I wonder for how much money did this group of young immigrants settle to stage the gruesome scene for the Italian journalist that obviously needs to come up with a story.

Don’t be fooled. It is a setup. If anything it might help in discouraging future immigrants to try the leap of faith.

No, dear Baxxter. It’s not a matter of feeling guilty.

My point is that L’Espresso ought to concentrate on real issues. For instance, it could attack Berlusconi on his policy vis-a’-vis neocolonial interventions in Africa, if he has such a policy.

That would make sense.

Not espousing a line of action which implies opening Europe to more African immigration.

I, of course, have no idea what YOU’RE talking about.

@Line Cert – where do live? Let me guess …… IN MALTA – where as I said illegal immigrants are politely asked to pass on over to Italy.

You of course have no idea what you’re talking about.

The video story’s plausible. That alone should tell you what you need to know – and I’m not talking about L’Espresso’s reliability.

What are you suggesting? That L’Espresso staged the whole things, complete with corpses?

Berlusconi has no need of L’Espresso’s help in harming his own image. He does a very good job of that himself. His dirty deal with Libya is only one instance among many but must rank among the worst for its tragic consequences.

There’s plenty Malta and Italy SHOULDN’T do about it. Turning a blind eye to the consequences of political decisions is one of them.

So Gaddafi ‘needs’ 5 billions dollars from Europe?

Did he also ‘need’ the money paid in compensation to the families of Lockerbie victims?

It’s called blackmail: If I don’t get a deal on oil supplies you don’t get a deal on immigration. You couldn’t have failed to notice that immigration slowed to a trickle and then a stop once Berlusconi & co struck a deal with Libya.

Culled from my own brain:

“And what are European governments supposed to do? Invade those countries and do some “régime change”? Propped up, propped up. Of course they’re propped up. Those corrupt dictators have either been elected or are supported by their people. So European nations naturally maintain diplomatic relations and recognise those governments. Translated as “propping up”. Any interference by Western nations is seen as (neo-)colonialism. Then let Africa run itself, I say. Africans are as intelligent as any other people on earth, and they are quite capable of building prosperity and peace.”

I mean really, Weber. Do you really go to sleep at night with a feeling of guilt over Africa’s woes? Mind you, I used to, when I was about six or seven and the world was awash in footage of starving Ethiopian children.

Then I grew up and was made to feel guilty, respectively, of the suffering of the Palestinians, of the massacres of World War II, of the plight of the Bosnian Muslims, of Rwanda, of Kosovo, of the Karen, of the Tamils, of the Burmese, of Afghans, until one guilt feeling cancelled the next one and I came back where I started: feeling guilty for not providing for my family. And wonder whether death by starvation is better than being the underprivileged your whole life.

So cheer up Weber. I don’t mean this in a facetious way. Cheer up everyone. Let me be the first to say that I have never killed or aided in the killing or oppression of a single African, neither has the life that I have lived contributed to any of these horrors.