Comments on: A timely comment

By: Joe Farrugia

Joe Farrugia — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 22:56:47 +0000

In reply to Anthony Weitz. Anthony, honour was never part of our culture. The mentality of grabbing what you can when you can and letting the imperial monarch foot the bill has not left us. Albeit two full generations and 50 years of self determination.

By: B

Sun, 27 Jul 2014 17:58:41 +0000

A flavour of things to come – interesting Guardian article about the China-Africa pact:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/27/china-executes-ugandans-drugs-trafficking

By: chico

chico — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 17:33:01 +0000

In reply to Carmelo Micallef.

To Julie T:

You got the Maltese saying – which I hereby propose to have incorporated into the nation’s coat-of arms – wrong. It is: “min hexa mexa, u min ma hexiex inhexa”.

I can think of no more appropriate, apposite, few words that encapsulate most, if not all, aspects of the recent (4 to 5 decades) history of this country.

By: H.P. Baxxter

H.P. Baxxter — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 16:54:22 +0000

It’s part of the reason I voted for EU membership, and also why I keep calling for closer, formal relations with the West. I want to be part of a bloc where one nation is willing to save someone else’s nationals.

By: Julie T

Julie T — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 16:51:05 +0000

In reply to Carmelo Micallef.

Daphne,

Why do you say that? My understanding is different. Maltese do have understand the concept of what’s right and wrong, but there is a deep rooted believe that, “minn hexa mexa, minn MA hexiex MA mexiex.” With that thinking you can justify anything.

[Daphne – I have lived in Malta for 50 years and encountered nothing that changed or even challenged my view. People who are clear and distinct on matters of right and wrong even if they do not involve the law are by far the exception and stand out in conversation. The island is so small and so crowded that this society has had to develop a way of accommodating evil in its midst, and now the creeping evil has become full-blown.]

By: lest we forget

lest we forget — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 16:18:01 +0000

Arab spring should teach the present government a lesson.

By: Phili B

Phili B — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 14:40:31 +0000

Baxxter is brilliant as usual. Allow me to add one very important factor which might have hindered any action by Muscat’s unfit-for-purpose inner circle. The natural friends he mentions are reluctant to cooperate with Muscat, given the track record and declarations regarding foreign affairs in the past three years, out of sheer mistrust.

By: ciccio

ciccio — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 14:18:10 +0000

Contrary to what Joseph Muscat says, there is actually no “old friendship” between Malta and China. And there are no “historic ties” between the two countries.

Muscat keeps repeating this every time he speaks to Chinese leaders and on CNTV or on hastily organised China Daily videos because someone in his party keeps telling him to tell the Chinese what they like to hear and to make them feel important in the scheme of the universe.

The only friendship Muscat has is with his own arse. He knows that he is bankrupting the country with his politics of cronyism and expensive pre-electoral promises and that, besides hard work and investment, the only other option for his salvation is China. Of course, we know which option Muscat will choose. Actually he has chosen it already, by accepting numerous bailouts from China disguised as MOUs.

China can only help us economically, but everytime it does so, it asks Muscat for a signature on the dotted line on a document they call an MOU. And interestingly, such episodes are non events for the Chinese media, whereas our media salivates at the thought of “Chinese investment.”

By: Anthony Weitz

Anthony Weitz — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 14:08:38 +0000

Blood is thicker than water. Maltese blood is a vintage cultured under the Mediterranean sun, irrigated by the blood and guts of a thousand European wars, and pruned by a thousand European and middle-eastern occupations. In your moment of need or crisis, you turn first to family, not your distant overseas business partner.

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 11:33:06 +0000

China’s biggest friend is North Korea. This is in itself very telling. Both countries work very hard to suppress democratic institutions. They mistrust their own people and yet our government is trusting our future in their hands.

Muscat must have received a lot of money from China to fund his campaigns and now they own him. He is China’s puppet.