And it’s back to begging-bowl diplomacy
Published:
June 24, 2013 at 10:37am
I see that Malta’s begging-bowl has been discovered in some musty basement where Karmenu Vella, Leo Brincat, Dom Mintoff and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici left it when they were prised out of office in 1987.
It’s been dusted off, wiped clean, and taken to Libya. Meanwhile, a new begging-bowl has been crafted, in Chinese red, possibly by one of the many artists who voted for Joseph because Joseph cares about culture, for the very nice people in China who are giving us studies for free because they love us.
The prime minister was in Libya asking for a discount on fuel. The prime minister of an EU member state asking devastated Libya for freebies and help? Surely it should be the other way round.
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If there ever was a case for more federalism in the EU’s common foreign policy, Joseph Muscat’s government is it.
….. let’s be very careful – we underestimated Labour once …..
[Daphne – I never make the mistake of underestimating Labour. Or more to the point, I have never made the mistake of overestimating the critical faculties of the average Maltese adult, a fact for which I have been repeatedly insulted and criticised, even though I am right in this.]
Joseph Muscat is convinced that he is incapable of wealth creation.
I have a feeling that we can say that Muscat is looking to China and Libya – the usual contacts of AST – for a non-EU bailout to his failures and inability to bring about economic growth.
Whoever came up with the expression ‘History repeats itself’, could not have imagined that in tiny Malta, this expression will one day be applicable to events occurring some 30 years later, with the added bonus of having the very same protagonists.
Last week I was contemplating how 30-odd years ago, my late father seriously considered leaving Malta with his young family, as he was threatened with unemployment, for the sole reason of being a PN supporter.
I can’t believe how today, I am in the exact same position, and for the very same reasons. The only marked difference is that thanks to previous PN administrations, I have the opportunity to look into alternative revenue-generating avenues. We have to see how long that lasts.
‘Malta taghna lkoll’ indeed – ‘taghna l-Laburisti’ is what Joseph meant.
The Chinese are exploiting and destroying Africa.
I listened to a BBC radio 4 recently about the Chinese in Africa, I was really shocked.
Does anyone remember this UK entry for Eurovision 1972?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKeJ4yheQ3A
And I listened to someone on BBC World Service saying the Australians are distancing themselves from China.
Is it any surprise? It’s a CULTURAL BATTLE. Always has been.
In Malta, we have many taboos – abortion, neutrality, independence and all the rest of. Our relations with China are a taboo subject. You will never see any of Malta’s intellectuals discussing the subject, except to heap praise on the “excellent and fruitful” relations and make China out to be some kind of benevolent elder brother.
So, frankly, there’s no way around this one. Mark my words, if four years down the line, Joseph Muscat withdraws Malta from all EU institutions, effectively ending our EU membership, there will not be a single word of protest from our political analysts. Including those who are ostensibly PN supporters.
How about withdrawing us from the euro?
Muscat won’t take us out of the EU because it would take effort.
Taking any country out of the EU requires no effort at all. All you have to do is withdraw your commissioner, your MEPs, your representatives in various institutions, and stop all payments to the EU.
Then you get your parliament to declare that EU legislation is no longer in force on your national territory. With a nine-seat majority that should be easy.
Then you get the president to declare the EU membership treaty null. Bob’s your uncle.
The next day, tmur tinnegozja mac-Cinizi, like the Great Mintoff did, mill-ghada, as the venerable Lino Spiteri, Custodian of the National Narrative, would put it.
I don’t think it would be in China’s interest to have Malta become isolated and irrelevant. They stand to gain much more by controlling an EU member state.
Labour’s dislike towards the EU had always baffled me. The EU is ostensibly a socialist organisation. All socialist parties in Europe are crazy on joining and the only ones who are against are the conservatives.
And here in Malta we have exactly the opposite situation. At first I though that is was purely the usual Maltese competitive bloody-mindedness with Sant saying no to everything as we had already gotten used to.
But as time went on and the referendum and elections were lost and won, the anti EU streak never disappeared from the supposedly socialist Labour party.
Eventually I realised though, even by doing some research about Mintoff’s and KMB’s tactics that the MLP were never socialist in the first place, at least not in the international socialist sense.
I realised that the MLP were nothing but a thinly veiled National Socialist party. Similarly to the Nazi party they reward loyalty with free handouts but are not averse to using violence and/or racist, classist or plain old fanatical discourse to reach their aims.
And their aims are anything but democratic. Never have been. Never will.
It never baffled me. Malta’s Labour isn’t British Labour. That was Paul Boffa. Today’s Labour is Mintoff’s third-worldism. Hence the anti-Western stance.
Hey Baxxter, been fitted for your Mao tunic yet? I got a super deal in Hong Kong recently.
I intend to go down fighting before it gets to that.
Asking for a discount on fuel? Lord, here we go with Mintoff-economics. As usual, they expect the world to give us everything.
Libya should have given us a discount on fuel PRIOR to the election as gratitude to Dr. Lawrence Gonzi and his government for all the help given to Libya during the civil war.
Dr. Gonzi immediately took a stand against Gaddafi as soon as the war started while Muscat kept silent till the very end. Joseph only spoke out when it was clear who the victors were.
That where you guys always get it wrong. And Libya knows.
I fail to understand your point Baxxter.