A gong for a Saudi billionaire, and now, a secret mission to Azerbaijan
Published:
December 14, 2014 at 2:03pm
The transparent head of our transparent government has headed off today on a top-secret mission to Azerbaijan. At this rate, who knows where we’re going to be by the time the next three years are up?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpf75RzvzZM
There is a journalist who’s been given an exceptionally hard time in Azerbaijan recently. She’s a frequent target of the government.
They even published naked pictures of her to shame her into silence. She was not defeated, but she still suffers such abuse. I wonder if Muchelle Muscat has anything to say about it?
While responsible statesmen keep at arm’s length from such despotic countries, our PM goes directly into their pockets.
Joseph Muscat mar igib il-bonuses biex jithallsu fil-Milied l-impjegati tac-civil, u l-pensjonijiet kollha.
Heqq, flus fil-pajjiz m’hawnx. Minn x’imkien irid igib.
Marija l-Maws tghid marret (mar) mieghu?
Wahdu sulu, zgur ma marx. Xi hadd irid jitghabba bl-ixkora. Ara vera miskin il-poplu Malti.
U le x’secret hu, tat-Times hadu zball.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141214/local/azerbaijan-trip-intended-to-secure-long-term-gas-supply-for-power-station-pm.548268
Muscat nesa’ jsaffrilhom dalghodu.
Why does Labour always gravutate towards governments that are both corrupt and dictatorial? What’s in it? Seems that Labour cannot hide its enduring love for both characteristics.
The timing of this was not a coincidence.
http://www.news.az/articles/official/93872
http://www.azernews.az/azerbaijan/74300.html
This was on page 13 of The Sunday Times, what a joke. Imagine if David Cameron had done this.
Something tells me that there may be a link between the timing of the deal with China and the Azerbaijan visit.
This website had questioned whether Socar had lost interest in the Electrogas deal – the involvement of Shell had been mentioned. Seems that Muscat is running to Ilham Alijev to show him that he has bagged a deal with China which can still be of interest to him. Or maybe he is trying to convince Aliyev that Muscat still thinks that the Electrogas is still feasible.
Apparently, the prime minister has confirmed this morning that the deal with Electrogas is not final as yet.
“Speaking during the last of the Gvern li Jisma consultation meetings, Dr Muscat spoke extensively about the deal reached with Shanghai Electric and said that now that it was concluded, the government was shifting its focus on the agreement with Electrogas.”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141214/local/azerbaijan-trip-intended-to-secure-long-term-gas-supply-for-power-station-pm.548268
From The Times report.
“A government delegation will be heading to Baku in Azerbaijan this afternoon for meetings with the President and Prime Minister of the country in a bid to secure a long-term gas supply for the new power station, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this morning.”
“He said that the visit to Azerbaijan would help Malta secure better strategic gas deals for the future.”
Now wait a moment.
Why is Joseph Muscat interfering with securing a long-term gas supply and meddling with “strategic gas deals” for the new powerstation with Azerbaijan?
Wasn’t the securing of a long-term gas supply the subject of the public expression of interest issued by Enemalta in 2013, which was then awarded to the Electrogas Malta Consortium?
Were we not told that there will be no risk of political corruption in the procurement of gas, because this will be procured through the Power Purchase and Gas Supply Agreement, and therefore no political play will come into the gas purchase?
So why is the prime minister involving himself in negotiation of gas supply or its prices, with Azerbaijan if you please? Isn’t this now the work of Electrogas through its shareholder Socar Trading?
Why is this looking like the trip of Minister Joe Mizzi to Spain to meet Autobuses de Leon while a tender was still being negotiated?
Something is not right here.
I don’t think it was ever going to be right.
I think it was intended to be wrong all along.
This visit to Azerbaijan follows too closely on this week’s agreement with China. It follows that this agreement is not a final one and doesn’t put Muscat’s mind at peace.
rest.
I see Azerbaijan as an emergency meeting. It does not augur well when one negotiates as the ‘underdog’ and Malta sure is one right now.
Socar Trading is Azerbaijani. It’s shareholding is opaque but it’s owned by the governing family and their bazuzli.
Socar Trading is screwing its own business partners by dealing dirwctly with Malta’s government,
@La Redoute
And we all know that neither are transparent in their dealings.
How did Manwel set up the invisible commissions here?
Ara Michelle, kemm tifhem fis-suggett.
This is quite an interesting time to visit.
The most prominent independent reporter in Azerbaijan was arrested on trumped-up charges only a few days after heading off years of harassment and blackmail.
http://www.rferl.org/content/azerbaijan-khadija-letter-hope/26742183.html
http://m.hrw.org/news/2014/12/05/azerbaijan-investigative-journalist-arrested
Will Muscat, as the head of an EU government, press upon Azerbaijan the need to uphold media freedoms and democratic standards?
Since there is a good chance Muscat has been getting guidance on Azerbaijan from Joe Debono-Grech, the likelihood is low.
Debono-Grech has been on the receiving of what has been dubbed Caviar Diplomacy:
http://www.esiweb.org/pdf/esi_document_id_131.pdf
This strikes me as very unfair though, as I am quite sure Debono-Grech is capable of appreciating and serving as an apologist for a soft dictatorship all on his own.
This morning Konrad Mizzi was ass-licking a Chinese delegation having breakfast at the Hilton, a large delegation with some important people – probably those who came over to sign the BWSC agreement.
And probably Shiv Nair is laughing all the way to the bank, along I suspect with a couple of others who lined up the deal.
If it was not for the whistle blower, Sheehan would have been a contender for Gieh ir-Republika, on the grounds of having saved the minister’s life, caught a criminal and… who knows what else.
Maybe he’s collecting undesirables. China, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia… Bet he goes for Venezuela and North Korea next. A chip off the old political block, is our Joey.
He’s not collecting undersirables. They are collecting him.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141214/local/azerbaijan-trip-intended-to-secure-long-term-gas-supply-for-power-station-pm.548268
I imagine the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will be taking a few lessons about “free and fair elections” from President Ilham Aliyev.
This is very serious. Who knows what’s brewing behind our backs. With Muscat, you’ll never know.
People seem to have forgotten that Muscat conceived, planned and finalised his sale-of-passports-scheme behind everybody’s back.
Take a look at what’s happening in Turkey.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/dozens-of-arrests-in-turkish-erdoan-opposition-crackdown-9924064.html
Times of Malta reports “Dr Muscat spoke extensively about the deal reached with Shanghai Electric and said that now that it was concluded, the government was shifting its focus on the agreement with Electrogas.”
What is there to focus on the ElectroGas agreement? Since the agreement (contract) was signed back in April, all ElectroGas must do is deliver on that contract.
But why did the PM feel the need to secretly travel to Azerbaijan? Has ElectroGas hit some problem with the 30% shareholder, or has the contract not even been signed?
The lies are catching up with Joseph Muscat. They must haunt him like ghosts when he get to sleep.
And while he sleeps, he might be engaged in a cover up.
Why was the gong awarded to the Saudi billionaire prince? For the House of Saud’s track record on human rights in their desert kingdom?
“and when they reach the age of 27,30 35 they vanish in tin er”
I might have missed it but I have seen no discussion in Malta of the Corruption Perception Index 2014 published this month by Transparency International.
In the score, a 100 points means a country is very clean and zero points means a country is extremely corrupt.
Malta is in the 43rd place and its score has been falling since 2012: 57 points in 2012, 56 in 2013 and 55 this year.
In spite of Xi Jinping’s ‘crackdown on corruption’, China’s transparency score has fallen from 40 points in 2013 to 36. They are in the 100th place out of 174 countries.
The Saudi prince whom we have just honoured also gets a fail. Saudi Arabia ranks 55th and scores 49 points.
Azerbaijan is at lowly 126th place with a depressing 29 points.
Great group of friends we have there, don’t you think?
The countries at the top are Denmark, New Zealand and Finland and those at the very bottom are Sudan, North Korea and Somalia.
http://www.transparency.org/cpi2014/results
http://issuu.com/transparencyinternational/docs/2014_cpibrochure_en?e=2496456/10375881
a very interesting article:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/world/.premium-1.631459
Another scandal in the making:
http://maltarightnow.com/news/2014/12/14/esklussiva-il-progett-tal-monorail-il-gvern-laburista-jiftiehem-mac-cinizi-li-jahbi-ftehim-ta-e1-6-biljun/
So basically, China is dumping a monorail project in Malta through one of its state-owned enterprises while it makes Eur 1.6 billion in business from EU money, and the Maltese government gives its assistance to China for such a fraud.
What’s the commission due from China for this deal, and who will be pocketing it?
Monorail projects are not popular, except in Asia and that’s probably due to overcrowding and excessive traffic on roads. They tend to be expensive to run.
China Overseas Engineering Group Co.Ltd is a subsidiary of China Railway Engineering Company.
CREC is the China Railway Group. This is the same group which has strategic partnerships with IMIC plc and the African Iron Ore Group – two companies in which the Liberian Ethelbert Cooper is involved.
Alfred Sant sees new threat to democracy
http://prntscr.com/5gug99
Mar jixtri l-gas.
But he needed to keep us guessing for a bit of excitement aka diversion.
Now why would he need to hide who is in the delegation?
Ghax trasparenti.
Well done, Michelle ..
By any chance, was our prime minister’s visit to Azerbaijan connected to next year’s rigging of votes for the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest?
http://12points.tv/esc/item/1950-proof-of-vote-rigging-by-azerbaijan#
“This resulted, for example, in Malta awarding the full 12 points to Azerbaijan three times in a row. Read the entire article from last year here.”
And Romania got few if I remember correctly
Why hasn’t Times of Malta sent a couple of reporters to Azerbaijan independently of the government’s delegation?
The Mallia debacle should have taught them that waiting for the government to feed them the news is a bad strategy, and it’s not like they can’t afford it.
The journalists wouldn’t be able to enter the talks but they would be able to find out where the delegates are staying, take some photographs and videos, ask questions as the delegates are entering and leaving buildings and so on.
If they are harassed by Azeri police or authorities, that would be a story in itself.
When the government invites reporters along, it’s because the government wants to turn the trip into a PR show. Investigative journalists should be chasing the trips for which they are not invited – say, Joe Mizzi’s trip to Spain, Toni Abela’s to China, and this one.
I wish the independent press in Malta had a bit more of an investigative spirit. Journalists in Malta only ever go to ‘easy’ places like Brussels or New York, or China if invited by the government. Anywhere else is out of the question, especially if the trip is not paid for by the government.
This is not the way to get the stories.
Journalists can’t visit China unless they’re invited by the government – the Chinese government, that is. An invitation from your own government is not enough. The Chinese government has to issue a formal invitation to you which you then present when applying for a visa.
The PL habit of withholding important information from the people is a gross abuse of democracy.
In government, they assume that the electorate has given them carte blanche to do what they like.
The Opposition has a leading role in ascertaining that any deal done between ‘our’ government and other, non-EU countries respects the people’s true aspirations and democratic values.
Tabatha White says we may take them to court if they don’t respect democratic values (which are, so I’m told, enshrined in our constitution).
Myself, I don’t know. I can’t see anyone protesting against Saudi or any other oligarchs. Heqq, ghax financial services u investiment barrani hux.
Yes, but at what price?
At what price for us if we take Joseph Muscat to court? I would expect nothing less than death.
If you’re referring to the New Euromalta financial services “hub” bullshit policies, then I think we can all see now that the price has been too high.
It wasn’t the way to take the country forward. But it’s too late now. And those responsible have entered the realm of hagiography, so it is forbidden to utter even a whisper of criticism.
I’d take on the “price” Baxxter, if you’ll get me the lawyer.
At this point all that’s missing from their end is the bullet anyway.
They’ve done everything else they could.
Can we get Giovanni Bonello out of retirement?
Our own Cicero.
This threat to democracy is so far all in your heads. We are an EU member, and for sure there are monitoring mechanisms. When the EU says that democracy in Malta is threatened, then that would be the case.
Withholding information does not constitute a violation of democracy. It can be for business or national reasons. There are cases during the previous administration where we were not being told all. The press is free in Malta, with ample pluralistic broadcasting sources. The electorate will then decide whether this ‘withholding’ was worth it or not, or whether still to consider ‘divulging all’ as sacrosanct.
It must be a perception we’re not allowed to have then?
The EU also has a transparency obligation there for a reason.
The fact that that obligation exists and the fact that it is not taking place for reasons that have nothing to do with Malta’s security but to enable the deceit of the scam enablers, is not a detail that you reconcile.
You seem to forget what took place in Malta a year ago and you also seem to forget that there has been zero transparency on on the passport scam conditions and Legal Notices.
Convenient, but others have memories and consciences.
It’s been one long scam to date.
‘Mafia state’: President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev is said to run a ‘Mafia state’ in which journalists who go against the regime will be jailed or blackmailed.