John Dalli thinks he is right in that Libya should have remained under the control of the Gaddafis
Remember the furore when John Dalli, then an EU Commissioner, spoke at a conference in Malta at the height of the uprising against Gaddafi, and took his side?
He even suggested that the dead people were faking it and that the protest placards couldn’t have been written by Libyans because they were in English.
Of course they were in English: it would have been pointless having placards in Arabic when they wanted to communicate their message to audiences in Europe and America via the international news networks.
Dalli said back then that Libya would break down into warring factions. And now he’s saying he was right. Of course he was. Most people knew that this is exactly what would happen, especially given the number of dangerous weapons in the hands of civilians, and Libya’s own history.
Where Dalli is wrong, and this is what his EU bosses and others tried to get him to see back then, though clearly it didn’t work, is in the way he saw Gaddafi as a solution and an acceptable control on warring factions. A dictator who murders his people in public executions, who rules through terror and silences through fear, who halts his country’s development and uses its riches for himself and his family, is not preferable to what is happening now.
What is happening now is less frightening to the people of Libya than what used to happen then. The fear of a random bomb is as nothing compared to the insidious terror of a random craziness that might have you or those close to you murdered by the state for something you do not even know you did.
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http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-07-30/news/i-was-proved-right-about-libya-john-dalli-6020399104/
Maybe he’s missing the millions he gained in the golden years of Gaddafi terror reign.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140730/local/bidders-surprise-as-minister-announces-talks-with-rival-bidder-for-bus-service.529902
“Għalfejn tħammeġ pajjiżek?”, jgħid il-gvern maħmuġ li għandna!
Or:
“M’hemm xejn isbah mill-indafa qalet l-imnittna”.
The fall of Gaddafi was celebrated as a victory for democracy, but this festive euphoria did not last long because soon people were faced with the harsh reality of transition.
The transition to democracy is a process. It takes time to develop. For the last centuries democracy has been tried and tested and adopted as a preferred system of governance by many countries around the globe.
Yet, it is not a question of one size fits all. Each country has to experience, experiment and adapt its own democratic system. It is a challenging period of trial, failure, success and adaptation. Libya and its people are living through this turbulent experience.
Those who try to justify Gaddafi’s brutal dictatorship by citing this violent period of transition have no democratic credentials. John Dalli is one of them.
Worse still, he used his close contacts with the corrupt regime for his own financial gain. He continues to defend this ruthless and now dead dictator who tortured, raped, butchered and terrorised his own people. Money is all that matters to this man, wherever it comes from.
Mr Dalli should put his mind at ease, as the problems in Libya will vanish once all factions, having Dalli’s mindset, will die killing each other.
Dalli is always right and everybody else is wrong. What a sigh of relief that he didn’t make it for leadership of the PN. Why doesn’t he declare his true economic interests in Libya? Or maybe some serious journalist would tell us more.
John Dalli should come clean and reveal his financial interests in Gaddafi’s Libya.
He thinks he’s a man of great foresight but in fact he has no foresight at all. If he had he would not have roped himself into business deals in a country run by a dictator for 40 long years. His time was up, maybe to be replaced by another dictator, but still up.
But at least John Dalli’s investments in a dictatorial country were made by risking his own ‘hard-earned’ dosh.
Joseph Muscat is risking my money and my and my family’s future by hugging our economy with that of one of the world’s most corrupt and despotic dictatorships: The People’s Democratic Republic of China (Communist China) whose economy is highly predicted to hit some rocks soon.
So BS was echoing DJ last Sunday when he wrote “Better the Dictator you know …”
Would he have said the same thing about the French or Russian revolutions?
As you said, the principle is that ‘a dictator who murders his people in public executions, who rules through terror and silences through fear, who halts his country’s development and uses its riches for himself and his family, is NOT preferable to what is happening now.’
Dalli John comes out of the woodwork on Libya the same day that Joseph and The Forty Thieves mount a counter-attack to save their Libya point-man, Mannie Galea – just imagine how much money is involved for them to behave so stupidly in defence of a coward and an idiot; or perhaps it is a mere coincidence.
It’s very tempting to say that chaotic countries like Libya and Iraq were better off when ruled by dictators but it’s wrong.
What we are seeing in Libya and Iraq are the seedlings of democracy.
Democracy is all about the right to fight and the right of self-determination. Yes, in an ideal world, the fighting would take place at the ballot box, in the media and in the law courts but in the absence of robust and fair institutions, people resort to more primordial ways of fighting.
It might take the form of pistols at dawn. It might take the form of a sword fight and it might be an all out war between two or more armies. The beauty of a fight, whether a bloody one or a more civilised one, is that everybody stands a chance of winning and anyone can take part. A fair fight is just.
Libyans were denied the right to fight for over forty years. No wonder that they have now taken to fighting with gusto. It must be so liberating to finally be able to say exactly what they think and fight for what they believe in. Yes, fights, even the most civilised ones, are always messy but that’s a small price to pay for finally being given the chance to speak out and maybe even win.
The real solution to Libya and Iraq is not bringing back the dictators as John Dalli seems to think but building a justice system which everyone can trust; not an easy task. They also need to learn how to share power between the many different tribes and factions.
When these countries have the right institutions, they will be able to take their fight from the battlefield to the courtroom, the ballot box and the media. That will be a day truly worth celebrating.
As an aside, I have to say that it is truly shocking to see that someone who came so relatively close to becoming prime minister of Malta doesn’t understand such a basic tenet of democracy as the right to fight.
John Dalli thinks that dictatorship is a solution. What’s worse, the man who actually became prime minister of Malta supports John Dalli to the hilt and is proud to say so publicly. A bunch of dictator admirers running a 21st century European Union democracy. Way to go switchers. You must be really proud.
If we’re going to bring in democracy, the real question is, “Can there be democracy in an Islamic state?” This article has a table that shows the scores assigned by Freedom House and the Economist Intelligence Unit to Muslim-majority countries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_democracy#Indices_of_democracy_in_Muslim_countries
Dalli BA jpoggi l-flus qabel il-bniedem u propju ghalhekk Fenech Adami ma ridux fit-tmexxija tal-Partit.
John Dalli is representative of all that is bad with Malta and the Maltese. In that way he does represent a lot of people.
Perhaps Mr.Dalli should take a look at this link and see how Gaddafi treated his people…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hgPyK6s3Bs
Well judging by the unending period of Anarchy that has followed Gaddafi’s … maybe Dalli wasn’t wrong.
[Daphne – Dalli sees it from a business and money-making perspective and discounts the fact that people actually had to live there, Ginger. There were many such Maltese: they would have hated to live in fear under Gaddafi themselves, but they seemed to think it was all right for others to do so, because they are Libyan and have no feelings, as they see it.]
John Dalli says many things. Does anyone still believe him or place any value on what he says?
Gaddafi was a ruthless dictator but lets face it, Libya is far worse off today than it was under his rule.
Today, besides all the weapons that are in the hands of former rebels and the car bombs exploding every day, Libya has also become a breeding ground for extreme Islamic jihadist groups who are trying to take over the weak government.
Wherever the Islamists manage to take over they will implement strict Sharia law where women have absolutely no rights, thieves will have their limbs amputated and adulterers will be stoned to death in public.
This is what is happening in lots of places in Iraq today with the Islamic State taking over towns and cities.
It will also happen in Syria if Assad loses his grip on power. The west should be helping the Syrian government in stopping the terrorists.
Have you read Hisham Matar?
I will never agree with those who say that these countries were better off with the likes of Gaddafi and Saddam.
These people lived by the sword, killed by the sword and died by the sword, Gaddafi’s death being less dignified. Both men also saw their sons, their untouchable heirs to the thrones, who were more cruel than their fathers, also being destroyed.
But my sentiment stems from this punitive justice point of view.
The only people who truly have the right to say which is better between dictatorship and chaos, are the Libyans and the Iraqis themselves, which ironically is also a sort of democratic choice. For me I think I would not prefer dictatorship, for many reasons, one of them being that the transition from chaos to democracy can be less painful than from the grips of a cruel dictator.
People like John Dalli are commenting from the outside looking in, in a sort of way that everyone would prefer a neighbour who can keep his piece in his house, by whatever means, lest they disrupt our sleep.
On the other hand, those who compare this with the almost smooth post-communist transition to democracy in Europe, does not know what they are saying, or think that European and Arab people are similar in mindset.
This has nothing to do with Yugoslavia, which was mostly a nationalistic/ethnic civil war rather than a fight against dictatorship. The problem is, without any shred of doubt, Islam.
The countries which claim Islam as their mainstream Religion, are democratic and stable, can be counted on the fingers of one hand. All others are either dictatorships or are engulfed in a seemingly eternal struggle of freedom vs dictatorship, moderates vs extremists, nationalists vs separatists and Sunni vs Shiites……over and over again.
And when there will be democracy, more often than not fundamentalist theocracies will always found there way elected some time or another, which will destroy democracy again.
This is becoming tiring. I became immune to this violence, and am almost refraining from seeing the 8 o clock news. My only pity are for those poor Christians which are finding themselves at the hands of the backward and merciless ISIS people. So far only dictatorship guaranteed safety to the Christian population in those parts. All in all, these people are not civilised.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2711464/STEPHEN-GLOVER-I-m-afraid-bitter-truth-Iraq-Libya-better-tyrants-toppled-arrogant-naive-West.html
Stephen Glover is neither Iraqi nor Libya, and lives safely in the UK.
John Dalli is essentially a businessman. That puts him in the same class as handicapped people, clergymen, fireworks and presepju enthusiasts, and, lately, gays. Even if he talks rubbish, no one will cross him, because he belongs to a hallowed category.
and Caccaturi, politicians, anzi, principally caccaturi and politicians.
It would be interesting to see if Mr. Dalli goes there or not.
Why is there any interest in what he has to say?
“What is happening now, is less frightening”.
Ask Martin Galea, when it was less frightening.
[Daphne – Martin Galea is not Libyan. I am speaking about the Libyan people who actually live there.]
God forbid that the Islamic State decide to take advantage of the chaos in Libya and start taking over. They are already taking advantage of a weak government in Iraq and of a chaotic situation in Syria.
That is more frightening than anything else and these guys are so merciless, so brutal that even Al Qaida don’t want to have anything to do with them.
Gaddafi at least held Libya together and suppressed any form of Islamic terrorism. Much less people were killed in almost 40 years of Gaddafi rule than since he was murdered. Libya is destroyed, buildings, homes, hospitals, infrastructure. It is in financial ruin with virtually no oil exports.
This is all the fault of Nato for helping the rebels topple the only person capable of holding Libya together. If Nato did not interfere the rebellion would have been smashed within 6 months and countless lives would have been spared. Unfortunately Nato learnt absolutely nothing after the disaster that was invading Iraq with the excuse that Saddam Hussien has weapons of mass destruction (that never existed).
Once again disgraced ex-EU commissioner John Dalli thinks he is right when everyone else knows he is wrong. All the comments on this page are quite valid and I have also been asking the same questions since 2010 in one of my blogs.
http://j-d-mee.blogspot.co.uk/
Now John Dalli wants to question Giovanni Kessler in the Privileges Committee. I to want to have Dalli questioned about the false charges (frame up) he brought against me.
Unfortunately my requests to have him investigated have fallen on deaf ears. It just goes to show, some people are more equal than others in Malta.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140731/local/privileges-committee-dalli-would-like-to-question-kessler.530034
Hisham Matar: “Those who regret the end of Qaddafi’s regime ignore how the current chaos is the product of four decades of oppression. “Wasn’t Qaddafi better?” is the wrong question, because it doesn’t illuminate the objective reality of post-revolutionary Libya. To understand today’s events, one must remember what life was like under Qaddafi. The state was designed around an individual and his family; it resembled more a Mafia than a political structure. And so ending the dictatorship meant ending the state.”
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/consequences-dreams
One comment by a Libyan made during the war of liberation:
We have lived for 40 years under one tyrant Muammar Gaddafi. We just cannot live another 40 years under 7 tyrants; Muammar’s sons and daughters.
This comment stuck to my mind because it really described the Libyan’s last hope of liberating not only their present but more importantly their future. It’s a pity that islamists are taking over the Arab world but I suppose it is better for the Libyans to fight extremism from a form of democratic platform rather than having a dictator fight it out in a tyrannical manner.
Dazgur issa m’ghandux min fejn jaghmel lira tajba john dalli issa.
Ask political prisoners about life under Gaddafi:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/rising-shadows-abu-salim-prison-2014-06-26
AND with reference to Dalli, here is the new definition of ‘fresh eyes and an open mind’:
”Mr Zammit yesterday defended his decision to review the case without going to Mr Rizzo. He said it did not make sense to go back to the investigator who worked on the case because it would have prejudiced my assessment. He wanted to look at all the evidence with fresh eyes, with an open mind.”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140802/local/ex-police-chief-i-think-rizzo-had-nagging-doubt-over-dalli.530186
His decision of course had nothing to do with the fresh iced bun at the time and, in a totally coincidental twist of events, the new iced bun now that he had to be replaced.
Those who should speak out keep mum and those who have no business commenting are contacted and featured! Just when we think that we had reached the bottom of the quagmire we find that we can sink even deeper.
X’differenza bejn John Dalli u Tonio Borg. L-istess kummissarjat.: wiehed jonfoq fuq 87k mentri l-iehor 2k biss. Minn dawk l-87k, il-maggoranza huma travel expenses.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-08-02/news/tonio-borg-said-to-be-one-of-the-commissions-low-spenders-6066896897/
http://mobile.euobserver.com/investigations/125175
To all commentators on this blog: Please read another side of the story, from a different source.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/29/gaddafi-gone-libya-dangerous-west
Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran (1953), Lebanon, Yemen, etc the whole Middle East, when the West intervened things never turned out the way the politicians wanted us to believe they would!