Here's one for the 'wajs' politicians of Malta
Matthew D'Ancona
Here’s one for the ‘wajs’ politicians of Malta, who have reduced our sturdy little country to international shame and suspicion of collusion with a murderous regime, purely because they cannot distinguish between village politics and statesmanship.
Matthew D’ Ancona (his father is Maltese), writing in The Telegraph on Saturday:
Caution is one thing; grumpy isolationism quite another. I find it hard to muster much respect for those who oppose military action on the grounds that the outcome of this intervention is uncertain, or declare that the world is guilty of inconsistency in intervening in Libya but not 10 other places – as if these were new and astonishing insights. Every war brings its own terrifying fog. No military doctrine can be applied with absolute consistency. Cameron’s new mantra – “Just because you can’t do the right thing everywhere doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do the right thing somewhere” – is a potted history of statesmanship since the dawn of civilisation.
So let us recap: an oil-rich nation at the heart of the most fissile region in the world – a region in which Britain has profound commercial and strategic interests – is at risk of becoming a failed state. Its insane dictator has told those rising against him that “we will come house by house, room by room… We will have no mercy and no pity.” The fate of the Arab Spring hangs in the balance. And all this happening in Europe’s backyard, a refugee crisis in the making. To adapt Cameron’s own question on Friday: If not now, when?
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110321/local/tripoli-practically-normal
Monday, 21st March 2011
Libya uprising
Tripoli ‘practically normal’
Life in Tripoli was “practically normal” yesterday but fewer people ventured outside after air strikes took place in the morning, according to a Maltese man living in the Libyan capital.
“Yesterday, at around 2.30 a.m., we had a bombing – we heard it, but it wasn’t close to us,” the man said.
“In the morning, life was practically normal but there were fewer people on the streets. Catholics still went to mass, but not as many as usual.”
He reported no difficulties on the streets as there was no man-to-man combat.
He also managed to see the silver lining of the dark cloud that looms over the North African country: the interventions by a concerned international community were in the interests of the country.
“I hope it’s not being done for ulterior motives,” he added.
No comment !
Amen to all that.
Here’s the link – be sure to watch the video of David Cameron speaking in Downing Street, if you haven’t done so several times already on television. It is a textbook lesson in leadership and how to speak to your electors in times of crisis, and it should be studied closely by our ‘wajs’ men:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/matthewd_ancona/8392856/Cameron-rescues-a-principle-from-the-shambles-of-Iraq.html
“This underlined the importance of continuing to work together both bilaterally and through the EU, to shape a secure and prosperous future for all Mediterranean countries …” … and Malta has let the rest of the civilised world (and the Maltese themselves) down, and very badly so, too.
Shame!
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110321/local/cameron-thanks-malta-pm-to-visit-london-on-may-10
“…an oil-rich nation at the heart of the most fissile region in the world – a region in which Britain has profound commercial and strategic interests – is at risk of becoming a failed state.” And, further…”And all this happening in Europe’s backyard, a refugee crisis in the making.”
So that is what this is all about. It is about the military defence of Western influence. But Cameron and Co. do not seem to be also worried about the long term threat of terrorism in Europe’s backyard, and Europe itself. They can always impose more restrictions on personal freedoms, more checks at borders and airports, more restrictions on what to carry on a plane, more laws checking on what we read on the internet, whom we speak to on our mobile phone.
And how is the West exactly hoping to save Libya from being a failed state?
[Daphne – I cannot, for the life of me, understand the Labour mind.]
So let’s suck up to Gaddafi, shall we? Maybe he’ll check whether any Maltese people are in a plane, train, ship, club, bar, street or square, before blowing it up.
If you’re worried about the long term threat of terrorism, then why are you afraid that Gaddafi could go?
All the more reason why the mad man should be disposed of, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
Albert Farrugia – she hasn’t a clue of what you’re talking about, which is why she flings it into her ‘Labour’ bin.
You see, she believes the West is spotless – has always been; forever will be. Any proof to the contrary is ‘conspiracy theory’. It’s like explaining the greyness of the moon to a moonbat.
Sharp, witty, yet unbelievably blinded and wholly bigoted. I had met Soviet political commentators with exactly the same attitude: they actually believed the Soviet Union was heaven on earth and had the right to do anything it wished. They justified everything, even the unjustifiable!
You wouldn’t believe it, really! We’re surrounded with these people. They’re the apparatchiks; the unknowing minions; a scourge on society.
apparatchiks; the unknowing minions; a scourge on society….
do stop blowing your own trumpet, Kev. It’s most unseemly.
Is MEDAC still doing postgraduate courses in diplomatic studies? They should be a must for our politicians and in the meantime, where are the qualified advisors?
What, when most of the courses are about “conflict resolution”? (i.e. focussing on the talking part of diplomacy, with no understanding of the application of military power).
MEDAC is run by the switched-on Stephen Calleya, but they had Guido de Marco as honorary president, which sort of gives the game away. That and the memorial to Arvid Pardo (Arvid who?) outside the building.
What do you mean Arvid who?!
Punchlines lose their oomph when you have to spell them out…
I mean his piece of utopian diplobullshit legislation is forgotten by everyone except Malta, with its Lilliputian sense of self-importance and its peacenik psyche.
I disagree Baxxter, but then I obviously have not studied international relations as well as you have!
So you are saying that our Prime Minister was not “ways” for not using Malta as a base, a lot of you think Gaddaffi is of no threat to Malta.
A lot of Maltese agree with the Maltese Government ,and even a lot of people citizen of does country who are now bombarding Libya agree with us, other wise why are we losing tourists bookings if there was no treat???
They’d have cancelled their bookings anyway once Gaddafi started blowing up planes.
Edward Cassar,
the danger Gaddafi poses is all the more reason why we should not have categorically refused to allow military forces to use our facilities, even before being asked to.
Even if there was a good reason not to allow military attacks to launch from Malta there are much better ways to prevent that than proudly announcing to the world and making categorical statements that we will not allow it.
Apart from the precarious position we have now been placed in by the present situation we are also putting in jeopardy our future security by acting like selfish cowards.
And we continue to dream that somehow the neutrality cause will somehow save us from any ills that may befall us.
Jeez! Another stellar graduate from MEDAC.
Edward, its “wajs'” not “ways”.
And if you think Gaddafi is a threat, all the more reason to do what we can to stop him.
H.P Baxxter, I wouldn’t know certain details. Now that Joe Borg has replaced Professor de Marco, do you think it will make a difference?
No. Because we need political scientists, not politicians with some international experience in slightly useless fora like the EU and the UN assembly.
A retired general would make a better MEDAC president than a retired EU commissioner.
MEDAC does occasionally bring over defence and military experts for one-off seminars. But they should be made a regular fixture.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110321/local/pro-and-anti-gaddafi-protesters-almost-clash-outside-embassy
You’ve got to be a Maltese pulcinell:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110321/local/tripoli-practically-normal
“I think there is, here, a general culture of non-participation and that, as a people, we are not at all interested in the directions politics as it is done in our region is taking. We live in a bubble. And we cannot gain true respect on the international stage without at least some of our representatives speaking out directly to the remaining regimes, which are living on borrowed time anyway.” – Dr Norbert Bugeja, interviewed in The Times today
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110321/local/down-south-beyond-the-bubble
Pfft. My doctoral thesis also passed without corrections. As did many others. Jesus, they’re looking down upon people living in a bubble and they’re busy building their own.
Any one who thinks that there can be ever democracy in Libya is a dreamer. This is a civil war and it will end up like Iraq. Peace is not achieved by wars but by dialagoue. Our Prime Ministry is wise more so INTELLIGENT.
From the Times. ” Sgarbi added in Il Giornale that the social unrest in Libya is not simply a popular insurrection by the people for a democratic awakening of the country, but a war between tribes in a complicated system that is moved by interests completely separate to those held by the people. He argued that should Gaddafi’s regime fall, it will not be democracy to replace it, but a web of interests and alliances of the tribal families that will grasp power from the people, establishing a new regime. It is almost an echo of the opinion I have been presenting on this board between one gatekeeping exercise and another – not a clear sign of democracy in itself”.
It’s never a good idea to buttress one’s arguments by quoting Vittorio Sgarbi.
@E. Cassar
Pax Romana and Pax Britannica would like to have a word with you.
When dialogue fails, you beat your neighbour with a bigger stick or bend over and say thank you.
Edward,
Do you think peace can be achieved by dialogue with Gaddafi? Then it is you who are a dreamer.
(“dialagoue” – please use spell check if you can’t spell)
http://www.france24.com/en/20110321-libya-live-report
AFP – 1010 GMT: Around 50 demonstrators loyal to Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi have surrounded UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Cairo’s Tahrir Square, forcing him to retreat into the adjacent Arab League headquarters, a correspondent there reports.
Clashes in Attard –
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110321/local/pro-and-anti-gaddafi-protesters-almost-clash-outside-embassy
I have to say I was surprised to see just how bad Gonzi’s English is as I listened to the Al Jazeera interview. I have heard him speak before, but not with such effort. Then again, he looked extremely tired and uncomfortable during the whole interview, not his usual confident self.
Do we have any information whether the Malta-Libya treaty has had any influence on events as of late? It was so appropriately signed in 1984, but has been ratified since.
I had a brief look at it this morning and it’s quite clear in intent, but is anyone in the government still seeing us as bound by it?
A copy can be viewed at:
http://www.mjha.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?app=lom&itemid=8787&l=1
I would be interested in knowing whether Article 8 has been respected:
“The two sides agree to set up a Mixed Commission which shall meet at Ministerial level alternately in Valletta and Tripoli, at least once every six months, to review progress in the above fields of co-operation and to plan and see to the implementation of co-operation in new sectors.”
If this clause has been adhered to, I think the integrity has been deeply severed. If not then the agreement is already not lived up to.
Regardless, there is an international warrant out for Gaddafi, hence any act aimed at living up to this agreement would be unlawful in itself.
But technically, has there been any attempt at abrogation of this agreement?
On a British tv channel yesterday evening, during a rare live call from Tripoli, a resident said that Gaddafi thugs were manning the checkpoints round Tripoli, forcibly preventing residents from fleeing. She said she was not sure what was more dangerous, staying in Tripoli right now , or trying to leave.
Gaddafi seems to be resorting to forcing people to stay in Tripoli to act as human shields for him and his family .
This is the sort of low-down rodent we are being perceived as siding with.
On today’s The Times, it was reported that the attack by Gaddafi’s forces on Benghazi left many dead. The most horrid episode reported was a soldier killed by anti-Gaddafi forces who was found driving an armed vehicle handcuffed to the steering wheel so that he would not desert.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110321/local/pro-and-anti-gaddafi-protesters-almost-clash-outside-embassy
Probably the only place on the face of the earth, apart from Tripoli, where pro Gaddafi protests are going on is Balzan, Malta.
Actually a short while ago there was one going on in the vicinity of 10 Downing Street. It was mentioned briefly on Sky News.
Also in Cairo!
The mishandling of the Egypt Air hijack crisis at Luqa airport by the Maltese government in 1985 led to the biggest loss of lives due to a hijacked aircraft in the history of commercial aviation. That was due to an incompetent prime minister who refused to allow US Forces onto Maltese territory to deal with it, because Malta was ‘neutral’.
Here is another “wajs” politician of Malta. All we now need is to have KMB interviewed by Sky News.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110321/local/malta-is-an-accomplice-in-libya-military-action-kmb
KMB describes Gaddafi as an “arch-democrat of a dictator”!
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/gaddafi-%E2%80%98arch-democrat%E2%80%99-of-a-dictator-says-former-pm-who-saved-his-life
Maybe our prime minister’s personal secretary would like to have a quiet word with his uncle (KMB), and would like to advise him that, sometimes, the less said, the better.
The “wajsest” Maltese politician:
“Former Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici said today that Malta was an accomplice in the military action being taken against Libya because it was allowing warplanes to transit its airspace and their pilots must be talking to Maltese air traffic controllers.
Speaking at a press conference, the former Labour leader insisted that Malta must dissociate itself completely from the current actions against Libya.
What was taking place, he argued, was naked aggression as part of an international plot to overthrow the Gaddafi government. The protection of civilians was an excuse.”
From timesofmalta.com
Here is the link:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110321/local/malta-is-an-accomplice-in-libya-military-action-kmb
Alla ‘jtini l-pacenzja…
But the “wajzest” of all must be …….
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110321/local/malta-is-an-accomplice-in-libya-military-action-kmb
Has anyone thought about who or what will rule Libya after Gaddafi?
Do you mean that Gaddafi should remain in power, because we don’t know who will come next? Better the devil you know, than the one you don’t, mark v?
David Cameron’s speech was brilliant. We must admit that our politicians are non-starters when compared to this man. You name it, and he has it.
I heard somebody on Sky News praising David Cameron for his words. I felt envy.
Pity we cannot do the same, even less in the case of our deputy prime minister “Mr. I wouldn’t say so”
Our friend Karmenu Egyptair Mifsud Bonnici has come out with his words of wisdom…..
Obama et al: Gaddafi is not a target.
Cameron et al: Gaddafi is a target.
Merkel et al: Will not participate in coalition forces.
Malta: Will not actively participate but allows use of air space to coalition war planes.
Gaddafi et al: Playing hide-and-seek undeterred by bombing.
We will be in a better position to comment a month or so from now when the US will have ‘completed its mission’ of neutralizing Libya’s air force and defence outposts. Britain will still be looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack (or sand dune). The French will have nothing to shoot at any more. Gaddafi will still be ‘somewhere’ surrounded by a few hundred rabid followers, well paid by Gaddafi who is using them as a human shield.
Would Cameron be justified bombing Gaddafi but in so doing killing the human shield around him?
Malta’s ‘active participation’ would only mean cutting flying time for fighter/bombers by some 20 minutes. Hardly critical and hardly worth the risk bearing in mind that Gaddafi will not go voluntarily and getting rid of him can only be done by one of his own given the fortitude and opportunity. Inpenetrable shelters are no recent invention and Gaddafi surely has plenty of them.
Malta is ‘ridiculed’ by Maltese themselves because if it comes to this, why are the Maltese not ridiculing the rest of the countries who snubbed the opportunity to be regarded as having balls and participate?
Perhaps Malta should have rounded up a few tuna fishing boats, spruced up Charity and vailantly flew/sailed to Tripoli and solved the problem which the USA, Britain and France are having so much difficulty in solving within ‘our’ timetable expectations.
KMB has much blood on his hands and a big mouth because had it not been for him and his ex-boss, Gaddafi would have been good and dead some 22 years ago. Truly, the coalition should send him a bill for the cost of this whole operation.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12789740
21 March 2011 Last updated at 08:34 GMT
Saadi Gaddafi ‘gave order to shoot’ in Benghazi revolt
Benghazi, Libya’s second city, is the anti-government rebels’ stronghold
One of Col Gaddafi’s sons has denied an eyewitness claim he personally ordered soldiers in Benghazi to shoot at unarmed demonstrators.
Frans Sammut still doesn’t get it – from timesofmalta.com
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110321/local/pro-and-anti-gaddafi-protesters-almost-clash-outside-embassy
Frans Sammut
That is exactly what I meant when I humbly (that is as a common citizen) suggested that leading Maltese personalities who have experience with Libya and the Libyans like former premier Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici and EU Commissioner John Dalli should be asked to offer their services as peace brokers among the two factions chiefly made up of different tribes from Tripolitania and Cyrenaica – the two real and effective identities lurking underneath the surface but still capable of wreaking civil havoc as manifested in the current civil war. Only people with own agendas tried to take the mickey out of my suggestion. If no peacemaking exercise is carried out, the only alternative is for the Brits to keep on strafing Libyan cities which, incidentally, contain other Libyan civilians and innocent men, women and children.
‘Personalities’.
No further comment.
“Personalities”?
Wrong on two counts, Frans.
So last time, writing about Libyans on the same timesofmalta.com, he stated that “perhaps the heavy hand treatment accorded their compatriots at home may not in actual fact be disproportionate” and now he states: “If no peacemaking exercise is carried out, the only alternative is for the Brits to keep on strafing Libyan cities which, incidentally, contain other Libyan civilians and innocent men, women and children.”
What agenda does HE have?
Promoting himself as an ‘intellectual’.
I wonder how the “intellectual” will reconcile his respect for France with his love for Gaddafi.
The ‘precautionary principle’ by a non-Greenie.
Great principle. It allows you to justify your wildest imaginations by acting upon them. And you can never be proven wrong, because the actions themselves prove the principle is right.
Soviet? Maoist? Orwellian? Huxlian?
Kevin?
Kevin! Kevin, talk to me! Slap him, Sharon.
How about taking a look at this, for some cold, realistic look at what is happening. The author is not blessed by a Maltese father, but I think his opinions count nonetheless.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldtonight/2011/03/whats_so_special_about_libya.html
[Daphne – This is just the sort of thinking that Matthew D’Ancona, quoting David Cameron, is critical of.]
You have an answer in the last paragraph.
Meanwhile, other Arab leaders will be busy calculating about how best to protect their own interests. Stand firm, do whatever is necessary to crush the protests? Or follow the example of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, and be swept away by the tide of popular protests?
It would be an achievement if other Arab leaders refrain from what Gaddafi did to his people.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2011/03/15/scottish-doctor-tells-how-he-witnessed-colonel-gaddafi-s-soldiers-commit-atrocities-against-people-in-libya-86908-22990800/
Scottish doctor tells how he witnessed Colonel Gaddafi’s soldiers commit atrocities against protesters in Libya
Mar 15 2011 Exclusive by Lachlan Mackinnon
A SCOTS surgeon just back from Libya last night told how young children were deliberately gunned down by pro-Gaddafi soldiers.
Abdulmajid Ali admitted he will be forever haunted by the “gruesome atrocities” he saw being carried out against civilians there.
He revealed his brother has been missing for a week and told how, while working at a hospital in Benghazi – Libya’s second-biggest city – he pieced together the remains of a relative to allow a burial.
A message from a Libyan protestor OUTSIDE Malta:
For or against foreign intervention in Libya?
Let me tell those who are against.. especially foreigners who do not know the bloody history of Gadafi.. and his hatred towards the Libyan people.. wait until we re-capture Ajdabiya.. then Zawia, Misrata, Zintan.. and you will see the atrocities committed against our population.. and you will understand the necessity of the foreign intervention to stop the blood bath in our beloved Libya.
Many Libyans will remember in Benghazi, in 1977, when Gadafi hanged some of our finest youth outside the church and left their bodies to rot for days to spread fear and terror in the hearts of Libyans.. When he hanged our youth in 1974 in Stadiums and showed it live on TV because they dared to ask for a better future for their country.. When he did not honor the Libyans who died in his absurd war against Chad and got rid of their bodies by throwing them in the sea.. When he ordered to inject 426 of our children with AIDS in a Benghazi hospital in 1998.. When he massacred 1200 Libyans in Bu-Sleem prison in 1996 (the location of the bodies until this day remains unknown).. The list is never-ending.. it speaks volumes..
We have started a peaceful revolution and from day one the brutal regime replied by killing our children, youngsters, mothers, and the elder. We did not want a bloody revolution, we were forced into one. And the day will come when the world will know that thousands and thousands of heroes from our country gave their lives in this great revolution.. for a better future for other Libyans.. and that their blood will not go in vain. Libya will be built once again.. and it will rise from the heart of darkness.. and we will take good care of it.. like our great ancestors did.
@Corinne Vella
I seriously doubt that the letter from the Libyan protester was aimed at Malta, since Malta was one of the first to state that Gaddafi’s government had lost its legitimacy the moment violence was directed at the protesters. The issue here is not whether the government or the majority of the Maltese, save for KMB and CNI, condemn Gaddafi, because it has been amply shown that all condemn any form of violence. The apologists for the Gaddafi regime have the face to say that the protesters too, have shot at Gaddafi’s troops. To those I can say that defending one’s own life by any means, is legitimate.
The criticism here is about our government not using a strong enough language and the reluctance to offer Malta’s only airport as a staging post for foreign fighters. Our AFM participation would be so small that it could become a hindrance rather than assistance to the larger and better equipped troops. So participation at that level is a no brainer.
Gaddafi’s atrocities started from day one and the unfortunate events of 1974 and 1977 was ironically about the time our Sociialist regime was claiming that Gaddafi was our ‘brother’, we were giving his regime the former St. Michael’s teacher training college and a piece of choice land at Corradino where the Libyans built their mosque. In other words that particular government had laid the foundation for a special relationship with Gaddafi, so much so that it was required that Arabic be taught in our schools!
Subsequent governments were bound by agreements between Libya and Malta signed by the Mintoff – KMB tandem and when it comes to foreign policy, one does not do a 180 degree turn wiithout sufficient and serious enough reason. When the Gaddafi regime lost its legitimacy, it was not just Malta’s opinion but the whole world’s.
However when and if Gaddafi goes, one cannot oversimplify by saying that Libya will be turning a new leaf. Libya may indeed be on a new page but that page will have a huge input by former Gaddafi supporters as well.
It is for this reason why many governments, including Malta’s are showing restraint because a future Libyan government, by necessity, will be composed of the anti and pro-Gaddafi elements which will live on for two or three generations to come.
We need not go too far for a similar model, do we?
Gaddafi never lost his legitimacy. He never had any in the first place.
Oh dear oh dear
Fancy anyone in his right mind suggesting sending KMB to do anything
I can just see Mr Cameron sending Alan Hope of the Raving Loony Party as his representative in KMB’s mediation team.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/21/trump-i-screwed-gaddafi/
Hilarious.
Surprise surprise;
Cuba agrees with KMB and condems the Libya strikes.
http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2011/03/cuba-and-venezuela-condemn-libya-air.html
I do not know what KMB smokes, but it is definitely Cuban.