You are entitled to your opinion, in a democratic country which allows freedom of opinion however inane it might be.

Alla iharisna. Tonio Borg and Gonzi were slow to react sure, but if those who was on One yesterday were in government, then Lord help us.

Jaqbdek il-bard.

James Borg -now we have a name- can be used as a human shield by this madman, then we would have known that the foreign minister would be in a compromised situation.

Are you ready to sacrifice your FB ‘friend’ for the common good , Daphne?

[Daphne – He’s not my Facebook friend. I am not on Facebook. And James Borg has had the very good sense to return, having been persuaded to do so by the worried requests of his own children.]

“Otherwise, it is clear that they want Gaddafi to survive.”

I think that this contains much truth in it. I’ve often heard it whispered around that it’s better the devil you know AND that Gaddafi’s successor might not honour Gaddafi’s commitments (i.e. people are worried that lucrative contracts may stop coming their way)

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110225/local/eu-agrees-first-anti-gaddafi-sanctions

To Dr Francis Saliba

What Labour did with Gaddafi in the bad old days is an embarassment to the Maltese and terrible. However, remember that the open courtship, propping up and endorsement of Ghaddafi was sustained by the PN administration when Ghaddafi was given the highest honour possible in Maltese society, as well as our heads of state travelling a couple of weeks ago to Libya to meet him and endorse his government, just days before the unrest started.

So my c(o)untry’s foreign policy hinges on one man’s brother. Fan-fucking-tastic.

True, Daphne about Tonio Borg’s brother, but is his life any less valuable than the other workers’ or vice-versa?

It appears that it is well known that Tonio’s brother works in Libya, so what’s there to disclose?

[Daphne – Nothing is well known unless it is disclosed. It hasn’t been disclosed. The fact that it is known by some people does not mean it is public knowledge. In these circumstances, the foreign minister is in duty bound to make a public statement about it, as he would be in duty bound were he in, say, Britain – before the newspapers went to town with the story. But here in Malta, anything goes. Even if he is not compromised by his brother’s presence there because, say, he doesn’t give a damn whether he is kidnapped (fat chance), the perception is that he is compromised. And in a DEMOCRACY, you cannot afford to have that situation. This is not Libya, where foreign ministers do what they please without respecting the opinion or the intelligence of the public. As long as the foreign minister’s brother remains in Libya, the foreign minister is compromised. No, James Borg’s life is not more valuable than anyone else’s in Libya, but it stands to reason that his life is by far more valuable than anyone else’s, to the foreign minister.]

Had Tonio made special arrangements for his brother to be brought back ahead of the other two hundred or so, then you would have a point.

[Daphne – In that situation, I wouldn’t give a damn, as long as no one gets left behind. What do we care who arrives first and who arrives last? But we should care that the foreign minister is arguing about the risks to those left behind, if Malta takes a firm stand, without telling us that one of those is his ‘baby brother’.]

Until their term expires EU commissioners are no longer answerable to their governments and do not need their government’s permission for anything.

A case in point is the current GMO debate.