Government spokesman refuses to say who is under armed guard at Xemxija flat. Says that it is a matter of ‘national security’.
Government spokesman Kurt Farrugia (2nd from left) with Malta Today journalist Miriam Dalli (1st from left) and the prime minister’s driver Jesmond Sghendo (1st from right)
I have just telephoned the government’s spokesman, Kurt Farrugia, to ask – in view of the fact that he is denying that Libyan ex PM Ali Zeidan is living in that Xemxija flat under armed guard – exactly who is living there.
“I can’t tell you that,” he said. “It is a matter of national security.”
How long has this person been living there?
“I can’t give that information because of reasons of national security.”
Is this person Libyan?
“I can’t say – it’s the same answer, national security.”
Given that armed guards are provided by the Maltese government round the clock at taxpayers’ expense, don’t you think that the government has an obligation to inform the Maltese public about the identity of the individual under guard?
“No, there are national security issues.”
You are telling me that the reason for all this secrecy is national security, rather than the security of the individual involved. National security means that Malta and/or the Maltese are at risk of harm if the identity of this person is revealed. This suggests that the person shouldn’t be here in the first place. Don’t you think this increases, rather than decreases, the public-interest element of the news and the public’s right to know?
“My reply remains the same: there are reasons of national security.”
That’s all right. I’ll keep asking you the questions and you can keep giving me the same answer. Is the decision not to divulge information and to say ‘national security’ your own, or have you checked with your superiors?
“I have checked, of course. Look, if you are going to carry on like this and have more questions, just send them to me by email.”
No, because these are the sort of questions which, professionally, have to be asked and answered voice to voice.
“Well, in that case I have nothing more to say. This is about national security.”
We end the conversation with thank you and goodbye.
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Daphne, the entire nation should worship at your feet. Or perhaps we should be very, very worried that in a country of 420,000 there is a single journalist doing all the work.
Exactly what I thought when I read this exchange.
I would be even more worried if this Ali Zeidan issue is not seen into and taken up seriously by people who have the power to do so. This is no light matter.
I really can’t understand that even persons like you,should find fault in our country for giving protection to a person, until we are sure that he will be given a fair trial.
I am sure that this is done by all those countries who pride themselves of being civilised.
What I find wrong, with what Mrs Caruana Galizia did, was that she should have checked with the Govt, whether the information passed on to her, was correct or not
As I see it she could have put in danger not only his life, but even that of those who live in the same buildings.
As to whether,as you say, the entire nation should worship at her feet, is going a bit too far , what next SANTA SUBITO..
Subito? She’s been doing journalism for over twenty years.
The fault, dear Silvio, is not in giving asylum to Zeidan, but in LYING to your own people. Back in March, Joseph Muscat denied that Zeidan had stopped in Malta.
Now he denies that he’s been living here since then.
That’s fault Number 1.
Fault Number 2 is in not seeking the people’s approval, or at least the approval of parliament.
Zeidan is not just another millionaire foreigner that Manuel Mallia can sell a passport two, or who can live here as a high net-worth individual. He is wanted by his own people.
By giving him asylum we have set ourselves up against the legitimate government of Libya, not to mention the Islamists and various other factions. THAT, my dear Silvio, is the real matter of national importance. THAT is why we should have been consulted.
But as usual, Joseph Muscat thinks he knows best. This time, he doesn’t.
Santa no but Gieh ir-Reppublikka definitely.
In Malta there’s nowhere to hide.
Do you recall the execution of El-Shaqaqi?
“Shaqaqi was gunned down on 26 October 1995 in front of the Diplomat Hotel in Sliema, Malta by a hit-team composed of two Mossad gunmen from a bayonet unit which had previously killed Gerald Bull and Atef Bseiso”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fathi_Shaqaqi
Do you think those bodyguards outside are there to protect our national security?
If Libyan secret agents find out about his whereabouts do you think they wouldn’t try to kill him? In the process would you like to be sitting next to him in some restaurant?
How would we be seen by our neighbours, if they found out that a wanted person is being protected by government agents while hiding in Malta?
To the Keystone Cops, in the book The Valachi Papers we were told that the gangsters would spot where the FBI agents where, because they invariably wore a hat and a suit while smoking a cigarette.
Who owns the flat?
Are you serious?
The heavy presence of security police ostentatiously obstructing access and egress from a fire station in cars permanently parked across the narrow street on double yellow lines smacks of an arrogant display of power – not a secret service covert operation.
Had Mrs D Caruana Galizia “checked with government” she would still have been fobbed off with an unconvincing “not in the interest of national security” meaning “The government is not telling” and “forget about the LP pre-election promise of transparency”
Silvio, if, as reported on various sites that this man holds a German passport on top of his Libyan citizenship then it holds that he should have requested the German government to place him under protection in Germany.
Why did he not seek their protection? That is the question that people should be asking.
Why aren’t you clamouring for him to be kept behind bars pending deportation back to where he came from?
Your comments are solicited in respect to the push back policy Muscat wants in force. I cannot understand why we should protect one prospective citizenship buyer sought for breaches of the law in his own country and the thousands of people fleeing persecution from their own country.
Could it be the money? I am also sure that Russia is very civilised but never misses the chance to protect dictators and murderers like the recent Ukrainian it harboured.
It was evil and very wicked for the government to put at risk the lives of the people in the block of flats. If no harm was intended this man should have been housed on level 4 of the Labour Party HQ, the safest place in Malta at the time being.
Silvio, you are right to question. What you should be questioning is whether this is a matter of personal rather than national security and your assumption that governments always function in national interest.
Also we are not in charge of policing the world. Zeidan had a travel ban and left Libya. He is a fugitive. Harbouring a fugitive is wrong and may cause a threat to national security.
So what you are saying is that having two cars with armed guards outside a house/flat 24/7 should be of no interest to all Maltese and no questions asked.
Very convenient to say it is not in the national interest.
If that is so, then the government should have chosen some other place where to house the person in question and not bang in a popular locality.
Better still the government should have chosen a uninhabited area where such armed guards would not be so obvious.
It does not say much about secret service in Malta when such armed guards are placed in an inhabited area.
Silvio, your stupidity knows no bounds. What if, God forbid, someone attacks this property and innocent people die?
We have every right to know WHO is the person resident in that building, who is under protection for reasons of ‘national security’. And why.
The public has every right to know what is going on in their own country by their government. And who placed a time bomb in their midst. This government is often caught lying to its own people, even when it affects vegetables and secret agreements.
See this is the limit of reason when it comes to people like you, Silvio. Should anything happen to the occupant of flat 2 and/or anyone else in the locale should some kind of strike take place, you’d dive right in to condemn Daphne as the person who should ‘shoulder responsibility’, as they say.
While in actual fact you should be pointing fingers at your lying, deceitful government for having the guy holed up there in the first place, while telling us all that he’s been spirited away to Germany after a brief fuel-stop.
THAT, Silvio is the reality. Your beloved Labour Government creating a situation whereby potentially many lives have been put in danger, purely through their lies and dishonesty. And make no mistake here, this came directly from your Prime Minister, no less.
If only they’d housed him next door to you. Although I’m sure that would only give your very narrow mind even more reason to blame a lone journalist, working on her own yet still able to uncover such a gargantuan scandal.
It is only thanks to a near-total media black-out since the initial reports yesterday, that this story has not exploded all over our front pages. And, I must say, whoever ‘pulled the plug’ yesterday was very, VERY quick to do so. It’s maybe this fact that scares me the most.
Well said.
I wish I can click LIKE.
Have you seen 8pm news on TVM yesterday? The station’s report on the subject was reading the press release issued by the Government: i.e. reporting the denial of the subject. They didn’t even bother to report the whole story but simply the Government’s reply. What a shame.
On the other hand congratulations to this website as it has now been promoted to “sections of the media”.
‘Mhux fl-interess tal poplu.’ revisited
If it is a question of national security, they are going about it the wrong way. Can they make it more obvious for those whose intention is to harm the country, where the centre of attention lies?
Yes, of course, plant eight security men in full view of passers-by and pretend to keep the whole affair a secret. Mhux hekk nibqghu. Kurt Farrugia still reads fairy tales for bedtime.
Ma nafx x’ġara imma mis-6.00pm s’issa ma stajtx nidħol f’din il-blog u mhux waħdi, ħbieb tiegħi qaluli l-istess. Għall-erwieħ kont qed naħseb ħażin. Dak il–ħin li nqata’ l-access kont qed nipprova nitfa’ dan il-kumment.
“U għidlu jħallina ħall lil Kurt. Mela bil-karozzi quddiem il-bieb 24 siegħa, jinbidlu fid-deher quddiem kulħadd, Dawn servizzi sigrieti jew qed jilgħabu ngħoli? Kollox dilettantiżmu. Ma baqa’ xejn li tista’ ssejjaħlu professjonali. Qbadna n-niżla u sa erba’ snin oħra se nkunu f’ħondoq li biex nitilgħu minnu rridu għexieren ta’ snin. Dik bidla.. Jekk forsi għal xi wħud konna fit-taġen issa spiċċajna ġon-nar!
Tinsiex li security service personnel kienu utli hafna ghal-gvern Laburista precedenti biex jiffrejmjaw persuna Nazzjonalista innocenti bil-qtil ta’ Raymond Caruana billi hbew l-arma tad-delitt fir-razzett tieghu.
I pity the families living in the same block of apartments. Four armed guards when out and eight armed guards when in. Deadly serious.
I bet the neighbours know who’s there.
If we as a nation are hiding an enemy of a nation, doesn’t that makes us the enemy of that nation?
State, not nation. But, yes, you’re correct.
Daphne, I think that you are asking the wrong person.
Last April, the Honourable Carmelo Abela was appointed “Government spokesman”.
Or, is there is nothing else to this appointment but another salary (over and above the MP honorarium)?
I would ask the US Ambassador whether the US is aware of news reports stating that Ali Zeidan is etc. etc. and whether there have been any high-level contacts between the respective governments etc. etc. and whether the US would consider granting asylum to Zeidan etc. etc.
You know, put a little spin on it and get them to admit that Malta is now the US’s little poodle.
I wasn’t aware of this major shift in geopolitical posture. What’s in it for Joseph Muscat?
What’s In it for Muscat? I think silence from the US embassy on the citizenship scheme. Bought perhaps with a couple of passports thrown in for CIA agents.
Spot on.
Malta is for sale to the highest bidder Baxxter and now you know who it is.
Shale Gas.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/joseph-nye-shale-gas-is-americas-geopolitical-trump-card-1402266357
Holy Jehoshaphat, Jozef.
I hope everyone is happy with this new Malta-USA axis.
That includes KMB, and Kevin Ellul Bonici the arch-conspiracy theorist, and Mintoff’s ghost, and George Vella.
kev’s all for it, especially when Texas Yana shares her offices with Nigel Farage.
Just follow the pipelines to beat Putin at his own game. Both bypass Malta, one leaving Algeria, one leaving Israel, snaking their way up to italy.
And who needs Malta when the the one who’ll build them, Edison, tenders for Marsaxlokk, being the only one who could do it, giant that it is, but is beaten by this Gasol which size and capability Ciccio’s been trying to work out for the past two years.
Muscat’s a business rat, problem is he’ll sink the economy doing it. Minghalih big boy it-tifel.
Back in my day, one national hero called JPO III had moved heaven and earth in order to force the impeachment of Richard Cachia Caruana, whom he accused of cutting secret deals and withholding information from Parliament.
I await JPO’s impeachment motion, through his buddy Varist, against the Prime Minister, and Ministers George Vella and Manuel Mallia.
Who is backing Zeidan?
Is it China? Is it the French?
The question should also be where is this leading them (including Muscat and Gasol) and what do the combined parties want?
Oh, and when are the elections in Libya meant to be?
Very convenient timing all round.
U għidlu jħallina ħall lil Kurt. Mela bil-karozzi quddiem il-bieb 24 siegħa, jinbidlu fid-deher quddiem kulħadd, Dawn servizzi sigrieti jew qed jilgħabu ngħoli? Kollox dilettantiżmu. Ma baqa’ xejn li tista’ ssejjaħlu professjonali. Qbadna n-niżla u sa erba’ snin oħra se nkunu f’ħondoq li biex nitilgħu minnu rridu għexieren ta’ snin. Dik bidla.. Minn ġot-taġen għal ġon-nar!
For a matter of national security and of a highly classified nature, they’re not doing a very good job of keeping it under the radar. On the contrary, they’re being awfully conspicuous. Spotting two car loads of armed policemen stationed outside a flat isn’t exactly the order of the day in Malta, isn’t it?
Maybe the Government really does take us for dullards.
Unless the government proves that your sources saw a doppelgänger and explain why a doppelgänger can threaten Malta’s security, I’m going to believe that Ali Zeidan is indeed in Malta, which raises some interesting and serious issues.
Back in 2011, everyone sighed with relief that the Nationalist Party was still in government while the Libyan civil war was going on. ‘How would a Gaddafi-loving Labour government have reacted?’ we asked.
Well, now we have the answer to that hypothetical question. It would have sheltered Gaddafi turning Malta into a pariah state. Karmenu Vella would have been thrilled. 2011 would have been declared year zero of the nu-Golden Years and the people would have applauded Joseph Muscat and proclaimed him ‘the second coming of Mintoff.’
Alternative histories aside, there are current important questions which should be asked. H.P Baxxter is always talking about Malta’s lack of foreign policy. He is right. Considering all that’s going on, the government’s lack of foreign policy is confusing at best and dangerous at worst.
With Ali Zeidan in Malta, the government can’t pretend any more that Libya is not happening. Labour went from supporting Muammar Gaddafi to supporting Ali Zeidan to… what exactly? If Ahmed Maiteeq, whose prime ministership is disputed, asks for assistance from or shelter in Malta, what will Malta do?
And what if Abdullah al-Thinni, Maiteeq’s predecessor who doesn’t want to hand over the leadership, does the same thing?
And what is Malta’s opinion on General Khalifa Haftar’s campaign?
A few months ago, the government told us that Malta considers Libyan ports to be safe. Does it still do so? Is it ready to push back migrants to Libya? And what has happened to the plan to buy oil from Libya?
The silence is deafening.
And while we’re at it, what is Malta’s position on Syria’s election? Most western countries have declared it a sham. Does Malta recognise the Syrian government? Would it be ready to shelter Bashar al-Assad? You might think he would never seek asylum here but stranger things have happened.
What about Ukraine? A few short months ago, Malta was about to award Viktor Yanukovych with its highest honour after leading a delegation there to discuss something which the government hasn’t told us about. George Vella told us that all was fine in Ukraine and now the west of Ukraine is at war with the east. Whose side is the socialist, Gaddafi loving ‘Alla ħares nidħlu fl-Ewropa’ George Vella on?
Without the government having a foreign policy, we’re never sure where we stand. Then some vile leader turns up on our doorstep asking for protection or some calamity happens and everyone feels shocked at the government’s reaction.
AND STILL JOURNALISTS DON’T GET OFF THEIR BACKSIDES, DOORSTEP THE PRIME MINISTER AND DEMAND ANSWERS.
For those who haven’t woken up to the fact yet, this news is HUGE, for two reasons:
1) Ali Zeidan is in Malta, secretly, and protected by the government. This is not normal.
Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand’s former prime minister, exiled himself in Dubai for example but everyone knows about it. Pervez Musharraf exiled himself in Britain until he decided to go back to Pakistan. Everyone knew about it.
This secret exile of Ali Zeidan is more akin to Pakistan’s sheltering of Osama bin Laden.
2) The Maltese government is lying to its own people about something which is of great national interest. If you can’t see why governments shouldn’t lie to their own people or why this issue is of great national interest, then there really is no hope for Malta’s future.
This news shouldn’t be reported nonchalantly (most news sites) and it should certainly not be wiped out (Times of Malta). It should be plastered all over the place in capital letters and followed up vigorously.
The news was wiped off Wikipedia, no less. Twice, yesterday.
Some very powerful agencies are at work here. Joseph Muscat must be creaming his dad jeans (please Daphne, no censorship, I beg you) at the thought of playing in the Major League with the big boys. Issa lhaqna, Mummy! We’re cutting secret deals with Barack Obama.
Little does he know what a shit-maelstrom he’s gotten us into.
I wonder whether there was provision for all this bravado in that ftehim fit-tul that Muscat signed with China while he was still in opposition.
We know where Muscat stands with the Ukraine if Nair was cutting deals there too.
Also, if arms provision between Libya and the Ukraine was going through those routes and Muscat is a party to them.
It’s in Joseph Muscat’s interest to foment unrest in Ukraine and therefore to encourage Russian retaliatory action, such as closing the overland route to the Black Sea. Then all that Nato hardware will have to be flown out from Afghanistan in Shiv Nair’s Antonovs.
These people, who govern us, are laughing at us as we speak.
I think you should all watch the series “24” and you’ll understand how mysteries like this can indeed be a concern to national security.
Maybe the resident in the flat is a protected witness in safekeeping (OK the secret service obviously need to know what “secret” stands for when operating in public) and if the wrong people find out who lives in this top secret safe house they might assassinate him before he reveals to Joseph Muscat where are Saddam’s hidden weapons of mass destruction.
Do not underestimate the importance that can stand behind this operation. Let’s stop poking our noses and let Mallia and Muscat continue saving the Mediterranean region from big security issues.
Hang on, chaps. Could this be a cunning plan hatched by Baldrick? What if Ali Zeidan is indeed in Malta but living somewhere other than the Xemxija appartment that everybody is so convinced he is in.
What if all those security people are purposely planted there to hang around conspicuously and make it look very obvious that the Libyan is indeed there whilst in reality, he is somewhere else.
Also, do not expect Kurt Farrugia to own up. He will keep deflecting questions quoting ‘national security’ and by doing so, he will instil more curiosity and theories and keep the focus on Xemxija hill.
I could be totally and absolutely wrong but if I’m right, please remember that you read it here first.
You are wrong.
Baldrick was a bright genius when compared with Malta’s security police. They are not planting false tracks. They do not know how to do it without being detected. Remember the mess up of planting a murder weapon in the farm of Pietru Pawl Busuttil.
Daphne, is it that you are asking the wrong person? Last April, the Honourable Carmelo Abela was appointed “Government spokesman”.
Or, is this appointment just a vehicle to dish out another salary (over and above the MP honorarium) in the Taghna Lkoll transparent, positive, Moviment-led and meritocratic paradise?
This reversal of the boasted and much touted promise of “transparency” by Muscat used to be labelled “not in the national interest” in the bad old days of Mintoff’s MLP. Nowadays it has become a totally unconvincing “national security” issue.
To think that when I raised this matter – of a superabundance of police presence round a block of flats while the entire village of Mellieha was left without an open serviced police station – I was accosted by the security police and told to inform myself before writing in the press! Today’s revised version is that it is not possible to obtain information because it is a matter of “national security”!
Pull the other leg, please – it has bells on it – alarm bells actually!
The chief of national security and his minister should watch Hawaii Five O, NIS and learn a few things about safe houses and how to do your national security work without all the world knowing.
But then this is the new way of making positive progress by Joseph and his merry men.
My question. Muscat signed an agreement with Libya for the supply of oil if and when possible. Muscat has given asylum or call it protection to Zaidan, a person fleeing justice in his own country. What is the present political relationship with Libya now that we are harbouring Zaidan ? What are the Libyans going to do with that agreement signed by Muscat and Co ? Are they going to publish it for we never knew what was in it ? Were any commissions awarded to the Maltese ? More than question really for the mind boggles and the future does not beckon but it must reckon.
Apparently the Government spokesman speaks only over a drink and not over the phone.
The ultimate froga.
Is this how this bunch of clowns protects national security?
By parading hordes of armed police on a main road.
I hope they are lying as usual and it is not national security they are protecting but only that of a targeted individual.
Poor guy. He should have gone to Britain instead and asked the security services there to do a Salman Rushdie with him.
If he remains here he stands no chance in hell.
He has probably been squirreled away already by the looks of it.
If this person is being covered by such security in the interest of national security, then it follows that this person/s are a risk to national safety. In such a situation, why does the police force not storm the building and arrest the person concerned.
Otherwise it is obvious that the Kurt Farrugia is lying and trying to fool the nation !
I have gone through timesofmalta.com and its e-paper with a fine-tooth comb, and there is not a mention of yesterday’s online reports – and their subsequent removal, twice – in connection with this story.
What is happening at the Times of Malta? This story is of public interest and, notwithstanding claims by Government of national security, any self-respecting newspaper would have followed it through, if necessary with the additional clarification that it was not divulging details which it was convinced could harm national security.
Instead it tries to impress its readers with its ‘independence’ by a front-page article on illegal livestock farms! The downward trend in Times of Malta’s standards was palpable before the last general elections, and it does not seem to have been halted, much less reversed.
Labour supporters once burned down the Times offices and got away with it.
Do you think they want the same to happen again?
They’ve burned it down without lighting a match.
Joseph managed to burn its soul with money.
Actually the most worrying aspect of this story is that the Secret Service / CID think it wise and apt to conceal a person in one of the most congested (and conspicuous) arteries on the island.
They are acting on instructions from the PM. Were they not, Kurt Farrugia would have referred questions to Ramona Attard, National Security Minister Manwel Mallia’s communications officer.
Residents are at risk just the same. I’m sure that whoever is being monitored will move to some other ‘safe’ place now that the ‘cat is out of the bag’.
Daphne, thanks for the national information service that you are providing. What a disservice from the government and other media houses! You are a media house on your own!
If it is confirmed that the former Libyan PM is hiding in Malta, Dr. Busuttil should call for Muscat’s resignation.
The PN has been too lenient about Muscat’s blatant lies in the face of the nation.
If this is another lie of the PM & Co, I then expect the PN to do its utmost to bring things into their proper light. Lack of transparency is already unacceptable, but this big lie can’t be overlooked. I hope Muscat doesn’t get away with this. However PN must see that it is tackled in the right way.
What a sad state the country’s in!
Why was your website offline for most of Sunday, Daphne? I think many of us were concerned the reason was directly related to the Zeidan issue.
[Daphne – Technical issues.]
What does the Minister of National Security and Lidl have to say about this matter of national security?
It is not in your / national interest to know what Manwel the Great thinks or says.
It’s obvious it’s not Zeidan residing there. But how else could we get the fact, that Maltese taxpayers are funding the protection of foreigners, on the agenda? National security, my arse.
These high net worth foreigners were promised a secret passport. That got scuppered. The next best thing is now armed guards preventing intrusive media glare.
Ha ha ha.
By the way. Zeidan is also a German citizen. He also made a recent trip to Switzerland (wink wink). Why would he risk his safety in a flat on a main road in Malta?
Christ, where were the Maltese when they gave out brains? Getting a second helping of mouth.
Zeidan’s on Twitter. His last post was a week ago.
https://twitter.com/Ali_Zeidan/status/469024620398391297
The last Tweet translates as “The Army Command that attempts to notice the distortion of the February 17 revolution carried out by supporters of the regime of the tyrant. Peace be upon you and God’s mercy and blessings.”
Zeidan is challenging the regime in Libya from his hideout in Malta.
Malta is providing protection round the clock in the interests of national security.
In other words, Zeidan’s presence is a security risk for Malta Shouldn’t Muscat make a statement and stop pretending that nothing’s happening?
I wonder whether the Libyans will now come and free the Maltese, en route to Zeidan?
I was wondering …does a temporary stay qualify as “Living”
The government statement said Zeidan is not residing here. It didn’t say he isn’t staying here.
Such a reaction and attitude is not surprising at all. This government won its power by cheating and lying in the first place.
The whole election campaign was based on that and it shall continue doing so. They do not care.
They have massive majority in parliament due to their false promises and now they got re-confirmation at EU elections not for false promises but in spite of their failings, arrogance and condemnation by abroad. This government knows that the electorate got the government they deserved….so let them have it.
Malta is the most spied on in Europe and now they’re bringing up national security..and theyhave a national security minister who represented half of malta’s most dangerous criminals¬ mela qed jiprepara ghal-gwerra Jowi??
Is it possible that no snapshot of the mysterious man was taken.
So what does Kurt intend to answer the Libyan ambassador when he puts across the same questions?
And whatever happened to Ghaddafi’s blood money looked after by Joe Sammut?
Can Luciano Busuttil please help the movement’s pledge to be transparent?
If it’s true Muscat intends to do business with Finmeccanica, perhaps he should explain what projects and which client shall partake of this work?
After all, if Renzi gets to sign with the ones who were supposed to be present for Muscat’s 2c press conference, the day they should have been here, he has to play all his cards.
Drones for Gozo, Ansaldo’s turbines for the Chinese, a tanker slipping out of Malta’s waters finding its way to the breakaway Ukrainian port, Passports for sale in Florida, you name it, Muscat’s Malta does it.
Fracking along Sicily’s fault next, and Muscat’s tremor will be felt across the globe.
Everything to declare a war on the formation of an EU foreign policy, strictly linked to autonomous energy supply.
Perhaps Konrad wouldn’t mind explaining how his ‘energy’ plan dovetails with Muscat’s solar farms. And does North Africa have the space for those, it’s the opposite of both US and Chinese interests when it’s the European project.
Or how this may be a pre-condition set onto Muscat for Libya to get its fugitives.
LNG’s dead, what with shale gas destroying the market.
Yep, the American ambassador has a lot of explaining to do.
I see old habits die hard with Labour; a dodgy foreign policy, Yana’s Texas habits, Joe Sammut’s blood money and Chinese cash to gain clout within an EU.
Sweet.
Marie Benoît is a fount of information sometimes:
‘Ambassador Frazier went on to thank her team at the Defence Matters Directorate. “This award was given to me specifically for the role I played in the Libya crises,” she emphasized. Then she had led Malta’s response to the crises and created the humanitarian hub which transferred aid to Libya. She was also one of the few that travelled to Libya regularly during the revolution to bring out injured persons – not only Libyans but those of various western nationalities too. “I brought out journalists, aid workers and also Libyan children who were injured as a result of the war as well as Libyan rebel fighters,” she explained. She also assisted the foreign military who were operating in the NATO operation over Libya…’
As with many other words and phrases used by the present government of Malta, these have lost all their true and original meaning, and have now become a travesty of the truth.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-06-09/news/all-seems-quiet-in-xemxija-after-busy-sunday-5402918912/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook
But I ask. Why Xemxija? And why those flats? That area is really heavy with traffick and those flats are highly visible. If they really wanted to hide Ali Zeidan they could have chosen a more discreet place.