While we were prudent

Published: August 31, 2011 at 9:33am




11 Comments Comment

  1. La Redoute says:
    August 31, 2011 at 9:38 am

    Latest developments:
    http://shabablibya.org/news/latest-developments-in-libya-august-30-2011

    Reply
  2. cat says:
    August 31, 2011 at 9:39 am

    L-aqwa li kien jaghtina l-flus ghac-children allowances halli nibghatu t-tfal il-private schools.

    Reply
  3. maryanne says:
    August 31, 2011 at 9:48 am

    Maybe these scenes were staged for reporters. John Dalli may enlighten us..

    Reply
    • Karmenu tat-Tunny Net says:
      August 31, 2011 at 10:30 am

      John Dalli is probably too busy working out how to rebuild his extensive network of contacts in Libya, this time with the new powers.

      The European Commission should keep a close eye on him over the next few months.

      Reply
  4. La Redoute says:
    August 31, 2011 at 10:06 am

    Ah, yes. The story that Maltastar’s editor missed. That’s because he has a life ‘outside politics’. So that’s what Maltastar is – politics, hence the Stalinisation of unpalatable stories like this one.

    Glenn Bedingfield
    I do have a life outside politics.
    Like · · 9 hours ago via BlackBerry · Privacy:

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  5. Antoine Vella says:
    August 31, 2011 at 10:29 am

    No matter how vehemently the PL protest that they were not in Gaddafi’s pay, they are given away by their deference when they speak about him and by their readiness to rubbish the rebels whenever possible.

    Reply
    • La Redoute says:
      August 31, 2011 at 12:12 pm

      They are given away by their willingness to boast. Hadn’t Joseph Muscat bragged about his 2008 party’s agreement with Libya? He never told us that the terms were but what sort of negotiator sells himself five years ahead of time, and at what price?

      A potted history of Mintoff’s relations with Gaddafi provides interesting background to that 2008 agreement between Joseph Muscat’s PL and the Jamahariya.

      1971
      http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Svc0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=uZADAAAAIBAJ&pg=5342,4430701&dq=gaddafi+malta+nato&hl=en
      See the background here (1977 article) http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3e4gAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vXIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2569,1613333&dq=gaddafi+malta+nato&hl=en Mintoff…His particular chum is Libya’s Muammar al-Qaddafi who gave him a loan against Mintoff’s personal signature as an individual in 1971, when the island faced bankruptcy if Britain refused to renegotiate a base agreement. Mintoff warned Qaddafi he couldn’t repay if London declined a new rental pact. The libyan was preared to write off the loss. But the deal was concluded in the end and Mintoff paid back Qaddafi. This encourage Mintoff to elaborate his present policy of active nonalignment, seeking to bring the norther and southern Mediterranean halves together.
      and here (1977 article) http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=s4ksAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AM0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5615,3127479&dq=mintoff+nato+gaddafi&hl=en
      It is also no coincidence that Mintoff has close relations with nearby Libyan dictatr muammar el-Qaddafi, the oil-rich wildman. They are as close as tiles in a mosque and totally cemented. When Qaddafi says ‘frog’, Mintoff jumps. In fact, Qaddafi personally loaned Mintoff USD60million when Mintoff’s regime brought malta to bankruptcy. The wily Qaddafi tied his loan to Britain’s renewal of its lease on Malta’s bases. But Britain renewed thema nd Mintoff repaid him the USD60 million.

      Reply
  6. Dee says:
    August 31, 2011 at 10:30 am

    If any one thinks that this is fake pro-rebel propaganda, I suggest they read Hisham Matar’s book “In the Country of Men”.
    .
    This book was published about FIVE YEARS AGO. I read it a couple of years ago.

    It relates the story of a boy growing up in Libya in the early days of the Gaddafi regime ………when Mintoff’s Labour Party was turning Malta into the Great People’s Jemaharija’s satellite.

    Reply
  7. maryanne says:
    August 31, 2011 at 11:27 am

    http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/08/30/libya.nanny.update/

    Reply
  8. anthony says:
    August 31, 2011 at 12:32 pm

    In this context prudence was less than one part wisdom and more then three parts cowardice.

    (Plagiarised from Hamlet)

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