So what was all that waffle in the Times about protecting civilians, quoting an anonymous source? The article was a good one, but the writer appears to have been misled by his source.

The Prime Minister later said “The Times got it right”. So now it seems he was talking about the appointment of a liaison officer….to do what, exactly?

In a night shot, the captain points out naval destroyers on the radar, 60 miles off the Libyan coast. Then, in the next shot Wedemann says “when the navy ships see the aid vessel, they allow it to pass. Finally, the Libyan coast.”

That’s it. No fuss or drama. So much for ‘intelligence’ and dramatic exchanges with liaison officers at Castille:

http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2011/04/03/pkg.pleitgen.libya.medical.supplies.cnn.html

And Gaddafi told Turkey not to, but Turkey still did so, sending in the ship with an armed guard.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110401/local/malta-protects-libyan-civilians

On the positive side, the Libyan opposition leaders have now accepted the reality that raw courage and commitment, while excellent values in themselves, are not enough to overcome a heavily armed professional army.

The welcome news today is that the pro-democracy forces are finally getting their act together by adopting a proper command structure, buying in heavy weapons, and by inviting other countries to provide training to their fighting men.

Meantime, the besieged, the injured, and the dying in Misurata, in Brega, and elsewhere in Libya can continue to take solace in that government and opposition in Malta are not being idle.

Having excelled in displacement activity in the face of atrocities and events unfolding in Libya by throwing themselves completely into debating the text of the divorce referendum question, Malta’s Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition are now locked in a life and death struggle over who is to blame for the cock-up that is said to deny 2,800 new potential voters participation in that same referendum – never mind that all 2,800 of them probably do not care either way given that they are 18 and hardly likely to be exercised by divorce.

Beyond that, dedicated action by the government is now set to save the lives of thousands of quail and plover this Spring, albeit to the detriment of thousands of other migratory species next Autumn – or vice versa – which looks to me to be uncomfortably similar to the policy adopted by Malta in regard to events in Libya.

[Daphne – Why would an election be called two years ahead of time?]

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110403/local/muscat-on-3-day-us-visit

Our Prime Minister allowed the UN coalition to use our airspace … may I ask what he would have done if they used it without his permission? Perhaps sent them an SMS warning that they would be shot down by our F-16s?

Meanwhile Tonio Borg attends international meetings regarding action against the regime.

We have a habit of making fools of ourselves and our politicians are experts at that.

As for the hospital offer, Benghazi told us what to do with it. They sent their injured to Qatar. After all the Qataris sent the plane to pick them up.

Meanwhile St. James Hospital has probably ended up with quite a few empty beds. Patients from Libya were contributing regularly to their turnover.

[Daphne – I’ve just heard on one of the news channels that Turkey has sent a hospital ship to Misurata to pick up 200+ wounded and take them to Turkey for treatment.]

See you later then.