“When that revolt started” Lawrence Gonzi’s government gave asylum to Libyan pilots who had refused to bomb their fellow countrymen on Gaddafi’s orders and prevented Gaddafi from recovering his two jet bomber aircraft.

It’s about taking a stand and not sitting on the fence. Yes, the UK, the US and France were busy building bridges with Gaddafi, but when push came to shove, they bombed the shit out him and saw the mission through to the end.

Malta was busy building bridges long before that. When push came to shove it stood on the sidelines. That’s the surest way to earn contempt in the court of world opinion, and to make sure you’re left out of the next round of decision-making.

It’s not about who’s PM because they’ve all had pretty much the same approach to Libya.

Excuse my bad memory because it usually doesn’t work very well for anything political, and I know I will be corrected.

Weren’t some of the above countries, the UK for sure, in the process of building bridges with Gaddafi, selectively forgetting the past, before his overthrow? It was not only Malta.

And, heaven forbid I should seem like I am defending Muscat in any way, is it not politically irresponsible for the above countries to exclude Malta from something which could have very direct consequences for us.

Yes, they may not think much of the way Muscat runs his government and the country, but I’m sure all the leaders of the above countries have some very unpleasant opinions of each other in private.

But on a political level they have to remain united. Or is it simply to do with Malta’s neutrality thingamabob?

With a mere 30 foot soldiers to spare who are we to dictate. The major concern now is that the front line is closing in on us.

A foreign friend has just called me to ask if the article containing this gem is real or satire:

”It is not a question of being against the coalition, the government wanted to deliver a message that nothing can be taken for granted when it comes to Malta’s foreign policy.” Joseph Muscat

I instantly got the feeling we used to get when we needed to hide our green passport covers.

http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2015-02-17/local-news/PM-Muscat-says-Malta-has-a-role-to-play-in-Libya-and-cannot-wash-its-hands-of-the-matter-6736130815

Malta is fifty years old. But it looks like a twenty-year old who’s just entered the real world after a pampered and sheltered childhood and adolescence.

I say again: if Malta’s neighbours to the south are really such a threat to its security, then it should join a military alliance. And Mintoff be damned. We can’t keep making Churchillian statements about the gravest hour while refusing to change our isolationist policy, all in the name of some long-forgotten clause in the constitution.

There’s no need to spell it out to me, but you could usefully spell it out to the PM @JosephMuscat_JM – unless he’s taken fright and blocked you, that is.

Malta does have a policy on China: anything goes, as long as the money keeps rolling in.

Sai Mizzi’s appointment does not count as international business relations. That’s political expediency, at best.

A cursory glance at the incumbents reveals an almost complete lack of any political experience in such matters.