Yes, what a waste
This comment was written below my post about the stationing of some of the army’s best officers at the detention camps – not because the detention camps require the army’s best officers, but because they’re being treated as a dumping-station or punishment posting for those who are not Malta Taghna Lkoll.
Lt Col Nick Mifsud, Royal Engineers:
Speaking from a reasonably well informed perspective, to have a credible and effective force there is a need to dovetail the strategic objectives of Government with the delivery end of the operation i.e. the Regiments (in AFM case) and their constituent parts.
Well educated and trained officers are required to fulfill both the upward-looking element of the staff and those charged with coordinating and enabling the force’s outputs.
Having trained with some of the officers in the spotlight, I am horrified at their treatment: yes, the British Army is downsizing and streamlining; it’s not pretty but it’s being done on a volunteer basis where possible, underpinned by meritocracy where required.
Treating well trained and dedicated professional officers in this way will drag the AFM back into the dark ages. Its recovery will only be possible by sound, democratic government with clearly stated, honest strategic objectives set out.
What a waste.
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The problem is precisely this: there is no strategic objective at the government level.
Sure, there are proud and powerful statements in the constitution about the defence of national sovereignty and territorial integrity, but in practice, there is no way that can be achieved unless some larger, more powerful military comes to Malta’s aid. So we enter the whole new paradigm of membership of military alliances, a taboo subject in Malta.
Then there is the other newish paradigm of EU membership and wanting to do our bit, such as sending off a platoon-sized contingents here and there. That’s all very well, but again, in practice it’s all about common doctrines, common rules of engagement, common equipment, common logistics, and common strategic objectives. So, again, we are required to think about – eek – military alliances.
The real, fundamental problem is that Malta has no foreign or defence policy. I’ve been saying this for donkey’s years and of course no one will listen. By foreign policy I don’t mean embassies, and by defence policy I don’t mean soldiers in uniform.
Malta has been an independent nation-state for fifty years. Unless we get our heads out of our arses and stop it with the Hello Kitty and Xarabank politics, we will never formulate that strategic objective, and everything that flows from it will forever be a complete shambles.
Baxxter, Sorry, just read your comment (was watching the snooker). Had just posted my own comment around eleven thirty. Don’t know if Daphne will upload it, but the gist of it is that the Chinese are now responsible for and running Malta’s ‘foreign policy’.
The boy PM is sinking fast.
Didn’t you notice how even Gonzi’s government was running around like headless chickens when Libya had a civil war? We suddenly lost the compass of our fabled foreign policy. Gaddafi gone, Malta’s “foreign policy” gone. Thank god for China, what? They’ll be there forever, our Oriental BFFs, guiding us like a wise elder brother.
Gotcha, friend. Too many chinks in our armour.
Out of interest, just how many Colonels are there in this army? Does anybody know what is the ratio of triggers to Colonels?
It depends what you mean by triggers. Enlisted personnel or combat personnel?
Thanks H.P
Enlisted personnel please.
The reason I’m asking is that as far as I know, a Colonel commands a regiment, and we do seem to have a plethora of Colonels in Malta. So either we have a large army, or else the Maltese Colonel is a honorific title.
Not always. Staff officers, such as Colonels, can be assigned to the general staff. It is not an honorific title, but a staff appointment, as opposed to a command appointment. In this, we follow standard NATO practice.
As far as I know, there are 8 Colonels assigned to AFM HQ, plus three Colonels commanding 1,3 and 4 Regiments. The total strength of the AFM is about 1500, last I heard.
@ H:P.
Thanks for taking the time.
‘The real, fundamental problem is that Malta has no foreign or defence policy’.
This statement by Baxxter is so true. For decades our foreign policy was serving Gadaffi. Now that he is gone we are to serve a new master from the Far East.
To his credit, George Borg Olivier had tried to build some sort of foreign policy, and his was the only clear definition of allies: Western Europe and the US (and therefore NATO), and of adversaries: all the enemies of the former. And of course based on a special relation with the UK, as a Commonwealth realm.
Then came Mintoff and that perverted “hbieb ma’ kullhadd” bollocks, and our fledgling foreign policy went down the toilet. No government ever since, not Eddie Fenech Adami’s or Gonzi’s, has ever managed to reconstruct anything resembling a foreign policy.
I await the inevitable question about EU membership.
To which my reply would be along the lines of a series of questions to my government:
1. Who owns the Spratly Islands?
2. Who owns the Falklands?
3. Who owns the gas fields off Cyprus?
4. In the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, which side are we on?
5. Is Tibet Chinese?
And so on.
That’s easy:
1.Whatever the EU says
2.ditto
3.see above
4.Given the amount of Toyotas, Japan’s.
5.No, it’s Buddhist.
You’re so irritating when you’re flippant, Jozef.
Try your flippancy on this then: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140117/opinion/The-quest-for-understanding.502937
With reference to the comment from H.P. Baxxter which followed.
Unfortunately, Borg Olivier’s support for NATO was not reciprocated, in spite of the support that Admiral Birindelli tried to obtain for his requests. This was one of the reasons that brought Dom Mintoff to power.
As for the questions of who owns what in different parts of the world these are questions on which any country that is not directly involved should be prudent not to be presumptuous to pronounce itself if not called upon to do so. However, when similar issues were raised within the EU, the OSCE or the UN, Malta did not keep back from expressing itself.
I cannot understand how you have come to the conclusion that under Eddie Fenech Adami, and presumably his foreign ministers Guido de Marco and Joe Borg, and his successor Lawrence Gonzi (especially during the Libyan conflict), Malta had no foreign policy.
If there is no policy, you cannot formulate a strategy to implement it. It has been hard for the PN to understand, let alone Labour.
The problem is precisely this; they do not want well educated and trained officers. They do not want professionals who will advise them when they are doing wrong. They want imbeciles and yes men who have no idea about the job but are only interested in power.
sound, democratic government with clearly stated, honest strategic objectives set out?
That will be the day.
Muscat is being consistent. This is meritocracy, namely “kulhadd jiehu li haqqu”. The only problem is that Labour have a particular and peculiar understanding of who deserves what.
U mhux xorta.
The MLP has created Malta’s version of the Gulag camps.
Little Joey’s cunning plan is well underway.
He sidelines Maltese soldier patriots.
He introduces Chinese ‘energy engineers’ to implement the ‘grand floating energy plan’.
Of course, they are accompanied by Chinese security experts, who’s remit is to train the remaining Maltese socialist army misfits in crowd control, and whatever may come up.
Sound familiar?
Go figure. One of your arch enemies was once thrown into that same dumping-station. But that was in Gonzi’s time, if not in Fenech Adami’s.
[Daphne – I know of no arch enemies in the army, Kevin. They can only identify themselves as such. So I have no idea what you’re on about (as usual).]
Kevvy, have been missing your comments. Running out of conspiracies? BTW, what are you snortng nowadays?
I’m snorting lots of RT, Purdie. You should try some of their latest. I think they’re rather late on this one, but you’re not exactly a front-runner yourself: http://youtu.be/-ugCIjzHptA
@ Daphne – Let’s just say he’s one of your distress punch bags. And of course it’s not just the army that polices the dumping camps.
[Daphne – How exotic, Kevin. “One of my distress punch bags”. Hmmm. And what does that make me to the likes of the political party you support, and those who root for it?]
Welcome back kev. I was lacking a bit of humour in my life.
And now wait for someone to write to the Ministry of Defence about how unprofessional Lt Col Mifsud is by commenting outside of his remit, bla bla bla.
Main problem for Nick is that he has family here, and if the local bully boys don’t get their way in the UK, they will try to get at him through the family.
And that would be a spectacular mistake on the bully boys’ part.