrival from Libya late on Tuesday, Dr Muscat told a news conference at the airport that he had been given access to part of the treaty signed between the Italian and Libyan governments a month and a half ago.
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Il-proverbju Malti jghid ” min qatt ma libes qalziet j***a fih !!!!!!!!
Svizzera fil-Mediterran tipproduci Buffu tal-Mediterran.
Dear All
It is not usual for me to participate in these blogs…only that sometimes I have to.
Please note that:
On the 7th of October, i.e. last Tuesday (JM was in Libya that day), ANSA reported that:
‘The agreement Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi signed with Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi at the end of August has not yet been published or ratified in Italy. On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the full text of the measure would be put to parliament within two weeks, along with a ratification bill.’
Link is enclosed below:
http://www.ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2008-10-07_107278156.html
This document has NOT yet been published in full.
Indeed, in all probability, Opposition Leader was shown parts of an agreement which has NOT been published in full. Only Silvio Berlusconi had access to the whole agreement.
[Daphne – The fact that it hasn’t been published in Italy does not equate with its not being published at all. It was published by Jana, to which any media organisation in Italy has access, and there was nothing to stop an Italian newspaper or Italian citizen from picking up the Jana link to the text. This is the internet age, remember. The ‘publication’ process you refer to in Italy is one of government procedure, and has nothing to do with the media. The media can publish the full text even when the government hasn’t officially published it. The irony is that the dictatorship party to this treaty published it before the democratic party did.]
Hmm, quite right. I did wonder at that statement. I really do wonder what he was doing, all the time he was an MEP!
Maybe wooing geriatric trouts? (vide your previous article on the subject of simpering grannies) Seems to me, he should have been reading up on freedom of information between EU states.
Could also be, he might have been blinded by his dear wife’s rather shiny dress. Good gosh! I saw the post parliamentary anointmentpicture, and I have to agree on the fact that it’s QUITE horrific isn’t it? It seems that mirrors, and taste don’t come into the equation.
His old schoolmasters must be VERY bemused at what’s going on. Or rather, they expected nothing else!!
I’ve also come to realise that some of the biggest idiots I’ve ever had the misfortune to encounter, are in fact university graduates.
Best of luck with the blog. I have to admit, that it has provided me with hours of entertainment. Your comments are spot on, and some (vide the film comment), make me cringe at the rememberance, whilst the ones regarding manners, make me sigh for the days of a bygone era, when manners were a testimony to one’s breeding and education.
Once again, Thank you for the articles. Please keep it up.
Please note again that, in all probability, the Jana link is only a report on the treaty between Libya and Italy.
The whole text of the agreement has not been made available.
Please find enclosed link below to confirm.
This link states that:
1. “Regarding the report by the Libyan press agency Jana on the treaty between Italy and Libya, it is pointed out that the agreement is, obviously, subject to obligations previously undertaken by Italy, in compliance with the principles of international law”, says a note issued by the prime minister’s office in Palazzo Chigi. &
2. “After the statements from Tripoli, the government must immediately explain in parliament the actual content of the agreement and any commitments made regarding the bases”, said Piero Fassino, the PD’s shadow foreign minister.
http://www.corriere.it/english/08_settembre_03/gheddafi_italy_4a8d8112-79be-11dd-9aa0-00144f02aabc.shtml
@Daphne
You’re right about the irony – such surprises occur time and time again in that ‘rich’ land. Learnt from experience (and sure you noticed too) that it’s a place where you should “expect the unexpected and don’t expect the expected”.
Quoting the times:
“The Nationalist Party said today that part of a treaty between Libya and Italy which Joseph Muscat was given access to during his recent visit to Tripoli was actually published in a Libyan newspaper more than a month ago.”
The Nationalist Party didn’t say that the treaty was published IN FULL, as you are stating, in the Libyan newspaper. The Times articles is a bit misleading though. One cannot immediately deduce that the published parts are the same as those shown to Joseph Muscat.
As usual, the war of words in politics …
Whether the treaty was published or not makes not one jot of difference. The sheer wrongness of the MLP leader going off to discuss secret business with the party’s mentor, behind everyone’s back, when he has absolutely no authority to negotiate on Malta’s behalf, is beyond words.
I’m surprised the media aren’t grilling him, nay, crucifying him, over this.
Probably the leader of the opposition’s praise for Mintoff came about because maybe Dom paid for the trip from his Gaddafi prize,
[Daphne – I can’t imagine a stingy bastard like that man parting with a single red cent.]
As usual w have the PN with its spin doctors rubbishing JM’s efforts to get something concrete done. As if opposition leaders don’t go on foreign visits.
With all due respect to that great youth organisation only two words to describe this PR shambles : “BOY SCOUTS”.
Gerald : Of course they do, but they do not work out secret bipartite pacts. That’s the government’s job.
Is there a link to the published treaty (in part or full) by the Libyan newspaper online? I mean, one in English or Italian … not Arabic.
I only have two comments: The first is that I can personally vouch on having read a very poorly translated version of the agreement on the Jana website just days after Berlusconi left Libya.
My second comment is that I see nothing wrong in Joe Muscat meeting Col. Ghaddafi: Let’s not be parochial even in this matter. Anything done for the benefit of Malta should be supported even if we disagree amongst ourselves.
It is not uncommon for Opposition Leaders or incumbents of one country to meet with leaders of other countries: Just see the US presidential contenders for example (except for that redneck of Sarah Palin, of course). Closer to home, when Dr. Fenech Adami was leader of the opposition in the eighties he very often mediated on behalf of Malta and met foreign leaders.
Let’s just be a bit balanced and not forget the past.
Religio et Patria: No one is suggesting that an opposition leader should sit on his backside and not make any political moves. There’d be plenty of objections to his collecting his salary if he did.
What he’s being criticised for is bragging about setting up bilateral agreements on Malta’s behalf, when he’s clearly not in a position to do so. That press statement was not about playing the honest broker, but a bragfest about his political one upmanship.
I wouldn’t set great store by a ‘bilateral agreement’ fashioned by a dictatorship with someone who does not represent a state. Would you? Certainly not if it’s on the lines of those agreements that the Colonel tore up because his son Hannibal threw a tantrum at being treated like everyone else who breaks Swiss law.
And no, Joseph Muscat didn’t meet Col. Gaddafi and carefully pointed out that that wasn’t the purpose of his visit anyway. That’s disappointing. It left me wondering what our opposition leader would have worn for the publicitiy photographs in the faux bedouin tent pitched outside Gaddafi’s comfortable palace.
Gerald: If “JM” wants to get something done, there’s plenty to keep him busy at home. And I don’t mean Malta. His party hasn’t been rocked by any earthquakes yet, and the much touted CEO has yet to materialise, yet there he goes setting up committees in Libya as though what the world needs is yet another board of talking heads.
Seriously, though. What’s your issue with any criticism of Joseph Muscat? The man himself doesn’t seem at all ruffled by it.
Is that him?
http://www.tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=1&i=2444
[Daphne – The unmistakable goatee is in the front row, sitting with his legs wide apart as so many Maltese men like to do in formal environments, to leave on-lookers with the impression that they are so well-endowed that they can’t bring their knees together.]
Daph – You seem to have missed the brown shoes in the photo on the link provided by Brian*14
@Daphne – …..and the brown shoes to match the dark suit? Forsi ma kull stocc pepsodent qed jaghtu zarbun b’xejn?