“And the US didn’t back off for financial reasons. Where the hell did you get that one from?”

From ‘Cikka tal-haxix’. I do follow news commentaries on CNN and BBC, and wasn’t born yesterday.

Can you illuminate us why Merkel pulled out from the NATO attacks on Libya?

What would have happened to our interests in Libya had Gonzi refused to visit Libya, and Ghaddafi won this war against his people?

I can’t spot one single comment where someone says that the visit to Libya was out of place.

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/malta-libya-to-meet-over-continental-shelf-dispute-as-gonzi-meets-ghaddafi-in-tripoli

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6G_GUfCQ8A

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110209/local/gaddafi-planning-to-attend-5-5-malta-meeting.349385

BTW I know that sometimes the name Adrian Buckle appears on The Times comments , where you censored?

Hindsight is what I call “gherf ta’ Salamun tal-bott’.

[Daphne – John, while I agree with you that Gonzi’s February visit was no big deal in terms of scope and purpose, and in no way comparable to the ‘Labour in bed with Gaddafi’ situation, it did not take hindsight to see that the CONTEXT AND TIMING were wrong. When I wrote in January that after Tunisia and Egypt blew up, it was inevitable that Libya, sandwiched in between them and populated by people far more oppressed, would be next, people I know who do business in Libya rushed to mock me. “No, Libyans are not like that. Gaddafi keeps them happy. Blah blah blah.” The thing is, Maltese politicians and Maltese businessmen (and even Maltese ex pats in Tripoli) mixed only with Gaddafi henchmen, members of Gaddafi’s regime, collaborators and ordinary people who were too afraid to tell the truth to ‘foreigners’. And so they had (and some still have – vide John Dalli) an entirely false picture of the situation. Gonzi would not have gone had he the slightest inkling of what was about to happen. The fact that the people responsible for intelligence, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (whose duty it is to monitor such things and advise accordingly) did not pick up the rumblings in Benghazi is beyond shocking. THAT is the point of failure.]

I would apply if a vacancy arose. And I’d be damn good at it.

Why, the PM seems to have read my post, the way he delivered his speech to the press.

Still needs to work on the Obama faraway look and the baritone, but a marked improvement from his speeches in the early days of the war.

And WHY is it that Libyans being interviewed on the streets of Tripoli are vastly more articulate than the average Maltese? They even use correct idiomatic English.

Mela qed ikellmuhom bl-Ingliz, bhal tal-“pepe'” li tant ma’ jahmlux?

Baxxter: why don’t you offer your services as the PM’s speech writer?

Forgot this:

8) Do EVERYTHING possible to arrange an official visit by Lawrence Gonzi to the new Libya. Sarkozy will almost certainly be the first head of state to visit. It would be fantastic if Malta could make amends by having its PM on the first official visit after having been on the last one in before Ghaddafi’s fall. It’s a long shot, but it’s worth a try.

We’ve been through this a hundred times, and what’s done is done. It is the OFFERING of your assets that is key, not the other party actually USING them.

But it’s too late now. The right strategy for the government at this juncture is to:

1) immediately withdraw the Libyan ambassador’s diplomatic credentials;

2) get in contact with the Transitional Council and get them to name their new ambassador in Malta;

3) change that awful Gnien Ghaddafi’s name;

4) erase Ghaddafi’s name from our national honours list;

5) get the BEST GODDAMN SPEECHWRITER to shadow Gonzi like a ferret, 24/7, and produce strong, resolute, baritone-Obama-voice-type statements on how we stand by this and that, and freedom, and self-determination, and we offer our assistance and Mediterranean neighbours and all the rest of the crucial marketing spiel;

6) determine exactly what form that assisatance will take (my hunch is we’ll be severely shafted by the new Libyan regime, and serves us right, though we could still OFFER our help with election monitoring, overseeing the transition to democracy, medical training and staffing and all the other cosmetic NeoCon measures);

7) remain VIGILANT, since the situation will surely evolve, and seek the advice of EXPERTS, not village-club politicians and certainly not businessmen, on Libya (oh, and READ THE GODDAMN international press, not just British and Italian).

Expired Desserta bars?

Wrong, Mr Schembri.

You omit one important issue. Gonzi visited Ghaddafi when it was OBVIOUS that protests would start. If this is not a big issue in your eyes, then you are either partisan or naive. That move was interpreted worldwide as support for Ghaddafi. Of course it is a big deal.

And sorry again, but Malta could have done much more in the circumstances. Allowing NATO to use our bases is one of them. Not taking el-Obeidi’s phonecalls, making Malta Ghaddafi’s voice in Europe is another.

I suggest you read Daphne’s posts on these matters so that you get a better picture of how craven our leaders (both of them) were.

And the US didn’t back off for financial reasons. Where the hell did you get that one from?

Snoopy, you are right. 42nd.

“He was the last prime Minister to visit Gheddafi.”

So bloody what?

The important thing is what was the visit about. If it was about party funding that’s one thing , if it was oil exploration on the continental shelf, that’s another.

Our prime minister met Gheddafi, after a long queue of world leaders which included Condoleeza Rice, Tony Blair, Berlusconi, Sarkozy and the rest of the ‘powerful’ states of the world.

Il-Papa kien jonqsu jmur!

The visit was that of a prime minister who is obliged to keep good relations with a neighbouring country. Zgur ma marx biex isellilu ghal Mintoff, bhalma ghamel haddiehor.

I don’t think they were playing musical chairs and Gonzi finished without a chair when the music stopped.

Our government did what Malta could do in the circumstances. We don’t have a military ‘punch’. Even the mighty US backed of for financial reasons, after some months, and NATO took over.