The chairborne forces of the internet know better than the RAF, the AFM and the manufacturer
A government spokesman has said that the two Mirage fighter jets which arrived from Libya and are currently in Malta were inspected by RAF personnel brought over for the purpose, soon after they got here, and have now been disarmed by engineers sent by the French manufacturer, at Malta’s request.
This was by far the most sensible course of action, for reasons that should be obvious, but it is astonishing how some people think (or don’t).
Here is a spectacular example from the comments-board beneath the report on timesofmalta.com:
Ludwig Flask
Safety or not, no one has the authority to fiddle with other people’s property!
In a longer comment, one Mark Cassar was extremely annoyed for the different reason: why had the government waited a whole week to disarm the planes, he hollered. He seemed to think that a couple of AFM soldiers could have pulled out the weaponry as soon as the jets landed and then gone back to barracks after a couple of hours. If some people can’t think, then others can’t read.
Then somebody else popped in with a cunning plan.
B Mallia
The best way forward with these fighter jets would be to keep them here as a guarantee against any damages suffered in Libya by Maltese entrepreneurs. Following the end of the dispute / war, the new regime, led by Gaddafi (hopefully not), someone else or voted for democratically, should either pay the Maltese entrepreneurs for any damages suffered or else they can have recourse to issuing a withholding mandate on the jets so that their sale can get them their lost investments back. Any residual value, being the difference between the claim of Maltese entrepreneurs and the value of the fighter planes should then go to Libya
And here’s somebody who thinks that Gaddafi isn’t as cruel as he is made out to be, because he hasn’t sent his forces over to bomb us blind as a ‘take that, you bastards’ for refusing to return his jets. This person also hopes that the AFM guards are “very much on their guard”.
Charles C Brown
Theres a lot being said about the two mirages theres been talk of the AFM blocking the runway just in case undercover libyan pilots come to fly them back. If the gaddaffi regime was as cruel as it is made out to be the libyan air force would have destroyed them on the ground by now knowing that they are not going to get them back.They know very well that Malta is defencless. None of our EU partners not even the UK or Italy with whom we have some sort of defence pact bothered to send over a ground to air missle unit just in case.They all been too busy using Malta to evacuate their own nationals. My only concern is for the poor soldiers who are guarding these planes i hope they are very much on their guard .
Others could not refrain from offering helpful advice, like the cyberspace version of that crowd of irritating Maltese people you get at the scene of an accident.
Why don’t they empty the fuel tank so that any Libyan paratroopers air-dropped over Malta International Airport unnoticed by anyone can’t simply fly them away?
Why not lock them up in a hangar so that the soldiers guarding them don’t feel cold at night? (And why not remove the keys from the ignition, too, somebody suggested sarcastically in response, so that Gaddafi’s men can’t leave if they’ve forgotten to bring their spare set?)
Then someone with a ‘ha nehilsu minn dan il-gwaj ghax m’ghandniex x’naqsmu’ mentality decided that enough is enough.
S Agius
Good… but now send those planes back as quickly as possible !!!!! We ‘ve already did more than was expected of us. The less we’re involved the better.
He was told to stop behaving as though Malta is not part of the world. But you know, to some people, it just isn’t. They’re the Mediterranean version of Andaman Islanders, but with clothes on. And cars.
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I disagree with everybody.
I would ask the Dassault engineers to tune them up and fill them with fuel.
Then I would put Dom in one and KMB in the other, phone the Libyan PM and ask him to send over pilots to take the two aircraft back home tale quale.
[Daphne – The problem with this plan, Anthony, is that they are single-seaters.]
They could somehow both be rigged on the outside of the fuselage. Technically speaking, KMB’s Mirage would actually get to Libya faster than Dom’s, all thanks to KMB natural aerodynamic features.
And the fact that Mintoff’s weight-belt will slow him down somewhat.
They do not deserve a seat. They can be bundled into the tail.
Yea, let them breathe the exhaust, both are used to stale hot air.
The Mirage jets issue may be interpreted by the Tripoli mad man that Malta is taking sides.
We have to bear in mind that Gadaffi had described his adversaries as ‘cockroaches’, an insect that one normally eliminates by spraying insecticide (we all do that!). I would not be surprised if Gadaffi sprays his enemies with chemical and biological weapons. This has already happened in Iraq too.
What provisions is the Maltese government taking for such a terrible eventuality in Libya or even closer? or is it business as usual?
I think we should learn from Israel on contingency plans for such circumstances, but then Dr Gonzi cancelled his recent trip to Israel. Perhaps he should rethink his diary engagements and priorities.
So I am not the the only one who was thinking along these lines….
We’re all going to die fumigated by the new Marsaxlokk power station in a few months time anyway so why worry.
“None of our EU partners not even the UK or Italy with whom we have some sort of defence pact bothered to send over a ground to air missle unit just in case.”
That’s just brilliant. While being drafted (in Sweden) I did try a simulation of an air defence system and rest assured that having that surface-to-air-missile in untrained hands is definitely the equivalent of a bull in a china shop.
Patrik, dear, are you not aware of today’s technology? You just plug these things to the USB and off you go. It’s called Plug & Play.
As Plug & Play was originally devised by Microsoft, that just makes me more frightened.
It should in fact more like Plug and Pray.
‘A bull in a china shop’ is a mild comparison.
I cannot believe the comments-board at timesofmalta.com. What do they think US and British warships and aircraft carriers are doing is doing in our neighbourhood? Enjoying our sunny weather or taking a fishing trip?
Precisely why I cannot stand the timesofmalta.com site. Just let’s all weep together folks, cause it ain’t ever gonna get any better!
We could use them as carnival floats this weekend, one in Malta and the other in Gozo.
I know that the TOM comments provide, ahemm, “material” for you Daphne, but personally I avert my glance if the news page accidentally scrolls down that far, the ignorance is painful to read. Anyone with anything valid to say simply drowns in that mish-mash of stupidity and delusion.
One reason I love this place is that you presumably filter out the utter crap.
[Daphne – Yes, and then they go to other sites to chastise me for ‘censorship’.]
Malta Nisranija:
J Farrugia
These people say they cant go to Eritrea but neither can they invade Malta. Malta cannot afford to give asylum to so many nationalities otherwise bye bye to the Malta we knew. And those who went to protest with the foreigners had better think again.
from timesofmalta.com about Eritreans protesting in Valletta for co-nationals stuck in Libya.