Great: we have a prime minister who gets personal about ship-owners, tweeting insults and threats against them
The prime minister of Malta
The prime minister of Malta has tweeted about the ship whose captain, crew and owners are now paying the price for their mercy mission (and obligation under the law) of picking up immigrants at risk of drowning.
Italy and Malta are refusing to allow the ship in, and those responsible for the ship will not return the immigrants to Libya.
The consequence of this, of course, is that the next time a ship comes across a sinking boatload of immigrants, its captain will look the other way and carry on, and those people will drown – because the alternative will be having that ship, its crew and cargo stuck between Maltese and Italian territorial waters while governments bicker.
But here’s the prime minister’s highly inappropriate tweet – it’s obvious that he hasn’t shifted gear from criticising the government as leader of the Opposition to being a statesman dealing with issues that have an international dimension.
“#Malta fulfils int’l obligations but can’t be expected to step in for irresponsible shipowners flouting rules for commercial purposes -JM”.
Not content with insulting the ship-owners in a very public tweet, a few minutes later he added your typical Super One threat:
“#Malta in possession of evidence showing #Salamis ignored search+rescue rules and #Italy instructions because of commercial considerations.
And then we have the worst one of all:
Malta can’t be expected to step in for irresponsible shipowners –
Retweeted by Joseph Muscat
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In the meantime Daphne, this piece of news is being splashed all over the international media…as was expected!
Good. The world needs to know that Malta are no push overs. If you read the comments underneath these stories on international news websites you will see that most of the people commenting agree that Malta cannot keep accepting illegal immigrants.
[Daphne – There are also lots of people who agree that children should be raped for the delectation of adults. It’s a worldwide booming business. Crime and human rights are not a matter of popular vote. Your failure to understand this is spectacular. Yours is the ‘f’dari hadd ma jindahalli’ syndrome: you can beat your wife and starve your child and make fireworks in your garage.]
Also, just watched the 8.00pm edition of TG5 on Canale 5 and watched in horror..
The tweet was just quoted and SHOWN highlighted on TG2 – “un violento braccio di ferro fra il governo di malta e l’UE” claimed TG2.
The handling of this standoff has been amateurish to the last. There are no ‘rules’, contrary to what the government would have you believe. The nearest safe port isn’t universally defined- it’s subject to the masters discretion at that particular moment (and on a ship- without the benefit of hindsight).
And since when does the Prime Minister of a country ‘command’ (!) a ship in international waters what to do. He can refuse them entry into Malta as a result of twisted logic, sure, but thinking he has the authority to order them to go back to the pick up point is ludicrous and North Koreanesque.
The AFM’s handling of the situation has been to circle the tanker, continuously, for close to 48 hours now. If not for the lives at stake, it would be something out of the cartoons.
You might also want to check Cecilia Malmström’s Facebook profile. Many rabid nutters have started voicing their twisted cliches.
And I can’t help being annoyed with the PN’s position. So Libya was unsafe a month ago, yet it is safe now?
But there are rules:
SOLAS – chapter V (Safety of Navigation) – obligates the masters to provide assistance to any person in distress at sea, regardless of nationality or status of that person, and mandates Contracting Governments to co-ordinate and co-operate in assisting the ship’s master to deliver persons rescued at sea to a place of safety; and adds a new regulation on master’s discretion.
SAR – Annex to the Convention – obligate parties to assist the master in delivering persons rescued at sea to a place of safety and requires appropriate operating procedures for maritime rescue co- ordination centres to initiate the process of identifying the most suitable places for disembarking persons found in distress at sea.
We can debate the morality, but the legal position is clear for all parties concerned.
The fact is that the captain carried onto Malta despite being told to go to the port of nearest safety (Tripoli) by the Italian authorities who were co-ordinating the rescue (hopefully in liaison with Libya).
The captain has discretion, but – in my opinion – this does not mean he can go where he feels like contrary to given instructions (unless, of course, there is a compelling reason).
Someone has to be in charge, otherwise there will be chaos which could pose more danger to those people at sea who need assistance.
Apologies, Gary, I should have of written more clearly. I did not mean international maritime treaties. Mallia and Muscat gave an impression that the captain disregarded a direct order. The whole premise of refusing entry was that the commander disregarded a ‘rule’ to head back to Libya.
Yet he didn’t. Times of Malta had a PDF attached from the Rome rescue coordination centre. I can’t find it now, but it was a 2-part instruction to the Salamis to proceed to a set of coordinates, pick people up and head to the nearest safe port.
Nowhere was any Libyan port mentioned or suggested. The communication was just ‘nearest safe port’.
My area is, admittedly, aeronautical, not nautical, but I believe much of the same is true, and with an ambiguous message like that the commander IS expected to exercise discretion.
I know that tweeting is the latest fad but does a PM have to talk about these serious matters in such an abbreviated and ungrammatical manner?
Yet another sad story. Sad for many reasons. Minister Mallia and prim minister Muscat speaking about legal obligations rather than human beings.
Even worst is how their attitude is fueling ar rather reinforcing all kinds of ignorant misconceptions and stupid beliefs… Too many to list but some:
1: Malta is full – how exactly did we get to that conclusion
2: the EU should… – hey the EU is us
3: we have to be strong with these people – to prove what exactly?
4: if we let them in they will continue coming – so many die Unfortunetly on their way but still desperate people will always try to escape
1: Malta is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. The most in Europe.
[Daphne – The usual rubbish myth. In real terms, Malta is actually a city, not a country, so the density of population has to be compared to that of other cities. It’s certainly not more densely populated than, say, London or New York. Larger countries may have plenty of open space and rolling hills, but it is not as though you can plant a bunch of people in the middle of them. People live in towns and cities, not on the frozen expansive wastes of Finland or in the Scottish hills.]
2: Yes we are part of the EU. Commissioners from fellow EU countries won’t help us. We don’t need money, we are not the toilet of the EU.
[Daphne – Judging by the comments people of your sympathies are now posting all over the internet, we are indeed ‘the toilet of the EU’. I trust you realise that by saying we are ‘the toilet of the EU’ because of African immigration, you are saying that African immigrants are human excrement.]
3: To show them that we are not pushovers. This is common sense. If you give 1 homeless person money he and all his friends will keep hounding you continuesly.
[Daphne – Continuously. When did you last give money to a homeless person?]
4: If you leave a door wide open expect people to walk through it. Would you leave your house door open?
[Daphne – Another argument rooted in gross ignorance: a house is not comparable in legal terms or any other terms to a state. A house is personal property, protected at law. A state is not personal property and the laws which apply are different. Malta is not your personal property. Remember that always.]
In addition to Daphne’s corrections to your gross misinformation, Malta isn’t even the most densely populated country in Europe. Monaco and Gibraltar surpass it, and like you’ve been told, the metric is useless as Malta can be considered one large city, like Singapore.
Also, population density in itself is meaningless. What matters is how many people can be supported – the carrying capacity of a country (food, water, hospital capacity etc.)
In the summer months, tourism doubles the population in Malta, yet no one goes thirsty or hungry.
There is no ‘us and them’, Chris. There is ONE human race, and one EU, both of which we are a fully integral part of. The moment you understand that, the happier you will be.
Really this is nothing new. Back in the 1980s demographers discussed this issue ad nauseum. Immigration isn’t the problem, it has always been a historical mechanism to relieve pressure on developing countries.
Think of the Italian mass exodus to the US in the early 20th century.
What has changed is countries wanting to protect their labour force, as well as the greater complexity of entering a country.
But even the labour force issue seems to be a fluke. Take for instance the Polish immigrants to the UK. They haven’t displaced British jobs, they filled gaps. In a generation or two, their children will be fully integrated Britons.
During a seminar organised by some government bigwigs (in Gonzi’s day), I had the temerity to ask whether Malta, with a resident population density of 1300 per sq km, could support 1 million+ tourist arrivals per year, and whether the government’s policies to encourage higher birthrate were sustainable. I was, of course, poo-pooed.
So I’m glad you debunked the ‘population density’ argument by applying it to both illegal immigrant and tourist arrivals. Either both are unsustainable or none at all. But you cannot claim that 10,000 illegal immigrants will spill the jug over, while encouraging yet more tourist arrivals beyond the current 1,000,000.
Malta was never known as the capital of rational thought, but jeez.
I cannot believe Simon Busuttil is supporting this stupidity.
It looks like it is only the ship owners and the captain and crew who are doing the right thing here. They well know the fate of the immigrants should they be returned to Libya.
I am sure that Joseph Muscat will think about that as he tucks his toddlers into bed tonight, and that he will sleep soundly in the knowledge that his action stands to cast to misery, injustice, and destitution, a hundred innocent people, whose only crime is to seek a secure and better life that is denied to them in their own country.
But then we already know where the Prime Minister of Malta stands on these matters, don’t we? Keeping these innocents at bay helps him to prop up his voter base among the impressively large number of racists that blight our nation.
And the same holds good for that other pompous a*se spouting legalese in an attempt to justify keeping the ship outside territorial waters, when his illegal and racist attempt at migrant push back made headline news world wide only a few weeks ago.
There is nothing racist about wanting to protect your country from this silent invasion. There is nothing illegal either especially in this particular case.
Also the ‘fate’ of sub Saharan Africans on Libya is a total exaggeration. If that were the case please explain how they managed to get to Libya , earn the thousands of dollars it costs to pay the human traffickers and freely leave the country.
I find the politics and bickering distasteful, but the fact remains that the migrants were picked up 45 miles off Libya and should have been taken to the nearest port of safety, Tripoli.
The ship’s captain didn’t for commercial reasons ignoring instructions to take the migrants to Libya and carried on for Malta despite warnings not to enter territorial waters. If the ship enters Malta, it should be impounded for ignoring international conventions.
If a ship ignores persons in distress at sea, they are breaking international law. Check the SOLAS and SAR regs on the IMO website.
In my opinion, politicians never handle these situations well and pander to sentiment whilst other people suffer.
Stop friggin tweeting man. You are a PM of a NATION STATE not a teenager quarelling with your younger sister. What must the free nations think?
I will not go into the merits of this rather complex and unfortunate case.
One thing is certain.
When Malta is facing problems with an international dimension it would be very welcome indeed, for everyone concerned, if the PM went away on holiday even at the taxpayers’ expense if need be.
He is most certainly more of an embarrassing liability than anything else.
The deputy PM is more adept at keeping his mouth shut.
He has learnt from experience that saying and doing nothing are much safer options in difficult situations.
Personally, my reading of this situation is that the vessel should indeed have returned to the nearest safe port at the time, which was Libya (assuming that it is actually a safe port for the migrants). Yet even if this is the case, JM seems to be tweeting very much for the sake of tweeting and sod using the proper channels befitting of an Honourable Prime Minister of a sovereign state. But if Obama can tweet, so can Muscat. Perhaps there is another reason why it is called ‘twit’ter.
What irks me most is the stance taken by Mallia (Malta) when saying that the ship will not enter Maltese territorial waters. What an evident lack of diplomacy, and this coming from a former top criminal lawyer! I am sure that events will unfold in such a way where Malta will have to bow to international pressure and he will have to eat those words. And with that, we may kiss the last shred of what is left of our credibility goodbye.
JM: putting the twit in twitter
From Super One stooge to prime minister and his brain hasn’t switched on yet , business keeps these Islands humming along yet his mayor concern is exposing his bigoted views to all and sundry .
And this is our Minister of the Interior (Design):
http://s8.postimg.org/4a85dr3v9/php_W1a_C2h.jpg
“ship whose captain, crew and owners are now paying the price for their mercy mission (and obligation under the law) of picking up immigrants at risk of drowning.”
They are paying the price for not following orders from both the Italian and Maltese governments.
The international damage this boy is doing is unimaginable.
My inbox is full of ‘WTF’s from friends and colleagues world wide.
This ain’t Mintoff times, the whole world is watching, instantaneously.
It’s a tough call, between your own business interests and the fate of your grandchildren, but I suggest you tell them to take their investments elsewhere.
You take care of the GDP drain and I’ll sort out the brain drain. If we can’t win we can make sure it’s scorched earth until 2018.
It ain’t but it sure feels like it.
Daphne I am definitely on your boat but something in this whole story is bugging me…..why are the ship owners and captain so insistent not to to go back to Libya?
[Daphne – This post is not about the ship and the people on it. It is about a prime minister getting personal and threatening in a Tweet.]
And why should they go back to Libya? Just because Muscat wants them to, so he can please his thug electorate? It doesn’t work that way.
In the meantime we have to bear the consequences of an irresponsible Prime Minister.