Maybe Gaddafi was sitting on the fence about that one, in much the same way as our government comes across as doing.

I think the difference is economical interests.

[Daphne – Terrorism.]

Must be for the reason given by Purdie above.

HP, I have not read the resolution.

It would be kind if you post a link in case you have it.

That said, I would expect the resolution to start as follows:

1. That there should be an immediate ceasefire etc as you quote.
2. That Gaddafi and his family and government should resign at once and free general elections called for. That Gaddafi’s is no longer the legitimate government of Libya.

Does the resolution make this second point immediately after the first?

If not, by complying with the resolution, Gaddafi could in theory stay in power.

1. Should the PM have given the go-ahead with giving the allies permission to use Malta as a military base using the narrow scope within the Constitution?

2. If in the affirmative, then what’s the use of having the ‘Neutrality’ clause in the Constitution?

[Daphne – Angus, for God’s sake and your own, please read the relevant bit in the Constitution. It makes SPECIFIC EXEMPTION for military action mandated by resolution of the UN Security Council. In other words, we are completely free right now to bring in any number of fighter jets, warships, soldiers, send our own army to participate, the works.]

Doing things in the proper order should be the removal of the neutrality clause, freeing future politicians to make better(?) decisions quicker. But does this not put our country at the mercy of a future trigger happy prime minister?

[Daphne – Oh, honestly, trigger-happy with what? A couple of patrol boats donated by the United States?]

Getting into the matter of telephone calls between the Libyan PM and our Prime Minister, does one expect the PM to be on the phone with the press every time he gets a call from a foreign politician in the name of transparency?

[Daphne – Yes, of course. That’s what happens in democracies. It’s called disclosure. It’s also sensible, because where the media functions properly, if you don’t tell the media, the media will find out and tell everyone that you didn’t tell them. And then it looks really bad. Last night’s stunt was the perfect illustration of this. The prime minister felt no need to tell us what Bagdadi called him about. Five minutes after he didn’t tell the press, Reuters had found out through somebody else and had wired the story round the world. The Maltese government issued a denial. A couple of hours after the denial, the Libyan regime held a press conference and announced that prime minister Bagdadi had discussed the ‘supervise the ceasefire’ matter with Malta. Again, we found out through the international press because our prime minister and his advisers forgot that they are now operating in the international context and this is no longer about what Labour and Joseph Muscat said and didn’t say.]

Does anyone think that the PM would have been invited to send a ‘ceasefire’ monitoring team without first being informed that a ceasefire is in effect?

[Daphne – Did he have to wait for a telephone call from Libya in the afternoon? It was all over the international news in the morning. Sorry, but that’s not a credible explanation of the reason for the telephone call.]

Does anyone think that Gaddafi & Co. would have simultaneously decided to declare a ceasefire, and quick, ask Malta, China, Turkey and Germany to monitor it?

[Daphne – Yes, that’s exactly what happened in fact.]

I do understand that due to Malta’s proximity to Libya, it spurs the over active Maltese imagination or maybe proves that this predicament is slowly being turned into a sit-com.

If I remember correctly, the last time Malta’s military was in the news was when coats were provided to the two guards on duty outside the Palace; this merited several column inches in the press and an item on TVM news with full details of the fabric used and patterns available on sending a stamped self-addressed envelope.

You are irritated, annoyed, howling-mad angry at the Jesuit holy equivocation displayed by Gonzi and Borg… is that it?