Government press release thanks outgoing army chief Xuereb for “his personal loyalty to the minister”
How did I miss it? Maybe it’s because for once I didn’t read the actual DOI press release and instead stuck to the news reports, which OBVIOUSLY didn’t consider this to be the most glaring news story in the whole sorry debacle.
From the DOI press release announcing Brigadier Martin Xuereb’s departure to a job at Dar Malta in Brussels, organised for him by the minister to whom he is “personally loyal”, leaving his self-respect and his dignity behind in a (very small) suitcase:
‘The Minister for Home Affairs and National Security thanked Brigadier Xuereb for his loyalty to the country and for his personal loyalty to the Minister’.
The head of the army, personally loyal to a cabinet minister? What are we living in here, a dictatorship? The Republic of Bongostan?
Still more incredible is the way the government thinks nothing of BOASTING about this, making it clear, as though it were not already all too clear, that it has no ideas of the norms of democracy beyond parliamentary elections once every five years.
And here’s another point: the army chief presents his resignation to the PRIME MINISTER not to the army minister. The same goes with the Commissioner of Police, should he resign – his letter goes to the PM, not to the police minister.
Well, what can I say. You can send a leopard to Sandhurst and it’s not going to change his spots. Sandhurst gives you officer training, not good breeding. I’m quite sure Brigadier Xuereb knows the protocol – he just chose to ignore it and to stick his snout in the trough instead.
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I am not surprised. Minister Mailla behaves as if he is the president of Zimbabwe. He moves around accompanied by military personnel. His ministry is guarded by soldiers. The way how he conducts himself as a minister is more befitting of an African dictator rather than a minister in a democratic European country.
God, I’d hate to be in his shoes every morning, having to look in the mirror and saying to himself “Repeat after me, Martin, I’m the minister’s puppet on a string, puppet on a string, puppet on a string.”
A whole career down the plug-hole with a final humiliation to boot.
What about loyalty to the army and to the nation? Has that gone out of fashion, again?
As I said before, Mallia has lined up all the conditions he’d need for the perfect coup d’etat. Now all he needs do is snap.
To me it seems that Brigadier Xuereb came out waving his white flag.
We have ministers who are too stupid and too arrogant to hide their intentions and an electorate mostly too dumb or indifferent to notice.
It’s just like those farces where the protagonists run around the stage the whole time, unable to see the baddies right behind them, except that it’s tragically real.
Martin Xuereb has lost his integrity and loyalty, abandoning his counterparts Colonels Attard, Bondin and Stivala, and the rest of the officers on whom he relied completely when he was the army’s commanding officer.
He was inexperienced and needed full assistance. That’s the opinion of all at the AFM.
In these last few months, he was a doormat for the government, but he was ‘happy’ as he was betting on his future.
He succeeded by letting others down, demonstrating full selfishness. Nothing more and nothing less.
[Daphne – Actually, what he demonstrated was his absolute, total lack of suitability as an army officer, still more so as the army’s commanding officer. Any character traits that indicated he is the sort who would be disloyal to his fellow officers and act primarily to protect his own narrow self-interest should have been spotted early on and disqualified him for the post. Fortunately Malta no longer has to fight wars, but imagine somebody with those character traits in that situation – the potential for damage would be enormous.]
There’s another big story behind the big story, as we’ve come to expect from this shambles of corrupt shit we call the Labour Government.
Martin Xuereb will be sent to Brussels. To do what, we haven’t been told. But I assume it will more or less be a continuation of his 1996 job as defence attaché and representative to the Partnership Coordination Cell of the Partnership for Peace.
Except back then he was a Captain. Now he’s a Brigadier and former AFM Commander. It’s like sending the CEO back to the ground floor as tea-boy.
But there’s more. For all its Mintoffian bluster on the evils of PfP and Nato, Labour is sending the Armed Forces’ top man to liaise with PfP. And, I assume, as EU Military Committee Representative.
KMB eat your heart out. Privitera eat your heart out. Joseph Muscat eat your heart out.
Unless of course this is our way of going out in style, with the big fireworks and all. First we send the top brass then we withdraw, again, from PfP. Paving the way for withdrawal from the EU.
And didn’t Labour promise to withdraw Malta from the EU Military Committee the moment it was elected?
I don’t expect any of our journalists to ask what Xuereb’s job will be, because they are all such confounded mouth-breathing morons.
On Xuereb, one would usually say something about lions led by donkeys. Except in the AFM it’s Mintoffians and bigoted racist Right-Wingers led by brown-nosing donkeys. If the rank and file are unhappy about the machinations in the AFM, they have only themselves to blame. The AFM was behind Labour, to a man.
I have no idea who this Martin Xuereb is, but I do recall his infamous press conference in which he uttered “teamwerk” about 50 times, during the rescue of Gadaffi’s “acid” nurse, as though it was Desert Storm II.
That press conference was beyond ridiculous.
Coraggio Fuggiamo a Bruxelles
Look at the forced smiles on their faces.
His loyalty should not be to the minister but to the nation.
Where is the extra coming from for all these unnecessary promotions. As for Martin Xuereb – gutless.
He always gave me the impression he’s a living caricature of Walter the Softie (or Softy ?) anyway …..