For shame, Tonio Borg – you are disgraceful
Deutsche Presse-Agentur wired out this story at 1146GMT today:
MALTA: EU PRIORITY SHOULD BE CEASEFIRE, NOT GADDAFI EXIT
Godollo, Hungary – Stopping the violence, rather than forcing Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi to leave office immediately, should be the priority for the European Union, Malta’s Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said Saturday.
On Friday, EU leaders issued an unprecedented call for Gaddafi to ‘relinquish power immediately,’ but Borg – speaking at a meeting with EU counterparts in Godollo, Hungary – backed down from that request.
‘I personally have called for a ceasefire … stop the fighting and then we shall see what happens,’ Borg said.
The island-state Malta is the closest EU to Libya, and, along with Greece, negotiated with an emissary from Gaddafi earlier this week for the release of three Dutch soldiers that were taken hostage by the Libyan regime.
Borg said his idea of a ceasefire ‘should lead to a regime change,’ rather than be preceded by it.
He also indicated that if Gaddafi or the rebels were not to respect it, that would ‘justify further action by the United Nations,’ which has last month slapped an arms embargo, a visa ban and asset freeze on Gaddafi and 25 of his associates.
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Our foreign minister is a specialist in human rights, but that doesn’t stop him being tolerant – or coming across as tolerant – of Muammar Gaddafi. When he was minister of the interior, he colluded with the Gift of Life Movement and set in train a campaign to have a clause against abortion written into the Maltese Constitution.
That’s how much he values life.
But torturing, maiming, killing and kidnapping adults in Libya? Let’s condemn the sin but not the sinner. Let’s tell the sinner that the violence has to stop and then we’ll focus on a period of rehabilitation and maybe he’ll stop torturing, maiming, killing and kidnapping.
Tonio Borg values life so much that he thinks we should focus on stopping the violence in Libya, rather than on forcing Muammar Gaddafi out. And after there is a ceasefire, then it “should lead to regime change”, he said. Regime change, eh? From one regime to another, when what people want is freedom.
And if our foreign minister’s proposed ceasefire doesn’t lead to ‘regime change’, then what? I see, we’ll all carry on as before, and his brother can go back to working for Corinthia in Libya and we’ll all be nice to Gaddafi again.
The incredible thing is that somebody of Tonio Borg’s purported intelligence can misread people and situations so badly that he actually believes the European Union can tell Muammar Gaddafi and that ghastly Saif Al Islam to stop killing people and they’ll say “OK. Right you are.”
I hope somebody told him – and if not, I’m doing so here – that the most efficient way to stop the violence is to force Muammar Gaddafi out, and this is why it should be the priority.
Gaddafi is the cause and source of the violence and that violence will continue as long as he is there. Tonio Borg is spouting the same sort of morally crippled nonsense that John Dalli did last week. By speaking of a ceasefire, he equates the two sides in this battle and paints a picture of civil war. But it is not civil war. It is people seeking to topple a tyrant. You cannot speak of a ceasefire in that situation.
What exactly is Tonio Borg’s problem? Why is he seeking to take the heat off Gaddafi? He comes across as somebody who hopes that, as long as the violence stops, a solution might be found whereby Gaddafi will be able to stay.
His words are reprehensible, cowardly and above all, damned stupid. But our foreign minister is not a stupid man, not at all. If this is part of some clever game, then they had better stop playing it. None of those jokers ever had the necessary long spoon to sup with that particular devil, and he’s played them like the bunch of lackeys they are while despising them because they are lackeys, and letting them wait and beg.
The reluctance of both our prime minister and foreign minister to speak the right way about Gaddafi has now become painfully obvious. They can’t pretend anymore.
Tonio Borg equivocated all over the shop last week on Bondi+. I had to leave the room because I couldn’t bear to watch or listen to him. The prime minister, interviewed by a Maltese journalist at the EU Summit yesterday, assumed a carefully blank expression when asked about Gaddafi and gave a brief and meaningless answer. But when he was asked about the possibility that Libyans fleeing the violence would come to Malta as illegal immigrants, he became animated and voluble, and used forceful language. It was so inappropriate and it shows just where our politicians’ priorities are. Help get rid of Gaddafi, Mr Prime Minister, and the rest will follow.
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It’s not just adults. Children are kidnapped too.
Qaddafi Reaches Into Schools but Some Youths Elude His Grasp
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/world/africa/11tripoli.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=In%20Libya,%20crackdwon%20reaches%20even%20the%20classroom&st=cse
(…)
A 17-year-old boy said the military had detained his 7-year-old neighbor at a protest and then deposited him a week later at a Tripoli soccer stadium; his father and teenage brother are still missing.
Maybe Tonio Borg is afraid of being given the Silvio Berlusconi treatment by Gaddafi:
“In the interviews published Saturday, Gaddafi’s son recognised his father’s regime had made some mistakes, saying Libya was a “bit late in building a modern army, a modern police, a new economy and a freer society.”
When asked about France’s recognition of the rebels in eastern Benghazi as the true representatives of the Libyan people, he dismissed French President Nicolas Sarkozy as “bizarre.”
“He is talking about people who proclaimed themselves the ‘Council for Libya.’ But who are they? Did you see elections take place? A referendum?”
[Daphne – He’s a fine one to talk about elections and a referendum. Who is he – in power just because he happened to be born to a woman who married a dictator?]
Seif al-Islam also blasted Italy, Libya’s key commercial partner and its former colonial ruler, accusing it of “treason” and threatening “economic retaliation.”
“We are shocked and even irritated by your position,” he said, addressing Italy. “When you betray a partner how do you think he will react?”
Seif al-Islam said Italy would be the “first victim” if rebels took control over Libya “as terrorists and illegal immigrants would set sail from Tripoli to Lampedusa and Sicily.”
“The message to Italy is very simple: the Libyan people are united and soon we will win against the terrorists. Then we will settle accounts with the rest of the world.”
“It will be very easy to replace Italy with China or Russia,” he said.
And in a message addressed particularly to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is known to have close ties with the Libyan strongman, Seif al-Islam said: “Libya is a frontline for Italy.
“What is happening here now will determine what will happen in your country tomorrow.”” http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110312/local/troops-control-90-percent-of-libya-seif-al-islam
When a bully threatens you, what do you do?
CALL HIS BLUFF.
Right – so who shall bell the cat? How exactly shall Gaddafi “be forced” out of the country?
I’m all ears seeing that military action has been dismissed by all (but France, Algerian nostalgia perhaps…)
Very well said. Tonio Borg personifies a good number of politicians who just babble on without ever getting anything done. What exactly is he hoping for, that a savage murderer like Gaddafi sits down to negotiate?
Mentioning politicians who specialise in talk and little else, pride of place must go to our MEPs in Brussels. Whilst pocketing their big fat salaries and sitting on their derrieres, what have they come up with concretely since the Libyan crisis came about?
While they talk, talk and talk a bit more, innocent people continue to be killed – unless Johnny Dalli is to be believed, of course. I have already resolved never to vote again in MEP elections, because the only thing the MEPs are interested in is getting onto the gravy train, with little or nothing to justify their existence.
With shameful declarations by people like Tonio Borg and John Dalli, I would also have to question my support for the PN, but unfortunately the alternative cannot even be considered.
[Daphne – Simon Busuttil has spoken repeatedly and well above the situation in Libya. MEPs can’t do more than that.]
I couldn’t bear to listen to Tonio Borg either. Maybe it’s time for a re-shuffle.
All this meaningless posturing by our top political exponents just goes to prove the infinite power of money.
They are dealing here with a serial killer of forty years duration and all they can do is publicly express their hope that he restrains his bad habit and that his potential victims stop getting into his way.
Malta’s politicians have been, for a long time, riding on the back of a tiger and are now finding it too hard to get off.
According to the ancient Chinese saying there is only one way out : kill the tiger.
His actions dovetail nicely with the main thrust of your previous thread. Sad.
This is appalling. And to add insult to injury, The Times’ ‘journalists’ only ask the Prime Minister about the supposed exodus of people out of Libya and if Malta “will be used” (note their choice of words) as a military base. No questions about the direction, or the lack of it, of Malta’s foreign policy.
Lie down and weep.
Allow me to posit an unthinkable scenario which is fast becoming a potential reality. The UN, US, NATO, Arab League, African Union and the EU do sweet all except talk the talk while Gaddafi wipes out all resistance and regains control of Libya.
As far as I know, the current UN sanctions do not allow business to be conducted with the Gaddafi regime (I stand to be corrected). If so, what game are Tonio and Gonzi playing? Do they actually think that sacrificing a few thousand Libyan lives will allow Malta to resume business as usual?
The opposition’s deafening silence on the issue is even more despicable. Come 2013, do I vote for Azazel or for Belial?
But we never had politicians, see? All we have are village lawyers and notaries propelled to power on the strength of their connections.
Yes, shame on Dr Borg. Also, I was really disgusted at the way he defended John Dalli on Bondi + .
Gaddafi may end up winning back all the rebel-held regions , but who, in the international community would want to do business with him ever again?
This guy has been seen by all the world repressing his own people who want nothing but to be rid of him once and for all. His family may treat Libya as their own personal fiefdom but what will he do with all that oil, now that the sanctions are in vigore?
Let him eat, drink, wallow and wash in his oil and lets see how long his regime will survive.
@ Baxxter. I do not agree that we don’t have politicians. Far from it! These guys on both sides of parliament are making sure that whichever way, they will not lose. Seeing that the UN, EU, NATO and all are busy twiddling their fingers, while Gaddafi annihilates his foes, our politicians are considering the only two options possible, and making sure that they, and their interests, come out tops whatever happens.
Sitting on the fence, while making useless comments, seems to be our national hobby.
You mean their personal interest, right? But that’s not politics. That’s greed. Politics is the polis, the res publica, the common good and all that. We were, and forever we will remain, a bunch of petty hawkers.
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/11/gadhafi-thugs-grab-cnn-crew/
“But right now we had only one concern: our taxi driver. We pleaded for his release –by now he could barely speak – but we were ignored. He was stuttering and trembling as they stuffed him in his car and drove him away. I still don’t know what’s happened to him. Our ordeal is over, but I fear his may only just be beginning.That’s the reality of life here under Gadhafi’s rule.”
I wonder whether that taxi driver will still be alive when and if Dr Borg gets his ceasefire.
I think that the decision of the Arab League to back the no fly zone will drive home the message to the whole Gheddafi clan that not even his fellow Arabs now want to have anything more to do with them.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12723554
What viable options on the diplomatic front, are left for Gheddafi now ?
No Gaddafi= No irregular immigrants.
Mr Prime Minister, please note.
After all the hard work by our PM to put us on the world map for the right reason, here comes this half-assed ‘politician’ to put us on the map, this time for all the wrong reasons.
He is scared stiff of making one simple (and I really mean simple) decision – that of keeping mum, as the weak politician that he is, or taking the side of the people who are sacrificing their lives after 42 years of repression.
The rebels have no choice – they either die in battle or die once Gaddafi ‘attends’ to them. Have a look at the main square in Zawia and there’s a huge patch, just covered with sand now. When reporters asked what was beneath that sand and inside the hole, Gaddafi’s men replied ‘buried rebels’.
These are the people Tonio Borg is refusing to help. And he comes from a party that has the hymn going by ‘demmna incarcru ghall liberta’. This is the ‘man’ who, afraid to make one decent decision in all his political life, is undoing all that the PM has achieved over the last couple of weeks.
Not even KMB would have gone as far as insisting on our ‘neutrality’, which has been, anyway, shoved down PN’s and the whole country’s throats, in order to establish a simple logic of who has the majority of votes should govern this land.
Just to give readers here an idea of how Tonio was going to mangle the whole thing right from the start, I will just say that the first country to deploy one of its military aircraft to Malta, namely Austria, was immediately ordered not to fly to Libya and to go back to Austria immediately because Malta ‘doesn’t want to get involved in any way’ with the developing situation in Libya.
Luckily, the PM got the reigns soon afterwards and not only Austria, but another nine nations got involved in evacuating people, including Maltese, from Libya. Had it been for ‘brave’ Tonio, Malta would have just stopped anybody from coming to Malta to evacuate people.
I suspect there is quite a rift between how the PM sees the present situation and our ‘brave’ Tonio. Gonzi, when asked by Bondi’ clearly stated ‘Malta is neutral, but not neutralized’. At the same time, Tonio Borg continues harping on this ‘Nurse in the Mediterranean’ title. If only I can draw a caricature of Tonio Borg dressed in a skimpy nurse dress, with people dying behind him while he merrily sings ‘I only want to be the nurse’ !
Tonio Borg is seriously compromising our future relations with Libya. Let’s face it, if Gaddafi stays in power he will be under a number of sanctions which will render any economic activity with this nation impossible. On the other hand, should Gaddafi and his troupe be removed once and for all, the new government will look at Malta and say ‘ah, this is the country that when we were vulnerable and desperately trying to get rid of Gaddafi, decided to stay on the fence and watch us all go down, if it was for them’.
For Tonio Borg, this whole Libya crises is too fast for him to tackle, and if he can’t keep up with things he should just get packing and let the PM run things. The latter has shown many a time over the last few weeks of how quick-on-the-ball he is and has delivered clear, timely decisions that awed many a world statesmen.
In the current turbulent and fast-developing crises in Libya, Malta cannot afford to have a painfully slow foreign affairs minister who even when he eventually comes to a decision, manages to botch it all up anyway.
Anyone good enough here with providing my suggested caricature of our foreign affairs minister?
But is not Lawrence, Tonio’s boss?
No, Adelle is.
e-ros has put it well about our politicians (although in reality they are actually village lawyers, notaries, doctors and nurses).
I seriously doubt that Malta is better off independent or whether we were better off when managed by the British. Most of the politicians post-independence have plundered and milked the country to their heart’s content. I hope to think that there were some exceptions.
But in general, our politicians are a letdown, big time. I do not have an explanation as to the why, when on very rare occasions, our politicians rose to the occasion (especially on the world stage), and ranked among the best and the brightest. And in the current circumstances, it seems that the kudos initially gained in the Libya crisis is being quickly lost.
Jesus, some mothers do ‘ave them!
Tonio, go write a simple note of resignation, get Johnny Cash to copy it and both of you then go and present it to the PM. Pronto.
In these very difficult circumstances our foreign minister cuts a fine figure as long as he keeps his mouth shut.
I agree he should attend all these important meetings and take notes.
His only verbal contribution should be “no comment”.
He just does not have the potential to rise to the occasion. Neither does William Hague, in spite of his first class honours in PPE from Magdalen College, for that matter.
Tonio Borg’s primus inter pares is marginally more competent, only just.
This is my honest advice. Lawrence Gonzi should be the only member of the executive to comment on the Libyan problem. Everyone else should be gagged.
Otherwise we, as a country, are going to get clobbered whatever the end-result.
Tistghu tghiduli jekk hu Tonio Borg jahdimx il -Libja u jekk hux jahdem mal-Palm City tal-Corinthia Group, kumpanija li nofs hi f’idejn il-gvern Libjan?
Hawn xi hadd jghidli halli nibda nifhem ghaliex Tonio Borg qed jitkellem hekk?
[Daphne – The fact that the foreign minister’s brother works for the Corinthia Group in Palm City and got caught there at the time of the uprising has already been established here. We should not assume that this has any influence on his attitudes and behaviour – he probably does not have the same relationship with his brother that John Dalli does with his – but it should be made clear at the outset all the same. That is democracy and transparency.]
Cant you see that what Minister Tonio Borg is doing is trying to get Malta out of the mess that Gonzi has put us in. We have been put in harms way by the remarks that Gonzi has made , especially by his premature assumption that Gaddafi is on his way out. Do you still think that this will happen? I will bet my last dime that Gaddafi is there to stay and it wont take long for E.U countries to start lickiing his backside to get hold of lucrative opportunities to rebuild his country.. Hasnt this happened quite a few times? ,in the not so far away times.only time will tell
You’d better go and get yourself a loan then, my friend, because you’re going to run out of money soon. Wait till the global political forces get their act together, and you’ll see who will be licking whom.
Good one, Mr. Silvio! Your analysis of the situation proves how biased you are against Lawrence Gonzi. If Gonzi prematurely assumed that Gaddafi is on his way out, he was just part of a chorus made up of world leaders. Just for curiosity’s sake are you allergic to ‘ (eg.cant,wont,hasnt)
At the beginning of this crisis I had started to admire the way our government was handling the situation but it soon turned into disappointment, the nastiest surprise being when I saw Tonio Borg on BondiPlus.
It seems that we really are ‘La Valletta di Gaddafi’ after all.
At least it is not the other lot that’s running the show – I shudder to think what it would have been like.
Although I do think positively about the PN on various issues this is not one of them and is just another case of “good thing the PN are there because God help us if the other lot were.”
Tonio Borg you are a real coward, another John Dalli and another ‘Nazzjonalist tan-naqra’.
You sir should do the right thing and RESIGN.
No I think Tonio Borg is right, the situation calls for being very careful on what we say.
Dear Joh BIsazza, I would rather be allergic to some words, than inflicting more harm ,on who I am trying to defend. What exactly do you mean ,that , “he was just a part of a chorus made of world leaders’? s ince when does a prime minister of an independent state like Malta, has to repeat what other leaders say? Do you think that the effects of what is going on in Libya, is the same as that on let’s(see that) say Germany or Sweden,etc. I suggest you take a look on your atlas(that is a book with lots of maps you will like it , lots of colours).and you will realise how near we are, and how far we should keep away from making dangerious statments.
What we should keep far away from are people like you and Johnny Dalli who must be still watching the soap opera as we write.
Libya is yet one other socialist government gone down the sewers and you just cannot fathom it. Not many more to go now – only N. Korea and Cuba remain, oh and your dear KMB.