Dictator Friends of Progressive Joseph – a liberal update
Published:
July 13, 2014 at 5:42pm
China is putting journalists working for American news organizations under threat of expulsion after they published a string of investigative reports that embarrassed the Communist Party.
Twenty-four foreign journalists working for The New York Times and Bloomberg could be forced to leave the country in the coming weeks after officials stalled over renewing their visas.
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http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/12/05/china-threatens-to-expel-journalists/?__federated=1
Racists, all of them.
They were, in fact, expelled. So was a journalist from Al Jazeera.
They’re the lucky ones. Chinese journalists who ask questions are thrown into jail, held without trial, or simply ‘disappeard’.
And was Joseph Muscat astonished in a positive way?
Muscat says there will be direct flights to a provincial city in China. He has ruled out direct flights to Beijing.
Why?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140713/local/direct-malta-china-flights-on-muscats-agenda.527560
Cheap quality Chinese solar panels do not need to travel from Beijing on their way to the EU.
Earlier I wrote a comment that spoke of the Labour Party s status in Malta as being typically Maltese and how this label gives it the license to get away with things the PN cannot because it is seen as the foreign party, an image reinforced by Muscat not so long ago when in parliament he spoke of the difference between one side and the other.
Many people think that an elite are those who have more money and who, with that money, exercise their power by making sure politicians take decisions that favour them and ignore everyone else. I believe this is true, however I think that there is a different type of elite that are equally powerful and destructive: those that get away with it because they can.
In this respect the Labour Party are an elite, an untouchable group, that are seen as the sole keepers of the Maltese identity and voice which gives them the luxury of being held to lower standards and therefore are more likely to get away with bad choices and undemocratic behaviour.
The reason why countries fail or succeed is not to do with resources, location or race and culture. It is all to do with politics. Countries that succeed do so because there are proper checks and balances that are enforced by inclusive institutions which are valued by the public because the public are aware of why those institutions need to be in place.
When a country elects a leader that does not answer to these institutions, or where the country doesn’t have these institutions, or where the people do not mind letting the leader get away with not answering to these institutions, what follows shortly after is decline.
Leaders in this position can, and often do, go about creating extractive institutions and policies that lead to economic failure.
Malta has, for the past 25 years, had a government that was held to very strict standards and so had no option but to move Malta away from the extractive institutions created by Mintoff, and towards inclusive institutions. For example there was no more points system to get into university and everyone got a stipend without having to work for the government while studying. They got us into the EU, an institution that is seen by many as the main inclusive institution for Malta because it strengthens the inclusive nature of Maltese institutions in general. Today in Malta, if all institutions fail you, you have the EU to go to when seeking justice.
The PN and the PL have both been subjected to this aspect of the EU in exactly the same way. When it came to immigration both parties have opted for a push back. The PN accepted the EU’s ruling and worked to change policies and attitudes within government and society in order to move towards better courses of action in the past. Muscat, on the other hand, didn’t, he laughed in the face of the EU, insulted Malstrom, and then tried to pick up the pieces by talking of British humour, even though he isn’t remotely British.
The Labour Party today is struggling to deal with a new reality it had no idea about. There exists in Malta a better understanding of the importance of inclusive institutions, while the Pl can only think in terms of extractive institutions. What I believe we are seeing is a clash of cultures: the extractive mindset against the inclusive demands.
From the get go, the Labour Party engaged in extractive practices: contracts worth a lot of ( tax payers) money going to favoured individuals who lent their support in return to the elite Labour Party that can get away with it. The money comes from somewhere, and this means that for every contract that is honoured, money is taken away from some other sector, like health for example.
And now we have the most extractive institution ever: China, a state ridden with corruption that oppresses those with democratic aspirations and hopes for their country and who will only serve itself ( hence the term extractive, they extract what they want with no view to create a sustainable virtuous circle and create the vicious circle that restricts poor countries).
What is also interesting is how the Pl go about fighting the inclusive mentality to promote the extractive mentality. ” It hurts”, “I m so upset”, ” You re just picking on me”, “What’s wrong with it”. These phrases, that are now ubiquitous, only belie one fact: labour still doesn’t get it.
So, Mrs Mizzi, all I have to say to your sobbing is “Sigh, you really are clueless”. We don’t want your extractive ideals in Malta not because you are Chinese but because they will bring about the failure of the Maltese state, the same way they will bring about the failure of China, the same way they have brought about the failure of so many states in the past that have resulted in today’s lay of the land.
Mrs Mizzi, you will show us your contract, and you will answer to the people because it is the people’s money you are taking. And as for Muscat, his feeble attempts at trying to adjust to a Malta he wasn’t counting on will betray him soon enough. The question is, are the Maltese strong enough and brave enough to insist on more inclusiveness and to reject the extractive practices of the the Labour Party. I hope so, or we re back to being an under developed country all over again.
The Chinese authorities did not hesitate to imprison about forty of their nationals. The only crime they were accused of and allegedly committed was that of starting a movement (our Joe did that some years back) which is demanding information about the salaries of high party officials and government officials who are blatantly leading a lifestyle far beyond their means.
Joe is after money, money, money and one person in particular on the mission to china is interested in money, money, money and the fourth floor of the Red House at Mile End.
Both of them are completely ignorant of the Chinese policy of using financial means to penetrate the west and counter the Western Imperialists using the West`s own weapon of money and capital.
Joe was very busy listening to the Labour cronies to have heeded speeches delivered by the highest ranks of the Chinese Communist Party over the past decade or two.
Not as many Western leaders nor as often does any visit China as our Joe is doing. I do believe he is rushing things a bit too fast.
Investigative reporters? Iġri l-barra Salv!
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-07-13/news/bas-censuring-of-xarabank-a-threat-to-democracy-peppi-azzopardi-5818777601/
What a hypocrite! Threat to democracy?
The PL government is slowly but surely increasingly threatening our democracy. Selection of friendly media for a potential controversial China visit is the latest example.
Joe Azzopardi cries foul against the BA but remains silent about other real and increasingly dangerous threats to democracy.
Hypocrite.
For democracy read Xarabank. The program.
Exactly my thoughts. Where are his discussion programmes? The fact that he is keeping quiet on most current affairs issues, that is the real threat to democracy.
Xarabank has become “a threat to democracy.”