Sorry, ta, but we're not with the coalition
100+ of these have got rid of Malta's excuse that we're not helping out because we're afraid we might be attacked. Now there's nothing left for Gaddafi to attack us with.
The Malta government is contacting the media to protest at the suggestion that Malta forms part of the coalition effort to get rid of Colonel Gaddafi.
See below.
MALTA AIRPORT ‘NOT OPEN FOR LIBYA STRIKES’
afrol News, 19 March – Malta, Libya’s closest European neighbour, denies its airport will be open for “any military strike against Libya” by the coalition preparing to implement the no-fly zone.
afrol News yesterday reported that ten nations already were ready to aid in an attack against the Ghaddafi regime, including Malta, which according to British military sources was among the main bases for British air operations against Libya.
Martin Bugelli for the Maltese Office of the Prime Minister today strongly denied this information in a protest note to afrol News.
“All references to Malta are incorrect as Malta is not hosting any military base, equipment or personnel for any military strike against Libya. These references are unfounded and have no basis of truth,” Mr Bugelli stated.
Malta, a small island state in the Mediterranean and a European Union member, is the closest European neighbour to Libya, located only 350 kilometres north of Tripoli. This makes the country especially exposed to possible retaliation strikes by the pro-Ghaddafi air force.
The island’s airport so far has been key in evacuation efforts by Western powers, with military aircrafts from, among other the UK, having taken off and returned on Valetta airport after evacuation operations in Libya.
For any military or humanitarian operations in Libya, Malta is strategically placed, but also exposed to counter-attacks.
The closest land bases in Europe for military strikes against the Ghaddafi regime therefore now are Italy and Greece, with the island of Crete lying very close to eastern Libya and Benghazi. Italy has already announced the opening of its bases and airports to the anti-Ghaddafi coalition. The support of Greece is still more uncertain.
Further away, France, with a special focus on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, and Spain have also allowed anti-Ghaddafi strikes to start from their airports.
By staff writer
© afrol News
———–
It has since been reported that Greece has offered the use of Crete. Meanwhile, the French and the British air forces were reported tonight as having “severely disabled” the Gaddafi regime’s air power, thereby effectively removing the threat of an air strike on Malta…or Sigonella….or Crete…..or Cyprus…..or…..you get the picture.
With the excuse of neutrality whipped away by the UN Security Council resolution, and now with the threat of an air strike on Valletta removed too, what excuses is the Malta government going to come up with next for not getting involved?
We need to be told, or we shall have to suspect that it is something REALLY serious, like blackmail, or worse – pusillanimous stupidity.
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Just in case Gonzi needs reminding what has been going on in Tripoli, and just how unChristian his stand is, this is an email from the ‘Have Your Say’ section of BBC news from ‘one that got away’.
0010: Luiz in Brazil writes: “For six years, I was living in Tripoli until 24 February 2011, when I evacuated. I witnessed the earlier protest in Tripoli by the unarmed brave people of this city. The government used against them helicopters and high-calibre guns and artillery fire. I was inside my apartment in the Zairdermani area; it was on the night of 22 February. I will never forget that night in my life. Gaddafi is a crazy man and the good and peaceful people of Libya don’t deserve to have an insane man as a leader. I can’t believe how Gaddafi could have been accepted as a partner by the great powers of this world. How could Tony Blair embrace him? I hope the great people of Libya find their way out of this turmoil very soon.”
Do you realise that there are many other countries in Africa and around the world where attacks on the civilian population are a daily occurrence? Why is everyone do eager to help Lybia and so passive in other cases? Pity Darfur doesn’t have an oil!
Besides, no country in the coalition is acting against its security interests, and neither should Malta. Who will protect the airspace of our densely populated island indefinitely should all this end with Gaddafi still in power (as is quite possible, since the current objective is to protect civilians and not to bring down the regime)?
Our so-called European allies won’t even take a few illegal immigrants off our hands. That makes me wonder how much we can count on them for anything else.
Explain how acting against Gaddafi is not in Malta’s security interest.
We wanted to be part of the EU but at the same time stay neutral. Well, our Constitution should be updated. Daphne, do you really think that our prime minister is being threatened?
[Daphne – Until such a time as I am given a CLEAR ANSWER as to why Malta refuses to cooperate except in what might be ‘hidden’ ways, then the reason for staying out has to be open to any interpretation. We know that it is not ‘neutrality’, and thanks to 100+ Tomahawk missiles used today, we now know too that it isn’t fear of a Gaddafi air strike on Malta.]
U mhux ovvja li business interests + Christian antiwar cant.
It could be a mixture of populist zeal and the protection of private interests of Maltese investors in Libya.
We shouldn’t be left to speculate.
Madonna, how naive you are! Wisq!
I think I need a break. And you do too.
Try your neck, it’s spineless.
Kevin Ellul Bonici, if you need a break, then why have you spent the best part of the last few days stuck to your computer, hooked on Daphne’s blog. Is Sharon busy?
Because these are serious times and comments on this blog happen to get the greatest exposure locally, other than the fact that this blog is currently focused on the Libya crisis and its views happen to be diametrically opposite to mine, thereby affording a motivational challenge.
I hope that answers your question, Josephine, and if you have any further questions, don’t hesitate.
Here’s the link to the report:
http://www.afrol.com/articles/37610
Daphne, right now watching an Al Jazeera reporter, Anita, in Tripoli, standing outside, showing and listening to gunfire and explosions.
She ‘ducks’ once in a while and seems a bit stressed and just said she is freezing. Wonder how our PM and Deputy PM are enjoying their evening. Snuggled up in bed, nicely covered in their neutrality blankets.
Bet they’ve set the alarm for the first mass tomorrow.
Compare Malta’s response to Germany’s:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110318/local/government-to-examine-libyas-request-to-monitor-ceasefire
Daphne, just finished watching our PM being interviwed by David Frost on Al Jazeera’s ‘Frost Over the World’, Pathetic, shameful. Totally out of his depth. and the alternative, our little Joey, can’t even swim. Scary.
See Frost-Gonzi here
http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/frostovertheworld/2011/03/201131914358441897.html
Time to whisk yourself back to kanak territory, where brave warriors run the land, Purdie.
The strikes that have been carried out do not necessarily remove Gaddafi’s capability to cause us grief, though they do for sure prevent him from delivering it to us by means of aircraft, which would have been the most effective.
He does still have a number of SCUD missiles, which are mobile and notoriously difficult to find and get rid of, as we saw in both Gulf Wars. They are not very accurate but still enough to have a good chance of landing one someplace on Malta.
The other ‘weapon’ he of course still has is terrorism with which can can strike almost anywhere in the world and is much more likley to use than the SCUDs.
That is not to say that we should continue to behave like cowards, or even that we ever should have. Actually it is all the more reason to get rid of him in the shortest possible time and doing it thoroughly.
“All references to Malta are incorrect as Malta is not hosting any military base, equipment or personnel for any military strike against Libya”
What is so wrong with that statement is that no one is suggesting a military strike “against Libya”.
It has become painfully clear over the last month that Gadaffi and his regime are not ‘Libya’. What the prime minister of Malta is really saying here is that Malta is not hosting any military base, equipment or personnel for any military strike in defence of the Libyan people.
Well, the reason Malta does not participate in war should be obvious to most Maltese. Malta disapproves of war, and military action is not in our security and economic interests.
[Daphne – Malta does not disapprove of war. Malta came into existence solely because of war, and a close analysis of our history will tell you that war is also what made population growth possible (population growth depends on increased wealth) in Malta in the 19th and 20th centuries. Maltese people love war and anything military, and you only have to look at the way the island has been galvanised by proceedings to see this. To borrow an expression from a Labour politician, martial activity and all that goes with it is in our DNA. It is the reason Malta lost its sense of purpose and identity in 1979. It is also the reason the whole country – except the Graffiti movement – seems to perk up at the sight of warships in harbour and why the airport has been inundated in recent weeks with military-plane-spotters.]
What a weird perception. But let’s let it lie.
Population growth, you said? Think again.
[Daphne – I believe one of my sons wrote a postgraduate thesis on the subject at the London School of Economics. But he won’t appreciate me telling you about it, so I won’t.]
Daphne , you are really getting hysterical about Malta not offering itself as a base.
Of course it should NOT. For the simple reason that Malta does not have a military base , but one single civilian airport. Can you imagine our civilian airport doubling as a military base with Tornadas and what not laden with missiles taking off in between commercial flights !
I am no military expert , but I’m pretty sure this is not even workable from a military perspective.
This is like offering my neighbour my one bedroom house ,while I sleep in the street – do we owe the Libyan people so much ?
Moreover there are several other airbases , just 30 minutes flying time away , notably Sigonella. Also Comiso lying unused , ex base for cruise missiles ready to be used for commercial purposes.
Perhaps the PM could have given a small explanation that Malta has long transformed its ex British military airstrips , which no longer exist (Kalafrana, Ta Qali) , and has one civilian airport. Therefore Malta cannot be a base , even if it wanted to .
[Daphne – David, our airport was chockful of military planes of all types last month, coming and going with no disruption to the normal schedule of civilian traffic. Strange, isn’t it, how short memory can be, but I do remember the government actually boasting about the fact (and deservedly so) that even with all these military planes to-ing and fro-ing between Malta and Libya, and with the additional passenger traffic besides, there was no disruption.
Also, this is not about whether or not we can use the airport. This is about our attempts at deflecting any such request by trumpeting the now entirely false excuse of neutrality. We should have just said the truth: sorry, but we would rather not use our sole airport for that purpose, BUT WE WOULD BE DELIGHTED TO PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS TO HELP IN ANY OTHER WAY POSSIBLE BECAUSE WE ARE COMMITTED TO THE FIGHT AGAINST COLONEL GADDAFI AND WILL NOT STAND IDLY BY WHILE OTHERS RISK THEIR LIVES IN WHAT IS OUR BATTLE TOO.]
are you so shortsighted that you cannot realise that malta has no airbases but only an international airport that could potentially be closed for weeks if the airport is used as a military base
i can imagine all of you experts and families stuck in malta or abroad for weeks with airmalta planes parked on mia’s aprons had gonzi taken the wise decision of allowing mia to be used as a military base, when a number of designated military bases are readily available in the mediterrenean
imagine fiumicino or heathrow being used as a military base
vera kull hadd lest li jikkritika u jara sal ponta ta mniehru
luckily our prime minister is not so shortsighted and thinks in the long term
[Daphne – The prime minister must be so reassured to see that the majority of support for his decisions and his stance appears to come from people who can’t spell or write. And from Sharon Ellul Bonici’s husband.]
From Maltatoday.com. Questions asked to the Libyan transitional council regarding Malta’s position on the no-fly zone.
‘Asked if he meant that “widening the cooperation” means using Malta as a military base in enforcing the no-fly zone, Jibril said the council “fully understands Malta’s sensitive situation” but it would “appreciate a further effort by the Maltese government in assisting the multinational effort in imposing the no-fly zone over Libya.”
“The council is taking note of all the positions taken by countries and is giving them great importance in considering future relations,” Jibril said.’
This is what Ahmed Jibril, leader of the transitional council in Libya, had to say when asked about Malta’s position in not allowing Malta to serve as a military base: “The council is taking note of the position taken by countries and is giving great importance in considering future relations”.
Yesterday, Saturday, 19 March, following picture (link), with varying, but only slight, alterations was published in various German newspapers. The picture in the link is an exact replica of what one could/can view on http://www.bild.de/.
The chart basically shows Malta as an Air Force and Naval NATO base.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/onlyinmalta/maltanatobase2.jpg
We depend a lot from tourism. I think that’s why the government had not offered Malta to be used as a military base.
[Daphne – Imagine how right royally screwed our tourism industry would have been then, had other tourism destinations in the Mediterranean thought as we did and not put aside their own short-sighted and narrowly selfish concerns and also refused to allow Britain and France to use their facilities.]
Our saintly Gonzi is shirking his Christian convictions. Others like Tonio Borg give one to think that because of family business it is better to be a bad boy by being a’good boy’.
The opposition including Silvio Parnis and his ‘m’intix wahdek’ are not worthy of any consideration. And we expect John citizen to act seriously. That reminds me of the Maltese saying ‘l-ezwmpju jkaxkar’.
Just listened to Muammar on CNN – pathetic. By the way people are dying in Libya, sorry not dying but being murdered.
May I be allowed to quote Pastor Niemoller’s famous words for our opportunistic “neutralists” and non-interventionists, please? Niemoller was referring to Hitler’s Nazis but his words apply wherever the pusillanimous cringe before heartless dictators.
“First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.”
Have we received any request from the anti-Gaddafi coalition to provide any military facilities?
It is very clear the Maltese goverment fears retaliation by Libya, and is clutching at its neutrality clause, which in this case is a weak argument as the action taken by the allies is sanctioned by the UN.
Our airport is a civilian airport and not a military one! Please do not carry on giving this wrong impression.
[Daphne – Bob, read my lips. OUR AIRPORT IS USED FOR BOTH CIVILIAN AND MILITARY AIR TRAFFIC. THIS IS BECAUSE WE DO NOT HAVE A DEDICATED MILITARY AIRPORT BUT WE STILL NEED TO ACCOMODATE MILITARY AIR TRAFFIC INCLUDING THAT OF THE ARMED FORCES OF OUR OWN COUNTRY. ]
The only way our airport can operate and launch military strikes is by closing down its civilian operation.
[Daphne – Absolute bollocks. The airport was not closed to civilian traffic when military aircraft were coming and going between Malta and Libya earlier this month. On the contrary, the government actually BOASTED that there was no interruption at all to the normal schedule. How convenient that we have already forgotten all those scenes of air force planes landing, taking off and parked on the runway.]
Using the MIA as a launch for strikes against Libya will make it an enemy target and endanger the civilian users. So this would mean terminating our civilian traffic.
We only have one airport and we cannot afford closing that down in order to assist civilian and humanitarian aid.
At this moment of war, it is obvious that all political decisions will not be reviled as not to endanger military operations. Let us not think that we also know how to operate wars now! These are just observations from other military operations where one needs to safe guard all needs. Crete has a military airbase and so do all the other countries in the operation.
[Daphne – ‘At this moment of war’. This is not a war. It is a no-fly zone.]
We have done, are doing and will continue doing our part until this mad dog of Africa will be put down.
[Daphne – The point is, Bob, that we are not. We are letting others do it for us, and we are not even bothering to make the tea.]
On the other hand one of those on our airport will also be of danger to all residents of Luqa, Qrendi, Mqabba, Gudja, Safi and Kirkop… so unless you are ready to be responsible for that…
[Daphne – Oh, so it’s all right for the people who live near the air bases in Sicily, southern Italy, Spain, Crete and Cyprus to be put at risk, then, is it, just as long as the people of Luqa and Gudja are not. Unbelievable. Il-vera pajjiz ta’ l-ewwel jien, it-tieni jien u t-tielet jien ukoll.]
Each country is responsible for its actions. You have not understood the difference between a Civil and a Military Airport.
[Daphne – I am perfectly aware of the difference, Bob. I come from a ‘martial’ family, to put it mildly. It is precise because Malta has only one airport that this airport serves both purposes. That’s why the Libyan fighter jets are being kept there, and that’s why all the military planes involved in the evacuation efforts landed there. It is also why the Armed Forces of Malta use it, and do not operate their own airport elsewhere. Until relatively recently, the Armed Forces were responsible for air traffic control at our ‘civilian’ airport.]
Are you ready to be responsible for the lives of the people in our airport area? That is why you speak from a blog and not from Castile.
[Daphne – The prime minister needs reminding that he is not responsible for the lives of people who live around the airport, but for the lives of us all. And that is exactly why he should pull out all the stops in getting shot of Gaddafi. AND STOP TAKING CALLS FROM GADDAFI’S BUNKER. Damn shame, actually, that I don’t speak from Castile. They could do with some help, though even I don’t know how I could have handled the public affairs crisis of pitching non-involvement to the Maltese public once the neutrality excuse has had to be ditched. One thing is for sure, I wouldn’t have recommended half-truths and obscurantism, and I would certainly have advised against taking calls from Gaddafi’s men after the UN Security Council resolution, or flying visits from them in the run-up.]
…to say nothing of the danger to the people flying the planes and those on the ground in Libya. Yes, they’re fighting to rid themselves of Gaddafi but that would mean we’d be rid of him too.
It seems there is broad criticsm in Germany for their lack or participation.
Funny how completely the Gonzi government has backed away from its earlier commitments in favour of the R2P principle.
[Daphne – Responsibility To Protect http://www.iciss.ca/menu-en.asp. I take it you mean his statements, early on in the crisis, that Malta will not stand idly by while genocide takes place and civilians are killed, and that neutral does not mean neutralised.]
Yes. It seems that all it took for the PM to change his tune was a phone call from some bunker in Tripoli.
Now contrast Malta’s blathering on about neutrality with the following statement by Angela Merkel, as quoted by the BBC on Friday:
“We unreservedly share the aims of this resolution. Our abstention should not be confused with neutrality.”
The air strikes currently taking place are there for enforcing a no fly zone. A lot of people believe that this will not force a regime change and therefore Gaddafi might still be in power for the next few months, possibly years.
Even though he probably does not possess the capability of attacking mainland Malta, there are quite a lot of assets in Libya that belong to Maltese businessmen. These can be easily destroyed by the Gaddafi forces if he feels inclined to do so.
Moreover, if Malta were to be used as a military base, tourism would probably decline even further as potential tourists will associate Malta with military activity.
In light of this, I feel that the risks of “offering Malta as a military base” outweigh the benefits of having a “stronger” coalition. With or without Malta, if they really want to remove Gaddafi (UN doesn’t), they will.
[Daphne – I hope you understand that your selfish approach is based on taking it for granted that other countries’ will not mind putting their own assets in Libya – which far outstrip Malta’s – at risk to do the job themselves while Malta sits back and reaps the benefits. This stance is nothing short of disgusting and indicates a complete inability to keep things in their proper perspective. Malta is not the only tourism destination in the Mediterranean, and if Sicily, Crete and southern Italy are going for it, then Malta should too.]
The whole of Mediterranean Europe (except Malta) is involved in the military action against Gaddafi. No one travels to the eye of a storm for a relaxing holiday, so your argument is nonsensical.
Sorry to butt in, but Daphne, you are assuming that Joseph Muscat is not planning another one of those massive tourism advertising campaigns of his in which he will say something like:
“Fed up waiting in an aeroplane on the taxiway while military jets take precedence for take off to attack Libya? Come to Malta.”
Or: “Your flight has been delayed because the airport at your Mediterranean destination was repatching the runway after a bombardment by Gaddafi jets? Come to Malta.”
So we do stand to gain over Sicily, Crete and Southern Italy.
Just to clarify, Cyprus is opposed to using bases there to launch attacks on Libya but are powerless to stop British since the bases are on sovereign land, so Gonzi´s not alone. Cyprus also depends on tourism and seems just as worried (and they have Greece to back them up should the shit hit the fan):
http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE72J2NJ20110320
Our government trying to play it too safe is understandable, I guess, but pretty embarrassing nonetheless. My only hope is that we’re at least helping in some undercover ops – handing out pastizzi to the US Navy or whatever, something, anything.