They were right, and it took an outsider to see it. Truly, may God rot the bastard’s soul, and may the conscience of all those who voted for him weigh heavily.
This mad country has just brought back that other bastard on the left as tourism minister. Well, as long as ‘de roofless teatre’ gets a retractable roof, who cares. We can turn parliament house into a supermarket, as one Labour voter suggested, and that way it can pay for its keep.
This morning The Times reports on yet another US embassy cable released on Wikileaks:
US embassy: Mintoff will create mini Orwellian society
Christian Peregin
Barely a month after Dom Mintoff was re-elected to power in 1976, the American Embassy warned of Malta’s deterioration into an “Orwellian” state, according to the Kissinger Cables published by Wikileaks.
“We do not want, at this stage, to overdramatise the situation in which Malta finds itself following Mintoff’s narrow re-election victory. It certainly would be an exaggeration to claim that ‘1984’ has come to these islands in 1976,” reported Ambassador Robert Smith, referring to George Orwell’s dystopian vision of totalitarianism.
“On the other hand, given Mintoff’s character and the fervent unquestioning support his militant followers provide him, the elements and opportunities for a miniature Maltese version of an Orwellian society are obviously available,” said the cable.
The full story is in the print edition.
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Switchers should print out the last paragraph and stick it on their fridge door. Substitute Muscat for Mintoff, and you’ve got today’s scenario.
My, they must be proud of themselves.
You got that right. Would love to be a fly on the wall as today’s US ambassador to Malta fills her diplomatic pouch with the daily happenings on the rock and sends them off to Washington.
She need only say one thing: Kissinger cable refers.
I’d be surprised if most people in Malta would know what ‘1984’ and ‘Animal Farm’ are. After all, their idea of monument-worthy ‘literary giant’ seems to be limited to Frans Sammut.
We live in an ignorant nation. Socialists always benefit from ignorance. Keep them stupid, keep them loyal!
Wednesday, April 10, 2013 by Valerie Borg, Valletta
Toaster
In the Diabetic Clinic there was a toaster which everybody could use until quite recently. It was obviously placed in the pantry but two prominent workers at Mater Dei Hospital decided the toaster cannot be used because of the smell it causes.
While I definitely agree that toast does leave a smell, albeit a pleasant one, it is also realistic to note that the staff have to eat, especially those who work till 2.30pm. I have no doubt that things like this do not happen in EU countries. I ask the Minister of Health to intervene.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130410/letters/Toaster.464969
Din Valerie Borg ukoll. Mela l-ewwel inqabdet tikkancella l-appuntamenti bla awtorizzazjoni minghand hadd (biex ittawwal il-waiting list taf int), il-gvern bahnan ta GoneziPN zammha u issa il-problema taghha hija it-toaster. Vili l-mara bla limitu. U min jaf min kitibhielha din ukoll. Marmalja ta dik il-kwalita.
Now we are really getting better! A Minister to intervene for a toaster! How pathetically funny!
Like many others I’ve been struggling for a month to understand why Joseph Muscat won the election when he had no substance beneath his rhetoric.
Now, it’s not just clear why he won, it’s also clear why a Labour win was all but guaranteed from the outset.
I just came across this talk that explains perfectly how Joseph Muscat managed to rally the people and win the election when logically the PN was the best choice.
I bet he and/or his marketers have watched it because they followed it to the letter with their pervasive ‘taghna lkoll’ mantra. On the other hand, Lawrence Gonzi appealed to his track record and to reason, and lost.
This shitty leader emulated the actions of a great leader and managed to pull it off.
A must-watch: http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html
Labour first official campaign video is full of (implicit) “I believe…”, “I believe…”, “I believe…” as Simon Sinek recommends in the talk I posted above.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oojvnaGPQdE
Electoral fatigue, that’s all.
Do you mean to tell me that you did not understand it right from the start? It was so blatantly obvious that he was following “instructions” right through.
I actually called it play-acting.
Now perhaps I can say that it is I who is understanding why he won the election. Silly me, I thought it was very evident.
Oh, it was obvious he was following instructions. But what instructions exactly? Watch the talk.
And the scary thing is that (because of human nature) if the PN don’t follow those same instructions too, they could very well continue losing elections for a while.
Mintoff, Lorry Sant u ohrajn kienu il-hniezer li hatfu kemm felhu dak iz-zmien, barra li ghamlu herba mis-socjeta Maltija. L-istorja ser terga tirrepeti ruha b’verzjoni progressiva ta Joseph, pero l-ikla ser tkun hafna akbar.
Xalata ta nies ghajjura li mohhom biss kif ser jahtfu l-poter biex jsiru sinjuri.
Mintoff was a Maltese fascist who still has the rabid support of a large section of the people. This fascist successfully preyed on the worst characteristics of our people, his political heirs form the current regime.
Evil is evil – there is no room for compromise.
“There is absolutely nothing wrong with loathing Margaret Thatcher or any other person with political influence and power based upon perceived bad acts, and that doesn’t change simply because they die. If anything, it becomes more compelling to commemorate those bad acts upon death as the only antidote against a society erecting a false and jingoistically self-serving history.” – Glenn Greenwald in The Guardian
This is the time when Malta entered the black book. And has only been removed recently as that shadow lingered for numerous years.
Wrong. Malta is not quite out of the black book yet. Other countries made the switch by joining NATO or allying themselves with the US. Of course the concept of allies is completely alien to Malta “foreign policy” (if you can call it that). We labour under the “hbieb ma’ kullhadd” illusion, and kept it up right through the Nationalist administration and EU membership.
Malta is on the US’s list of “countries to keep a close eye on”. Not quite an enemy, but not a friend either. Our faffing about with PfP, contacts with NATO and the whole sorry spectacle of RCC’s impeachment only made matters worse.
Correct, Wilson. When I was planning to leave England to marry and settle in Malta, my brother who worked (and still does) with GCHQ (the British government’s intelligence agency) commented that I should think twice about coming to live in ‘Gadaffi’s toilet’.
That was in 1990 for my 1991 wedding – the date is pertinent vis-a-vis your comment.
And now history is repeating itself,, with Muscat at the helm.
On another note.
WHEN is John Dalli coming to Malta?
Will Commissioner John Rizzo please give us some explanations. The situation is getting too ridiculous and beyond credible.
He’s here.
Luciano Busuttil
Hsara maghmulha f’25 sena ma ssolvihiex f’25 jum.
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Imma hsara maghmula f’25 jum fi zmien il-lejber hadet 25 sena biex tissewwa.
Imma hsara maghmula f’25 jum ma tissolva qatt.
Cheers, Luciano. Idjota kont, u idjota tibqa’.
He’s talking about himself.
As I had occasion to comment elsewhere, the importance of these cables, irrespective of whether one agrees with them or not, is that they reflect accurately the bad impression that Mintoff’s policies were conveying to foreign governments, whose friendship and support were essential if Malta was to prosper in the free democratic world.
Posturing as strong enough to be dismissive, led to the accolades of a “pocket dictator” and “the superpower of the Mediterranean”. Some were dim enough to wallow in such negative views, in the same way that North Korea enjoyed, and still enjoys, its notoriety.
Hear, hear.
Being born in 1959 I can remember well the change from Borg Olivier’s government to Dom Mintoff in 1971.
Barely a couple of years had passed when we had the import restrictions, the run on the National Bank leading to its nationalisation, and a saga that lasts to this day, Cable & Wireless was nationaised to Telemalta, Redifussion was nationalised to Xandir Malta.
Anything that Mintoff could get his hands on that had money he took over. He never touched the public transport because it was not a money-making machine like all the other private or British-owned corporations,
Many might think that public housing was a good concept. Few people realize that it was only a way of taking the over-spill of votes in the south and increasing Labour votes in areas that are predominantly Nationalist.
It was no favour to anyone that many Labourites got a government flat or house, but a favour to himself to win votes – and most of the land was either former military bases or stolen through requisiton order from private owners.
Hi, fellow 59-er!
You’re only halfway though the story, Ray. Mintoff then went on to wreck University for us, demolish healthcare, gerrymander the 1981 election (hence the housing skulduggery you referrred to), close MCAST, attack private schools . . .
All the while there was no investment in our infrastructure, just second-hand/scrapped ‘imbarazz’. The drydocks/Shipbuilding made us taxpayers cough-up for thousands of jobsworths and any sort of freedom was ruthlessly attacked vide The Times being burnt down/attack on Eddie’s house, Zebbug 1981, PN Clubs ransacked ad nauseam, the SAG, the Zejtun fracas, the murder of Raymond Caruana . . .
They say today’s Young People aren’t interested. They should be.
I know Chris, if we start writing we’ll be writing an epic biography
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-04-12/news/bbc-faces-dilemma-as-anti-thatcher-song-tops-chart-1378877441/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22126940
KIM IL JOSEPH with his grandfather KIM IL MINTOFF