Flash insight
Muscat was so bloody determined to bring down the government, the pressure must have come from his financiers.
That would explain the constant stunts, votes of (no) confidence, rabbits pulled out of hats, and constant spokes in wheels. And we all thought he was in such a hurry because he wanted to become prime minister at 38.
Why are we so surprised that the Labour Party suddenly has so much money to spend, from mysterious sources, whose bidding it seems to be doing?
For years, Labour was financed by Muammar Gaddafi. The relationship was so much one of trust that the Labour Party’s treasurer, the accountant Joe Sammut, went on to manage the finances and funds (running into hundreds of millions) of two of the Gaddafi sons, Hannibal and Mutassim, and carried on doing so until all hell broke loose in Libya in 2011.
I think it’s important now to really look for Labour’s paymaster. If Joseph Muscat becomes prime minister, that entity will become Malta’s puppetmaster.
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Oh my God, are you watching Xarabank? That bloody pussy Konrad Mizzi is driving me mad, especially with his damn English speaking. I wish I could throw a tomato to his face.
[Daphne – Come, now…let’s not be violent. Tomatoes, tsk tsk.]
It’s like I am watching a movie with a voice delay.
And why is he standing on a platform?
Joseph didn’t neet it this evening.
Konrad is not standing on a platform. He is just 6″6 tall, so everyone looks like a dwarf near him (including me and minister Fenech who only stands at 5″4.
In the last few minutes (the World Bank template episode) I was hoping against hope that Konrad would just wipe off his silly grin and keep his mouth shut for his own sake because he was digging himself into an even bigger hole.
My thoughts exactly. I think and speak in English, but bloody well make sure that when I speak Maltese, I do just that, only using English words and expressions where Maltese ones are either inexistent or do not convey the intended message.
What’s with his “options” (“ghazliet”), “nine cents six” (“disa’ centezmi u sitt millezmi”), “gas” (pronounced in the English way, as opposed to the Maltese version), and so on.
Is he trying to appeal to what he perceives “tal-pepe'”, or is he downright stupid?
It’s a campaign strategy. They need to attract the tal-pepe (ahem) ‘floaters’. It doesn’t really work with the Great Leader, though, does it? Not when he breaks stride saying things like ‘intuwwom’.
Konrad Mizzi used to be my neighbour for a short period. He talks like that normally – his wife is not Maltese so they use English all the time at home.
More details, please. Does he usually wear pink lipstick or does he dribble alot?
China Crisis, or yesterday’s ‘ha nghadilkhom naqa’ x’nahseb’
Sounds to me like an Edwardian. Anyone knows where he attended secondary school?
[Daphne – There is no such thing as an ‘Edwardian’ accent. Our accents are shaped by our homes, not our schools. What you think of as an ‘Edwardian’ accent comes from the fact that so many boys from the same kind of background went to that school. There were as many, and still are, who don’t have that accent at all. And no, Konrad doesn’t, either. In a class at St Dorothy’s, for instance (where I went), you would have 10 different accents, because the school was so mixed.]
Apart from the tomatoes (some years ago it was bombs) the best part of it all is the fact that the proposal (tariffs) was so professionaly presented and so full of sense that it even managed to convince Gonzi that it can work, so much so that he is now telling us that Yes, even he will reduce the tariffs.
Funnily enough he told us all this when he was in Germany.
Maybe it is not a German culture to throw tomatoes at those who make U-turns.
Funny but true, just a few hours before we had Mr. Humphrey tell us that Labour’s proposal was a gimmick.
Result of all this: P.N. Credibility ZERO.
[Daphne – Silvio. You’re 70+. If you’ve taken a decision to vote Labour, just do it. Why expend all this effort in trying to convince yourself, or justify it, or whatever? You’re not trying to convince other people here. You’re trying to make yourself feel better.]
Does the EU regulate anything concerning party financing by foreign entities?
The benefit of having an EU country in your pocket must be incalculable.
What are you suggesting? That some non-EU country will finance profitless bill reduction in exchange for Malta’s EU veto power?
Why not? He’ll have his own commissioner on board as well.
Consumer affairs, EU standards, just imagine.
I refer to what Esteve wrote.
I was told by a functionary of the Sicilian political party, Movimento per l`Autonomia, led by a certain Lombardo, later investigated by the anti-Mafia Commission, that China would be investing heavily in the Port of Catania, failing industries and touristic villages.
Nothing came out of it due to diffidence by the authorities on the real reasons for Chinese investments, the Lombardo investigations and the political infighting.
Interesting, Lombardo’s movement was Berlusconi’s Lega for Sicily.
Yes, they have been riddled with allegations of mafia money, as has been the Lega Nord, these were however more open to the ndrangheta’s cash finding its way up north.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Lombardo himself were chumming up to Sharon’s alliance for freedom.
Or whose office in Mosta, her alliance uses as its registered address.
To think our Anglu Farrugia has his second home in Sicily.
Let’s say the price can start at Euro 60 million, of which Euro 10 million paid in advance.
Shame on you!
And your point?
They must be beneficiaries of some money left in Malta from the brothers Gaddafi then.
Has Muscat been to Borneo lately?
I believe that Labour’s ship is sinking. Yesterday, it was Toni Abela and today it is Konrad Mizzi.
Mizzi doesn’t even know what a contract template is.
Tonio Fenech handed Mizzi a template contract from the World Bank on Gas Purchase Agreement and Mizzi refused to have it because the blank lines were not filled. Unbelievable.
Is the Xarabank survey for real?
It could be that the Labour voters were at the Marsaxlokk dome ( http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130111/elections-news/marsaxlokk-dome.452831 ) this evening.
Maybe they were performing a Doomsday Cult apocalypse drill.
Labour voters do not want to donate EUR0.58 per SMS to Where’s Everybody’s coffers, I presume.
The growth in liquid natural gas market in the Mediterranean seem to point to Israel/Cyprus area.
Knowing Joseph Muscat’s fixation with Cyprus, and his party’s defence of Bateman, this starts to make some sense.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pangea-lng-continues-its-development-of-mediterranean-floating-lng-export-project-181253781.html
http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Noble-Energy-To-Develop-Eastern-Mediterranean-LNG-Facility.html
Oh, there are lots of fixations of various sorts. Our Great Leader stands on the shoulders of giants.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://mt.china-embassy.org/eng/xwdt/t902218.htm
Who is the Chinese lady in the middle?
He needs to. Don’t forget he’s only four feet fuck all.
China (the state) celebrated 40 years of China-*Malta* relations as the guest of the Labour Party at its HQ in Hamrun.
Interesting, isn’t it?
Maybe they’re the ones bankrolling the Labour Party now that Gaddafi’s Libya is gone.
Yep, looks like it.
The great question here is how the investor seems oblivious to the money put in.
This one it seems, after the question was ignored all week, isn’t.
Capable of providing ships, heavy plant, generating sets and required labour force in one fell swoop.
And don’t tell me they don’t intend to sell, at a loss, into the European grid. It’s their method of getting rid of competition.
You’re assuming that profits are of the sort deposited in bank accounts.
What’s Malta’s total energy bill?
Can the PL pay international management consultancy fees?
Can a USD7.3Trillion economy spare some change?
Is the Pope Catholic?
How much is an EU-country veto worth?
Read a book, many years ago. ‘Beware the Yellow Hoard’. Just saying.
So are you suggesting that we need to take a close look at the contents of the Memorandum of Understanding which Labour signed in China during the Great Leader’s visit there?
@ Ciccio
I’m suggesting taking a broader view of the political significance of controlling Malta’s energy supplies.
China Crisis,
they’ll have the EU by the balls.
That’s because last year they discovered vast reserves of natural gas in Israel’s territorial waters – Tamar and Leviathan fields
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/1dbda574-f16d-11e1-a553-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2HiBUqFZE
Those LNG behemoths cost a fortune to lease:
http://investorplace.com/2012/03/hop-aboard-the-boom-in-lng-shippers/
Day rates averaged $147,000 in 2012. With a six day round-trip adding up to $1.76M for 2 of these, and deliveries every 4 weeks it’s costly to lease them for 25 years (would easily amount to another $600M over 25 years, inflation added to the equation).
Total capital cost of Energy plan (infrastructure $780M & transhipment lease $600M): $1.38B
Now add up a conservative ROI of 20 % on this sum
How on Earth are PL and all other endorsing this plan are seeing it feasible @ $1.656B providing only 40% of our energy mix without even including fuel costs.
Those fools rushing out endorsing this proposal besides being unprofessional are totally irresponsible to the companies/business owners they represent. Do your own findings before you speak and seriously see for yourself if this makes business sense, dammit!
The second debate is even worse – all this talk about attracting the private sector to underwrite a new energy policy, yet the lady knocks the open air theatre in Valletta, which (private) investors recently backed via the Malita Investments share issue and where part of the income and net worth of said investment would be derived from a lease granted to government on this same site.
Really no consistency, but are you surprised?
Anglu Farrugia, Toni Abela, Konrad Mizzi, Marlene Pullicino Orlando, oh sorry Farrugia and now Herr Flick. Is it possible that the Socialist party cannot send more acceptable people to represent it.
Herr Flick the cherry on the cake.
Dak x’pastas hu.
Mhux ta’b’xejn he was left off by Joseph Muscat. Now run along, Herr Flick, u sparixxi like the others.
There are none. They are scraping the barrel but these are the best they have.
They will send the Ministru tas-Sawt next.
People are not believing Muscat’s Utopian plan for the power station. This is a good indication.
Not so fast…akin to your handle, you’re shooting from the hip.
I’ve heard quite a few people say that though they won’t be voting Labour, they think Labour sounds more credible. Incredible but true.
Well, I’ve caught die-hard labourites expressing their disappointment at Joseph’s promised serving of beef. Of course, they thought I was out of ear-shot, but the long and short of it was that they were under the impression that their Joey had a much better plan to slap in PN’s face.
And they’re as sceptical of the project’s viability and success almost as much as we are. It will not change the way they’ll vote of course, but it’s removed some of their swagger and indecent certainty of a clean sweep win.
And now Herr Flick reveals what makes an SS officer.
Short stature, sneer, oval specs, iron cross and jackboots?
A history of distributing colour TV sets?
Close, but you both forgot the inbred arrogance.
Can we change the subject please?
Are we going to spend the next two months talking about the tariffs?
Cikku Il-Poplu: “Igri jitla il l-Labour halli nidhak dahka kuljum. Mur ara lil Silvio Parnis Ministru tas-Sawt. Jew Il-Guy flok DeMarco. Leo Brincat flok Tonio Fenech u Muscat flok Gonzi.”
Apart for the thrill and for a laugh, the electorate will give MLP another chance at the helm.
The problem is that their minds are at rest, that if all these promises fail and the MLP succumbs after 22 months, they know that the Nationalists will put them back on their feet.
I am not sure what to make out of the PN campaign. It appears that there’s a waiting game – waiting for Muscat to call all his shots.
Then it’s the Shakespearean: “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead.”
Once the tariff issue runs out, Labour does not have a leg to stand on.
I think deep down inside everyone knows this though they might not admit it. Hence, the Labour mantra ritual recitations.
However much I generally disagree with the man’s opinions, I think that his comments about the “already ridiculously low” price of water” deserve prominence:
“He described Labour’s proposal as interesting but argued that he was disappointed with the part that concerned water. He argued that the price of water was already ridiculously low and that reducing it further went against the investment that needed to be made in the sector.”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130111/elections-news/mhra-president-welcomes-plan-to-reduce-tariffs.452843
Funny though, him being an avid environmentalist, that he simply finds Labours electricity proposals “interesting”. What does he think about the environmental aspect of it, if nothing else?
Maybe Antoine Vella would care to answer him.
And what does this environmentalist think about the impact of Labour’s Marsaxlokk Gas Bomb on the sea, which Labour will not be studying?
My point exactly.
He is not an environmentalist. He is a businessman.
Dear Daphne, sour grapes, it’s all over now for GonziPN.
We are very anxious to see Labour in power so next time you will have to wait 50 years to stand another chance to win again.
Bravo, C. FENCH, bravo! Faultless logic and depth of argument. They should be sending you to the debates instead of their elected representatives…..
http://tvm.com.mt/news/files/2013/01/Malta-taghna-lkoll-280×200.jpg
Labour will be substituting the Maltese dghajsa with this:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/images/tanker-lng-image101.jpg
If they win we will find out quickly enough. It will be the ones on the power station gravy train. Just follow the money.
Yes, follow the money. Buy why wait till the election’s come and gone?
Some people I know want to vote Labour because they think that the Nationalists have become arrogant over the years. If ever we needed more proof who excels in arrogance, we saw it this evening.
Speaking of Konrad – there is something amiss about that guy. I cannot quite figure it out, but I think Labour took a big gamble in putting all their trust in him.
I would be having sleepless nights over this issue, if I was in the Labour camp.
I think you’ve got it backwards. Konrad took a big gamble throwing his hat into the PL’s ring.
In many ways the PN is a victim of its own success.
Perhaps they deserve to go. They really didn’t take good care of their rank and file.
If by some miracle Gonzi gets elected, he has to do better than this. Especially on MEPA, which is the real reason the PN will lose the election.
I’m not in the Labour camp but I’m still having sleepless nights because, unfortunately, the consequences of this qassata/froga will have to be borne solely by us.
And all this turmoil/uncertainty/worry for what, exactly?
So Joey can run up the steps of Castille and wave to the exalted, frenzied crowds in the square beneath, whilst Me Shall smiles and simpers and hugs her retarded husband.
Pure madness!
How come no one asked Konrad Mizzi or Herr Flick what the price of petrol and diesel will be, when households will supposedly start seeing a reduction in their energy bills?
If I lived in Marsaxlokk, the prospect of having those monstrous gas storage facilities in my back yard would render me sleepless with worry for the rest of my life.
I did not watch ”Affari taghna” tonight.
Did he invite some representative from Astrid’s FAA to give an opinion about the enviormental impact of Konrad’s proposals.
Two legs bad, four legs good eh?
Here’s what I think is a good presentation on power plant economics –
http://wpweb2.tepper.cmu.edu/ceic/SeminarPDFs/Carl_Bozzuto_Seminar.pdf
I like the bit on Page 15 in particular when he says that “Just because a computer can calculate numbers to the penny does not mean that the numbers are accurate. There is a lot of uncertainty due to the number of assumptions that have to be made.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt2mbGP6vFI
As I hear this song, all I can think is “they’re going to screw this up again, is it possible they have forgotten labour? Haven’t they learned anything?”
Orwellian indeed.
Has someone noticed the result of the televoting on Xarabank? There seems to be hope that Maltese aren’t that fidili after all.
For the last few years I kept saying to myself that I will not vote.
The hour has now arrived and again the same old stunts are being presented by the PL.
Sorry Dr Muscat to disappoint you, but again I will be voting for PN, the party that always had visions and solid directions, not gimmicks.
As for bankrolling, I am informed that the AG has a whole dossier, including a request for action, given to it by Libya, detailing how a certain Joe Sammut administers Gaddafi money, what the companies used are, and how the money may have been used to bankroll certain organisations.
BUT it seems that the police do not want, at this stage, to investigate Joe Sammut.
I wonder what they’ve done with all those nice flags.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksv5r5vXfXo&feature=youtube_gdata_player
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYArXwdIcSc&feature=youtube_gdata_player
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVaWaAq6yjM&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Lovely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVaWaAq6yjM&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Zball Storiku tal-Partit Laburista
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0Oio2H1avk&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Interesting choice of words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q7NN7pdrQk&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Tghid he’s looking up at us from hell.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUBNF-JkRG8&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Please let’s give her some free advertising. She loves it.
Obviously we won’t miss the bigger picture. Promise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SkGTUgbLEo&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Liema hu l-veru Joseph Muscat ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS7ygueKVFA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
http://www.maltastar.com/dart/20130111-snapshot-those-in-favour-and-against-the-pl-energy-plan
Golden Harvest mhux tal-hobz?
Let’s see the insight of last night!!
Oh well 25 years were more then enough to enact a decent law binding parties to be transparent about their finances.
Seems like the PN conveniently ignored this critical issue notwithstanding they had people in their ranks insisting about it.
Now all of a sudden their heart is burning with desire to know who is financing the PL. Seems like they have milked their cow dry.
At least by using billboards they seem to have learnt a thing or two with the Nationalists running the country.
Remember in their day posters were pasted across all over our monuments and names sprayed on walls.
Malta was then a pig sty. Litter everywhere, stray animals all over the place. I remember it well.
I just hope that when they take the reins we will not degenerate into the third world country we were.
‘Hanzir taqtghalu denbu hanzir jibqa’ and it may not take them long to slip to their old ways.
Muscat’s cabinet will consist of many people who were part of Mintoffs – only this time they will run even more riot with the old dog not around.
There is no way that Muscat will command the same respect (or was it fear?) that Mintoff did.
OMG. Have a look at Konrad Mizzi’s Phd. It has nothing to do with energy or electricity or water. It’s about consultants, and organisational change in the Civil service in Malta.
He finished his PhD in 2011. So much for calling himself an expert in the field.
This is the pompous title:
“The contribution made by programme leadership consultants to the creation and maintenance of momentum for public service change programmes and the implications for their client sponsors: theory building within the context of a case study of the Maltese public service (1987-2001)”.
If you do not have anything better to do and want to read it all, here is the link: http://etheses.nottingham.ac.uk/2902/1/555500.pdf
I cannot fathom out why he managed to fool the labour party with his so called expertise in the field. Is the Maltese electorate going to allow him to fool them too?