An astonishingly groundbreaking set-up for the signing of a bilateral agreement
I looked at this press photograph of the Maltese Minister of the Interior and his Libyan counterpart signing an entirely worthless memorandum of understanding, and I thought, hmmm, how peculiar.
The usual way for these things is for the two big cheeses to sit alongside each other, behind their respective flags, face on to camera, at the long side of the table. Meanwhile, their secretaries stand behind them trying to look inconspicuous.
Instead, what we have here is the two ministers sitting at opposite end of the dining-table like the lord and lady of the house at dinner a hundred years ago – except that the servants have gone and sat themselves at table too.
This is all wrong: the ministers are facing each other in a position of confrontation as though signing a declaration of war (which wouldn’t be bilateral anyway). The secretaries are seated alongside them as though they are active participants when they are not, and for the purposes of the camera – which is the entire point of this exercise – it is the secretaries who are sitting behind the flags, rather than the ministers.
I think Do You Know Who I Am’s nickname should actually be Do You Know What You’re Doing.
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http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-07-05/news/mou-signed-between-malta-and-libya-5730500609/
I suggest the railway carriage in Birkirkara’s public garden next time.
They can sign their capitulation there – like the Kaiser did – when Mallia is finally got rid of.
Shades of Versailles?
I find it very inapporpriate to compare that shameful event to this rather stupid event. What happened in Versailles, was the seeding of very ghastly events, which ended at a huge price to humanity. I suggest that you would stop taking sides, at a time when Europe needs unity and not divisions. Wise historians would think twice from using that analogy.
Good call.
Maaa. x’injuranza.
Put this down to “innovation”, one of the cornerstones of the new administration.
The subject of the photo is anything but the Libyan minister who’s barely visible; fits exactly with this MoU’s importance or lack thereof.
The whole ceremony was carried out under the watchful eyes of the Madonna and Child. I bet those pink lilies on the table are worth more than the memorandum.
Daphne, I am sorry, but you haven’t understood anything.
The main protagonists, on this occasion, are the Madonna and Child. And rightly so.
Signing an MOU with a so-called government that is crumbling on all fronts is just not on and is not the done thing. Nobody, except a failed government, would even contemplate it.
It is only if the Madonna manages to exert enough pressure on her son, now grown up, that anything can come out of this, otherwise, damp squib.
I love the Madonna picture in the background. Mallia is making sure he’s keeping the upper hand over the Muslim invaders.
And what about the Madonna and Child painting? What’s with that? If a society and its government is not intent in following Christian teachings to the full, you don’t show Christian symbols in official government photos. It’s completely inappropriate and a tad insulting. I read; whitewashed graves.
Qabza fil-kwalita’ indeed! The parents of some 10,000 only found out by means of this evening’s news that Skolasajf (a glorified baby-sitting service for children of working mothers) – which was meant to start tomorrow morning – will be starting around a week late.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140706/local/skola-sajf-postponed-due-to-possible-strike-action.526625
And I bet that the parents of those 10,000-odd children will still vote for this incompetent government next time around.
A memorandum of understanding is like a letter of intent, and it is not legally binding.
The current Libyan government can sign anything it likes, because I bet my two non-convertible dinars that it will not be in power come next winter.
Conclusion: this MoU has just the effect of a sword cutting through water.
Maybe the Libyan guy objected to sitting next to the minister right under a painting of the Madonna and Child.
I think you’re right.
They are so so not fit for purpose. Tragic.
How inappropriate to have this signing with a painting of Virgin Mary and Jesus as a backdrop. Perhaps it was for this reason the seating arrangement was changed, so the Libyan counterpart won’t be seated directly below the painting.
And all under the watchful eyes of the Madonna and Child, no doubt “borrowed” or pilfered from the Museum of Fine Arts collection. What an insult to an Islamist like the Libyan Minister of the Interior. Signing an agreement under an obvious christian symbol. Silvio can’t for the life of him organise a piss up in a brewery. let alone something of this purported importance.
“Instead, what we have here is the two ministers sitting at opposite end of the dining-table like the lord and lady of the house at dinner a hundred years ago – except that the servants have gone and sat themselves at table too.”
I would have left out the “too”.
This all seems like Malta’s “classic” socialist horror movie revisited.
The fact that characters like the Gattopardi are “in” – and their habitual clingers-on with them – makes it that more sordid this time round.
They too have placed themselves at the level of “servants”.
All for a dime more.
Where is the country’s backbone?
This MOU is their public, and international, riposte to counter the ratings achieved by this blog on the weekend that the identity of the occupier of the Xemxija flat was being discovered and exposed.
Not something they could have done right on the tail of the other.
Now anyone Googling “Malta and Libya” will find this as a latest reference.
This Government is superficial and caters for those who are likewise.
Onlyforshow.com
Perhaps the Libyan Minister does not touch pig in any way.