The point no return was the UN Security Council vote
This was my column in The Malta Independent yesterday.
Our foreign minister told the press yesterday that the situation in Libya has reached “the point of no return”.
Really, the point of no return is now?
I don’t think Tonio Borg, like John Dalli before him, understands just how much he gives away when he pops out with something like that. Saying that this is the point of no return is very different to saying, as Cameron and Obama did, that it’s not over until it’s over.
When you say that this is the point of no return you reveal that up until now you thought there was a possibility that the situation might somehow miraculously reverse itself and all return to normal, with Gaddafi as top dog and people in Malta doing business with his henchmen and his sons, and giving them large slices of the pie.
The only difference in that case would be the obvious one that Maltese politicians and businessmen would no longer be able to delude themselves, as they did for 41 years, that Libyans loved Gaddafi and that Gaddafi kept them happy.
There was something terribly racist in that sentiment and it annoyed me no end: the assumption that Libyan people are an inferior sort of human being content to survive with very little and even be happy to live without education, deprived of human rights, and with the ever-present terror of torture and imprisonment without trial, or trial by a kangaroo court.
Tonio Borg is an intelligent man and he is foreign minister. So for crying out loud, even if he is not a tactical strategist or military man, he should know enough about international relations and foreign policy to have been able to work out that the ‘point of no return’ was actually a long way back at the start of all this, when the UN Security Council voted for intervention in Libya.
There is no way that the United States, the United Kingdom and France would have undertaken to bomb Gaddafi’s military holdings and arm those fighting against him unless it was with the unspoken commitment to keep at it until he was gone, no matter what it took or how long it took.
They were in it for the duration and in it until he goes.
That much should have been obvious even to grown-ups who believe in Father Christmas, but drowning men clutch at straws of hope and there is little doubt that certain politicians and businessmen in Malta are, in the Libyan context, drowning.
The point that newspaper reports and commentaries constantly miss is the fact that Maltese businesses in Libya are, with remarkably few exceptions, imperilled not because of the strife and violence, which are temporary, but because of the consequences, which are permanent.
Maltese businessmen and certain politicians have lost their entire network of contacts, built up over years, and of Gaddafi-regime (or Gaddafi-family) partners which made the business possible in the first place.
To some it will be a relief not to have to pay off this or that Gaddafi or bring Saadi, Seif, Mohammad, Mutassim or Aisha (or their mother) in as a silent partner. But to others, the prospect is little short of a nightmare, because the privileged and protected status they maintained in the Libyan market through methods that are illegal in Europe is no more.
They sit there and contemplate with trepidation a situation in which, as soon as things settle down, the Libyan market will be flooded with competing businesses from all over the world. The names they bandied about before, the connections on which they traded, already mean nothing.
You can understand the quite apparent resentment in people like John Dalli, who speak with barely concealed bitterness about the events in Tripoli. For around 15 years and more, while he was a cabinet minister in the Maltese government, he built up an extensive network of Gaddafi regime contacts mainly in Tripoli.
He used those contacts as the basis for a ‘do business in Libya’ consultancy, promoting them without embarrassment on the internet. Those contacts are now worth less than nothing.
Indeed, as somebody who was ‘in’ with the Gaddafi regime, he is probably worse off than businessmen who had no contacts there at all. And to make matters worse, the fact that he is now an EU Commissioner, and not a Maltese cabinet minister in an ‘anything goes’ situation, means that he gets to sit there and chafe, able to do nothing while others get in ahead of him.
What did Tonio Borg imagine, for heaven’s sake – that David Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy and Barack Obama would spend months bombing the hell out of Gaddafi’s military and then, when all was settled and ‘back to normal’, go back to signing deals with him after giving him a slap on the back and telling him ‘No hard feelings. We did it only to protect civilians. Now about that bunker project…’.
After the UN Security Council vote, there was no turning back. And when there is no turning back, that is by definition the point of no return, however much you might hope that Father Christmas will stick his head down the chimney and say hello.
THE LABOUR PARTY NEVER DISAPPOINTS
The Labour Party never disappoints, does it? In its statement about the fall of Tripoli, written after hours of deliberation and issued over the signature of shadow foreign minister George Vella, because the party leader is 1. out of his depth, and 2. on holiday in Italy, there is no mention of Muammar Gaddafi.
I would like to exclaim that this is unbelievable, or incredible, but I can’t because it is exactly what was expected.
Since this crisis started, no Labour Party spokesman or politician has been able to utter the man’s name unless it is in the context of some daft report on Super One or Maltastar. But now it has come to this: opposition fighters over-run Gaddafi’s compound, he is hunted, and the Labour Party still can’t speak about him.
A few months ago the party leader’s excuse of prudence and caution might have been driven by fear of reprisals in the form of damage to the party’s network of contacts and possible drip-feed of cash.
Now that it is demonstrably clear that there can be no hope of either of those things continuing, the refusal to speak ill of Gaddafi or even call him by name can be due to one thing only: a mixture of misguided love, admiration and respect.
All those of my generation know – because we had no choice but to live with it – that the Labour Party was in bed with Gaddafi. What we didn’t know was that the sex was so damned good.
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There was a very good programme on BBC World Service radio last night that outlined the road to the Libyan Revolution.
In essence, the journalist in question said that the UN Resolution 1973 sealed Gaddafi’s fate.
I am by no means implying that you are repeating this. Not all. I am just more convinced that you have a top notch journalistic brain. This sounds a bit sycophantic but I cannot find a better way to put it.
[Daphne – I couldn’t have repeated it: the BBC programme went out yesterday night, and my column was written on Wednesday morning. It’s just common sense, really.]
I know, but I felt the need to explain myself nonetheless.
I wish you had written your column a day later or that Tonio Borg had written his article in The Times a day earlier.
You would have had plenty more on which to comment. I did not like the tone of his article at all. Why did he keep on emphasising that our aid was only humanitarian? Haven’t we been sitting on the fence long enough?
I believe they are still in that bed and hoping that Gaddafi is returned following his reality check call.
Denial? Cash Flow? Who knows.
The POINT OF NO RETURN came with the very first Libyan who had the gumption to shout in a public street that enough was enough and Gaddafi had to go.
For 42 whole years, no Libyan dared go out of his home harbouring bad thoughts about Gheddafi, let alone express some sort of anti Gaddafi sentiment in public.
You’re wrong, I think. Throughout the 42 years, there were various cases of public dissent in Libya but most went unreported in western media and the dissenters were either imprisoned indefinitely or executed, sometimes in public.
This time round however, they figured out that they had nothing to lose but their chains so they refused to be intimidated and persisted until the desert rodent went underground running for his life.
China’s wild card finally did it for the Colonel.
Daphne
Have you ever refused an advert by Corinthia group in one of your magazines?
[Daphne – No. Why would I? It’s a legitimate business. Now I’ll ask you a question, Edward: did you refuse to go and live and work in England because you and your family were against Malta joining the EU and all voted against? No, you didn’t. You’re there right now, taking advantage of the things that people like me worked for and you worked against.]
That must rate as one of the answers of the year!
Talk about putting someone in his place. Pure gold Daphne.
A lot of news sites are reporting that Gaddafi’s adopted daughter, Hana – supposedly killed in the 1986 US air strike, is alive, well educated and an accomplished young lady, working as a doctor in Tripoli.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8693628/Col-Muammar-Gaddafis-daughter-Hana-still-alive.html
Great. How about a dynastic marriage then? Oooops, my mistake. Karmenu Vella’s son has already married Miriam Dalli tas-Super One.
We already knew that from Xarabank. An ex-Gaddafi bodyguard recounted the whole story of the adopted girl.
I really don’t get it with Tonio Borg.
Some shortsightedness could have been avoided.
The Foreign Ministry could have at least anticipated Berlusconi’s convoluted four-point U-turn.
Didn’t anyone predict that Maroni, holding Berlusconi hostage following December’s vote of confidence, would desist from his party’s regional neutrality spiel, given Italy’s obligations as a member of NATO?
That Maroni, with his petty blackmail directed at Malta, would have caved in with the situation in Lampedusa increasingly untenable?
There are many people in Malta who think that the money that the Gaddafi has in Malta should be split so that it can be used to compensate those who have lost business in Libya.
Out of curiosity, what do people think about that? And why are people talking about that idea in such a serious way?
It’s the kind of bucaneering spirit that allowed a population to survive on a sunbleached rock in the middle of the Mediterranean.
The shorter explanation is that they’re unprincipled.
Rather than fatten the pockets of the “disadvantaged” Maltese businessmen, would it not be better to distribute it where it rightfully belongs: in Libya?
“He used those contacts as the basis for a ‘do business in Libya’ consultancy, promoting them without embarrassment on the internet”
See this:
“In the periods 1987 to 1996 and 1998 to 2004 he was the joint chairman of the Libya Maltese Joint Commission which ensured the smooth development of relationship between Malta and Libya. This period covered the difficult times of the sanctions imposed by the UN on Libya. John Dalli sought to assist in all possible ways to ensure that appropriate services will continue to be enjoyed by Libya through Malta. Levels of economic activities between the two countries increased and the political relationship was reorganised.
Through this long serving function he has acquired a deep knowledge and understanding of Libya and has established a strong network at the political and executive levels of that country. He has followed the political and economic developments in Libya over the years and has kept himself current on the present developments in Libya. John Dalli is considered to be an expert on Libya and is being asked to speak about Libya in Business Meetings organised in Malta and abroad. …
… Private Consultancy.
Mr. John Dalli is now running a consultancy organisation offering services in:
1.Assisting commercial organisation to develop strategies to meet the challenges and exploit the opportunities of a changing geo-political environment.
2.Introducing and facilitating the establishment of western companies in the North African Economies especially Libya
The company, John Dalli & Associates has offices in Malta and Tripoli.”
http://www.johndalli.eu/pages/biography.asp
I knew people who had framed photos of Mintoff and Gaddafi on the wall of their sitting room.
At this very moment I am looking at the book “My President My Son” or “One day that changed the history of Libya” by Frederick Muscat.
It was given to me and to many others when I was a student at the Upper Sec. school in Valletta.
Talk about propaganda and brainwashing! The Labour Party should hang their head in shame.
Talking about money – has Joe Sammut said anything about the funds he holds for the Gaddafu family?
the truth pains innit?.
[Daphne – Quite right, Edward. That’s why you and your father – that Laburist ahdar who kept his true political sentiments hidden from all the neighbours in Milner Street, Sliema (except possibly John Attard Montalto’s parents in the flat above yours) during the horrible 1970s and 1980s react so badly whenever I mention your hypocrisy in fighting against EU membership then rushing off to England for work at the first opportunity. Incidentally, I hear your wife is in Malta right now, so you must be at a loose end there on your ownsome in the pouring rain, which explains your sudden nostalgia.]
Carm Fenech the accountant at Despott Mansions was a Mintoffjan?
They certainly hid it well, though they must have felt very reassured with Josie Attard Montalto up top and tat-Touch of Kless across the street in that snakepit hell of people who hated Mintoff’s guts and prayed every night that he would drop dead.
Ghaliex ma marrux joqghodu l-Fgura minnflok gew Milner Street tas-Sliema juru wicc b’iehor?