Neutral about Muammar: The Canadian Press
Oh come on! When you get to know him as we do, you'll find out he's quite a nice guy, really.
The Canadian Press reports (18 March):
The Canadian military has been using the island nation of Malta as a staging point for evacuations from Libya, using C-130J Hercules and a C-17 transport.
But sources in Ottawa said the government of Malta, under Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, has made it clear that it wants to remain “neutral” in any potential military clash between the international community and dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s regime.
“They were fine with the humanitarian airlift, but not a military mission,” said the source, who asked to remain anonymous.
Lovely. Doesn’t it sound great when it is isn’t said in Maltese with an air of bravado at a press conference picked up only by Maltese reporters?
Let’s hear it again.
THE GOVERNMENT OF MALTA, UNDER PRIME MINISTER LAWRENCE GONZI, HAS MADE IT CLEAR THAT IT WANTS TO REMAIN “NEUTRAL” (LOVE THE QUOTE-MARKS) IN ANY POTENTIAL MILITARY CLASH BETWEEN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AND DICTATOR MOAMMAR GADHAFI’S REGIME.
And again.
MALTA WANTS TO BE “NEUTRAL” IN ANY POTENTIAL MILITARY CLASH BETWEEN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AND DICTATOR MOAMMAR GADHAFI’S REGIME.
Madonna, it’s like going back in a time capsule to 1979 and Dom Mintoff-KMB. Two parties, one plainly evil and the other trying to do something to eliminate that evil, and the Amoral Peasant Republic of Malta wants to stay neutral between them – you know, just in case. Iggieled ma hadd ghax ma tafx il-min se jkollok bzonn fil-hajja.
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Is there anyone else to speak for us besides you? It’s sad when you think about it.
Our only hope is in Simon Busuttil.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110318/local/malta-should-say-yes-to-offering-military-facilities-simon-busuttil
I’m not sure. His position seems to be the same as the PM’s, albeit in more articulate language (Gonzi’s major failure, that), viz. that if it becomes necessary we should say yes. [Not, “If we’re asked”]
Veiled language everywhere. The legacy of thinking in Maltese and writing in English?
“We have no military assets to use and we should not pretend to have any military muscle because we do not.”
Busuttil repeats the fallacy that we have no military assets and therefore we should do nothing. Lies!
Every AFM member is an asset. If they’re sent as teaboys to Sigonella then that is registered as a Maltese contribution to the coalition. Maltese politicians and opinion-makers are so incredibly irritating. This is a country where you’re either a technician and have no political sense, or you’re a politician and can relate to people but cannot use deductive logic to go from technical to political stuff.
In the first days of the Libyan protests Simon Busuttil made it clear that it’s an internal matter of the Libyan population and not up to the world to help them. I felt it there and then that Malta should stick its head in the sand!
[Daphne – The important thing is that Simon Busuttil had the wisdom to change his view when the true nature of the situation became evident to him.]
Oh well, that’s OK. There’s always Sicily, eager to help implement the UN Security Council resolution, while Malta slips back into irrelevance and indifference. How ironic, given the key role Malta played in the liberation of Sicily from its own demonic tyrant, just one lifetime ago.
I think you are not looking at the picture inside Malta, Daphne.
We are already feeling the pinch of this military intervention.
Tourists are cancelling their bookings and new bookings aren’t flowing in as usual.
There are Maltese export companies which are stuck with supplies meant for Libya , mainly food, building and oil industry supplies.
Insurance policies will surely rise for transport in our area , that’s another increase in costs.
Shipping will be re-routed eventually and Malta Freeport will suffer and with it our shipments to our clients will experience delays and more expenses.
It’s not a reassuring thing for a visitor to enter a harbour full of destroyers or an airport full of fighter jets.
Cruise liners will avoid our harbour.
The perception out there is that Malta is under threat. The so called ‘military expert’ on Sky News stating that Malta is a British base while sticking the Union flag near the map of Malta did a great deal of unrepairable damage to our economy.
When one sees all this on his TV at home, would anyone in his right senses prefer Malta for any other country?
[Daphne – Such lack of shrewdness, John, is not like you at all. We’re going to get all that in any case, so we should capitalise where we can by involving ourselves in the coalition, even if only by making the tea. By refusing to participate in the coalition and exposing ourselves to the suspicion, by the coalition and the incoming government of Benghazi, of ulterior motives, we lose out all round. And that is besides losing our integrity.]
“There are Maltese export companies which are stuck with supplies meant for Libya , mainly food, building and oil industry supplies.”
They made hay while the sun shone, presumably. Time for them to move on to new pastures … or back to their roots.
That is what is to be expected when one tries to make pacts with the devil. There will be a “hell” to pay.
We have to admit it, our politicians are simply hopeless when it comes to international matters. Since at least 1971, they have always made the wrong friends and feted dictators – UP TO THIS DAY. Their only redeeming factor is in joining the EU. Otherwise, our politicians are really within their depth in our villages.
So, Malta, Germany, Turkey and China have been requested to monitor Libya’s ceasefire. With so many journalists and reporters hailing from different countries who are in Libya at this particular moment and who can tell as to whether the ceasefire is still going on or not, do these countries really need to send other people to Libya? Could anybody enlighten us as to why Libya chose Malta, Germany, Turkey and China to monitor the ceasefire? Shouldn’t this be food for thought?
The reason is quite clear – Malta, Germany, Turkey and China are viewed as friendly to the Gaddafi regime, as opposed to Libya.
Hey, let’s be clear about Germany. While it ruled out direct participation in the war, it is making a military contribution by sending reconnaissance and AWACS assets to Afghanistan, freeing up US crews for the Libyan campaign.
AND Merkel was there next to Sarkozy and Cameron at today’s Paris summit. So she’s on the right side of history. By a hair’s breadth, true, but still on the right side.
Our coward-social-services-scholarships-houseproud PM was absent.
Is there no MP on either side who will present a Private Bill to put a stop to this nonsense of neutrality as a pretext for doing nothing positive against this brute? It seems we are going to be lumped with this clause forever. How correct was the Bard to write that “The evil that men do lives after them”.
[Daphne – Neutrality is irrelevant where action is mandated by the UN Security Council. We are staying out not because of neutrality. We are staying out because the prime minister and foreign minister have decided things that way.]
Ezatt – din tan-newtralita paraventu. Hemm bzonn jinkixfu x’inhuma l-veru motivazzjonijiet. Fl-ahhar mill-ahhar aktar nahseb li hu l-biza kbir li ghandu l-gvern.
Il-mistoqsija fundamentali hi din: x’inhi r-raguni wara din il-posizzjojni tal-gvern?
Twegibiet possibli:
1. biza – anke li Gaddafi joqtol lill-Maltin li baqghu hemm;
2. negozju;
3. pressjoni internazzjonali;
4. tahlita ta’ dawn kollha.
Kieku ghad ghandna xi de Valette forsi d-determinazzjoni kienet tkun xort ohra, ghalkemm jinghad li anke dan ried jahrab minn Malta wara l-assedju u kien Piju V li sfurzaw jibqa hawn u ghenu finanzjarjament biex jibni l-Belt. Kos, certu patterns ma jinbidlu qatt.
How depressing. The PM looked really worried and nowhere near the confident persona we got to know. How can the government say we’re neutral in such circumstances? Is the Maltese government being threatened by the Gaddafis?
The nanny state nomenclature fits us to a T.
Ceasefire is not working.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/03/201131934914112208.html
There was no ceasefire, only the declaration of one. Significantly, the announcement was made by Kussa and not by the ubiquitous son of Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam.
Believing Gaddafi’s declaration of a ceasefire is like believing a paedophile’s declaration that he/she is reformed.
As much as many of us would want Malta to play a prominent role in the removal of Gaddafi and the defence of human rights, the “reality check” fact is that we are not geographically required.
As I am not a military expert, I asked a British friend of mine who is a military geek who explained to me why Malta is strategically inept for the purpose for at least two reasons.
(a) Gaddafi has weapons that could easily reach a Malta field (in fact contrary to what I assumed in a previous post not even Sigonella is) making it a useless and easy target.
(b) The action that is being considered is against a limited group of people that is not geographically dispersed and as such this will not be a protracted effort. I am told that in modern warfare the ability to operate remotely is a strategic advantage.
[Daphne – Your military friend needs to get up to date. The same weapons that can reach Valletta can reach Sigonella. Unfortunately, we Maltese have a warped sense of distance because of having grown up contained in 17 miles by nine. And crawling round Gaddafi’s ankles will not stop him attacking Malta. This is a man who has no scruples about killing Libyans. Why on earth does anyone imagine that he will have scruples about killing Maltese just because Lawrence Gonzi takes his calls?]
Would I have a called a press conference to say that Malta we will not be used as a military base? Certainly not because it is nothing short of stating the obvious independently of what we want. It’s like myself saying I will not buy the latest Ferrari because I am against the depletion of the ozone layer when all who know me could easily figure out that the truth is I barely afford its upholstery.
I would have limited myself to saying what Hillary Clinton said, albeit using different words by saying that the ceasefire is only the first step required in a number of steps that as an ultimate objective has that of fulfilling the expectations of the Libyan people.
As an extension to this discussion I am concerned and surprised why the UN has not taken similar action in, at least, Yemen. Yesterday I was watching live footage of young men being declared dead on a blood flooded floor inside a hospital and another young men evidently taking his last breaths in worldwide vision.
Daphne. Apologies my mistake.
What I wanted to write is that not even Sigonella is fit for the job exactly because as you say it can also be easily reached by the mad man. In a previous post I had suggested that Malta does not make strategic sense given that NATO has a base in Sigonella.
As you also say just because we will not be used as an airfield I do not exclude that in the coming hours we see some missiles flying in our direction.
Just got a Tweet that NATO has repositioned its Italian Tornadoes at Trapani in Sicily a few kilometres further north of Sigonella in Sicily.
A further update. Hardly any of Gaddafi’s arsenal could reach Malta. Intelligence has it that it’s Russian and of 90s manufacture which has not been upgraded.
Trapani is hosting Italian warplanes to allow Sigonella to host Danish jets.
You’re all getting lost in the intricacies of Clancyist analyses and you can’t see what’s really at stake here.
It matters not one jot that Malta has next to no military hardware. It has a sovereign government, and as Al Pacino once said: “All I have are my balls and my word.”
Our balls were never there in the first place, and our word always tilted in favour of Gaddafi, right to this very moment.
I don’t know if it’s the lessons on Jesus being against war drummed into us by our Catholic culture or if it’s our historical Jewish mercantilism at work here. Either way, this is the beginning of the end of Malta’s European dream. You mark my words.
“And crawling round Gaddafi’s ankles will not stop him attacking Malta. This is a man who has no scruples about killing Libyans. Why on earth does anyone imagine that he will have scruples about killing Maltese just because Lawrence Gonzi takes his calls?”
Exactly! –
“Gaddafi vows to retaliate against Med targets as 110 cruise missiles hit Libya” “He vowed to retaliate with military and civilian targets in the Mediterranean …” ( http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110319/local/mediterranean-turned-into-battlefield-gaddafi )
EVIDENCE OF GADDAFI BREAKING HIS OWN WORD RE THE CEASEFIRE;
See Sky news this morning. Reports of fighting in the outskirts of Benghazi and video evidence of Gaddafi plane shot down over Benghazi by rebel antiaircraft.
Gaddafi troops overnight are at outskirts of Benghazi.
Issa Malta mal-leccaculi l-ohra ha tibghat observors to rubber stamp Gaddafi’s claim that the ceasefire is being observed? Lil min ha jibghatu? Lil KMB jew lil Dalli, jew ghad iridu isiru aktar konsultazzjonijiet mal ”mexxej ”liehor, Joe Muscat?
Tal-misthija.
Tomorrow there will be the usual Sunday ‘Djalogu’ by the PM; this time it’s at the St Venera office (Fleur de Lys Road).
I never go to these events but I’ll make an exception tomorrow. Maybe I’ll have a chance to express my opinion on this issue.
Hopefully there will be others as the conference is open to the public.
Malta’s political scene is looking increasingly unhinged. The Prime Minister reluctantly concedes to a press conference, but only late in the day, but has time for village meetings and radio phone-in programmes.
The Leader of the Opposition cruises carnival floats and says he’s “busy with the Libyan crisis”, but doesn’t have time to join a solidarity demonstration with Libyan people.
Malta’s foreign ministry denies receiving an invitation to monitor Libya’s non-existent ceasefire, so we find out about it from the international media. Then the government says it is considering the invitation, rather than telling Gaddafi’s henchmen where to stuff it.
And meanwhile, we carry on with the pretentious charade that we’re the victims in all of this, so we don’t want to do anything about it but if we’re attacked then everyone had bloody well come to our assistance.
Il-lalla nigi wkoll. X’hin tibda?
Can you please give us further details of the meeting? Maybe one should also circulate them to the local group of Libyan protestors. I’m bloody serious.
Tomorrow’s “djalogu” has now been cancelled.
Your threats to attend this event scared the shits out of them!
There are just too many lawyers in our political class.
[Daphne – Obama is a lawyer. You mean ‘Maltese lawyers’.]
With Gaddafi, paper pen and wishful thinking do not work. Somebody is going to have to get their hands dirty to root him out. The Libyan revolutionaries have done OK but they need our help.
I keep getting a nagging thought that those high up in Maltese politics have been compromised in some way. Only time may tell. Regarding WWII, somebody here expressed the idea that the British dragged us into the war. They forget that where the Nazis took over, people like them were shipped off to death camps. Gaddafi killed over 1000 political prisoners a short time ago for protesting about their poor conditions, so I wonder why our soft stand.
I am a lawyer too although, thankfully, I don’t practise. However, I hardly think this is a matter of whether we are led by lawyers or engineers.
It is simply a matter of doing the right thing.
The decision is simple: whether to contribute towards efforts to stop atrocities by a dictator, or not. To bring it to the level of the regular maltastar reader: if a child is being bullied in a school playground should the other kids help to stop the bullying or look the other way and then offer their sympathy to the victim?
The Times quotes Lawrence Gonzi as saying that with a ceasfire there should be no need for a no-fly zone now. Good God, man – don’t you and your type get it? The no-fly zone is there with the tacit understanding that the people wanting freedom in Libya can now finish what they started without being killed by merceranies or blasted to kingdom come by tanks. Get used to it: freedom is mainly paid for in blood.
Any one thinking of adding Gaddafi as a FB friend for his offer to Malta?
Could we possibly be more hypocritical than this? Allegedly on the side of the international community standing up for what is morally correct and then refusing to assist in implementing the only instrument that will effectively stop the killing of innocents even though we are geographically best placed to do so. History will ask where we really stood when this is finally over.
I am in full agreement with you on how Malta or better still the PM should act in these circumstances. On the other hand, Obama, Sarkozy, Cameron and the rest seem to be just doing a lot of noises and threats and nothing else.
Wasn’t Sarkozy that promised action within hours? Can I ask where are the French Mirages?
Wasn’t Obama threatening Gaddafi with retaliation if a ceasefire is not put in place? He has a number of ships including an aircraft carrier in the area, where are his planes?
[Daphne – They’re working it out in Paris as we speak. I think miracles have been wrought to persuade Russia and China not to use their veto and to bring the international community together, including the Arab League and the African Union. Miracles. And it’s not thanks to Malta. So let’s just give thanks that there are leaders who are prepared to lead and that they’re not all like Malta’s and Germany’s because then where would we be.]
As for Cameron, he is most probably the least of a culprit here, the UK have no aircraft carriers and has downsized their armed forces, so it will take them time to organise actions from bases in Cyprus.
And the same holds true for the other countries.
The Libyan people needed action a week ago, the UN resolution might have come at the eleventh hour but there is a good chance that midnight has already passed and we are still pussy footing.
And please let no one come in at state that it takes time to organise a no-fly zone. The countries proposing and supporting it had days of discussions and plans would have been made in advance with even troop movements taking place. So I am afraid that there is more to this behaviour by the West then just the need of time and agreements – I hope that I am wrong on this one.
So in a nutshell the only difference between Malta and the rest is in words and not in substance.
[Daphne – How can you say that? The difference is in ATTITUDE. Compare Malta’s attitude to that of other European leaders. Go on. Who else is taking calls from Gaddafi at this late stage? Who else has been unable to even mention Gaddafi’s name or to say what he thinks about him?]
I think that if the Prime Minister is wary that the other countries are in fact going to do nothing except strong talk, then the least he could have done is remained in his office or home and not given that press conference – and I state this with a deep regret in my heart as I have (had) the utmost regard for him.
Yes, one can add attitude as another major difference, but the fact remains that whilst the world is debating, discussing, planning, threatening (more than 36 hours have passed since the UN resolution and Gaddafi’s planes are still wrecking havoc in Libya) the no-fly zone is still on paper), Gaddafi is moving his troops and attacking civilians.
Let me be clear, this does not excuse our country – and unfortunately not only our political leaders – both sides – but also a large chunk of our pea brained population – in not acting as we should have by giving our full support (including military) to the Libyan people and totally slapping a no communication ban with the regime.
I just hope that a miracle will happen and we see this barbarian knocked off completely and preferably hanging from one of the main poles in Tripoli.
It seems that the miracle might still happen – attacks on Gaddafi’s tanks are imminent.
What a damp squib this attitude has been. My pride in my little island for our evacuation efforts has been reduced to nothing.
How much more humanitarian can you get than to help eliminate the bastard who is butchering his own people. Or is our humanitarian aid restricted to bandaging mutilated Libyans to send them back for a final solution?
And they call themselves the stronger sex. What cowards. Malta showed the world how brave it was in the Second World War. Then, we had brave strong men. Now, we have a load of pussies.
Somehow I think that if Eddie Fenech Adami was still PM, Malta’s reacton to the Libyan crisis would have been bold and resolute. But then, Fenech Adami had to muster courage to bear the brunt of the brutality of an administration that was very close to Gadaffi, while Dr Gonzi sheltered under his uncle’s cassock.
We thought we had a strong leader, but now we find out that we have a wimp.
“Serves them right. They started it.” – a comment on timesofmalta.com
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110318/local/malta-will-not-be-base-for-enforcement-of-no-fly-zone-pm
glorianne farrugia
May I remind you that the ‘Cilvilians’ that you are talking about,are armed,and they started all this in the first place…
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110319/local/malta-thanked-for-largest-ever-chinese-evacuation
How long are we to continue backslapping ourselves and giving hi5s about our wonderful role in the evacuation of foreigners from Libya? The Chinese refugees came in ferryboats chartered by the Chinese government, stayed on the ships, then straight on to MIA to board planes sent by the Chinese government. End of story.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/18/libya-obama-gaddafi-un-strikes
Ceasefire, what ceasefire ?
What rubbish, Gaddafi “wrote” to Obama (government spokesman right now, Al Jazeera) again blaming Al Qaeda.
[Daphne – Saw that. Pathetic. I don’t know how our prime minister can stoop so low as to keep taking these people’s calls.]
The only reason I can see for that is that there must be various undercurrents, and – possibly – personal threats, be they to Gonzi, Borg or Dalli.
Gonzi and Muscat want to remain neutral. Perhaps it’s because they have been neutered.
X’ahna bravi.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110319/local/alert-urgent-message-from-gaddafi
Prepare to meet thy doom.
This morning’s events show how unwise last Thursday’s declaration of war (aka as “UN Resolution”) was.
Gaddafi’s forces have entered Benghazi, at least according to the international media. So, now what?
Do France and Britain now attack these forces within the city, destroying it totally? Will “civilians” be protected in this way? And should “defending civlians” mean destroying airports, airfields, roads and other infrastructure, to deny them to the government forces? Is this what the Libyan people want? Who will pay for this? This is one big mess Cameron and Short-kozy has gotten us, and the Libyan people, into.
Daphne, the truth is there are too many interests involved here, and these interests are purely commercial.
Did you hear the MHRA press conference yesterday, calling on the PM to give the impression that Malta is not involved in any way in this conflict for fear of no bookings in hotels for this summer ?
The reality is that whether we like it or not Gaddafi holds many of our businessmen by the balls, and probably hold our government and opposition to ransom too. So forget it if you think that the PM can get all of a sudden tough and statesmanlike because it’s not going to happen.
Our politicians will only speak against Gaddafi only once he’s gone. I’m sure that the PM got advice from different sectors not to be adamant about Gaddafi leaving because it would be very difficult to remove Gaddafi if not by international forces.
http://www.euractiv.com.tr/politika-000110/article/libya-iin-ankara-devrede-davutolu-isyanc-liderle-grt-016588
The government of Libya, Turkey and Malta, have declared they want to help the implementation of the cease-fire announced.
http://proje.hurriyet.com.tr/bbcnews/bbcview.aspx?HaberID=9622295&habertip=planet
Libyan news agency Jana, Gaddafi for the implementation of cease-fire, Turkey, Malta and Greece says it wants to help. According to the news agency, Gaddafi to supervise the implementation of the cease-fire, the three countries wanted to send a delegation to Libya, …
What is the prime minister’s email address? I, for one, want to let him know directly what I think of his decision.
It is cowardice, plain and simple.
Malta is acting like those smarmy brats in a playground who always hang on to the schoolyard bully but pretend to be friends with everyone so they can fake being ‘popular’.
lawrence.gonzi@gov.mt
Be prepared for a major disappointment though. He’ll fob you off with empty promises.
Spitting up in the air will get you the same result as writing to Gonzi!
Unless it’s some f**king pathetic trivial thing like a street lamp or a tree that’s being cut down.
We’re blaming it on Lawrence Gonzi. Are we sure he is surrounded by the right people?
[Daphne – The buck stops with him. Don’t blame those around him.]
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110318/163084284.html
According to JANA, Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi has already held talks with his counterparts in the Turkish and Maltese governments.
“He confirmed that Libya is ready to receive observers from Turkey, Malta and Greece to monitor the ceasefire regime,” the news agency said.
Tomorrow is Sunday. It is a day of obligation for those who care. So they go to mass and maybe receive the Holy Sacrament. Nothing wrong there. But to ignore mass murdering and find solace in lawyer’s talk is ‘faccjolismu grass’ and it cannot be forgiven.
How do our MPs expect the people to even consider taking them seriously? Shame. Shame.
Also if the University of Malta runs a course in ‘journalism’ it should be stopped instantly, never to open again. It did not deliver. We have enough proof.
The only light in this very dark tunnel is Simon Busuttil. May God bless him.
As for Joey, (can’t get round to use the word ‘leader’) ma jissewwiex.
What unbelievable deception! And you, Daphne, are a part of this charade.
We are NOT neutral in this. We just do not want to transform Malta into an aircraft carrier.
And sod you hilarious lot! You look like frigging amateurs yearning for the major league.
They want the satisfaction, you see! Qatta tfal zghar!
[Daphne – You sound so hysterical, Kevin. The prime minister must be really proud to have attracted your vote. Well, in a situation where every vote counts….]
Even if we were to accept your suggestion that Malta should never aspire to anything higher than the junior league, how is it in Malta’s self-interest to turn its back on the aspirations and suffering of the Libyan people in their time of need?
Long after Gaddafi is dead and buried, the people of Libya will remember.
The only “deception” at work here is the fictitious notion propagated by the leaders of both major Maltese parties, that:
(i) the neutrality clause prevents military facilities in Malta from being used by foreign forces in pursuance of measures or actions decided by the Security Council of the United Nations – a statement which is patently false; and
(ii) in order to fulfil its constitutional obligation of “neutrality”, Malta cannot take any side in a fight between a ruthless, bloody dictator – the Jim Jones of the Mediterranean – who is actively slaughtering his own people to prevent them from gaining even an inch in their fight for freedom.
The PM appears to have forgotten that the Constitution imposes another moral imperative on Malta: to actively pursue peace, security and social progress among all nations.
Neutrality was about not taking sides between the USA and the USSR, or between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. It did not absolve Malta from its obligations under international law with respect to human rights.
Sod off, Kevin Ellul Bonici. Your lot have done enough harm to last several lifetimes. You’ve got some nerve butting in here to preach about neutrality, particularly when you’re shacked up with someone who bought into Gaddafi’s proposal of a billion dollars for human life.
As I recall, it was your crap heroes Dom Mintoff and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici who set Malta up as Gaddafi’s vassal state, and then you went on worshipping them.
The less heard from you about all this, the better.
kev’s going to thkeam and thkweam and thkweam till he’s sick, and he will, you know …
It seems to me that the goal posts keep shifting as Gaddafi becomes more defiant and belligerent.
Clearly, while implementation of the UN resolution for a No-Fly Zone is not yet engaged and whatever else it takes to protect the Libyan civilian population, any action will be interpreted by Gaddafi [as the threat already is] as war with the West & the UN & whomever Gaddafi throws into the pot, especially rebelling Libyan citizens.
Clearly, the only effective action will be the forceable removal of Gaddafi–not only for protecting Libyan civilians, but for protecting civilization beyond Libyan shores.
If Gaddafi continues to insist that implementation of UN action is war and attempted interferance in internal Libyan affairs, the West will have to use any measures necessary to remove Gaddafi. The actions will have to be pro-active and not reactive [as the present UN resolution seems to be defined reactively–in terms of Gaddafi’s failure to abide by the resolutions and step down].
No war is quick; no war is clean; but this is a winner take all situation, where even the winners don’t win, or there is still much to lose. Until rendered otherwise, Gaddafi is not yet loosing and everyone else stands to loose. Gaddafi may be mad, but he is intelligent mad.
Gaddafi expects no stomach for war in the West. We cannot be “neutral” in such matters. And the long-term consequences of failure would render Malta without any security. There is no place here for Neville Chamberlains.
Certainly, the world feels appropriately negative affect regarding Gaddafi. However, as this war developes, and despite Dr. Gonzi’s “humanitarian” efforts, there will be growing negative affect in a significant slice of the Maltese electorate surrounding his “neutrality” stance, which ought to be registered in plummeting PM approval ratings, if my feelings are anything to go by.
No wonder the PL are largely silent on Libya except to reflect the usual neutrality mantra [if they were governing this country, it would be even worse].
When there is Dr. Gonzi on neutrality, who needs a PL campaign to lower the PM’s formerly relatively appealing public persona? Joseph just stands “neutral” somewhere in the corner (or hides under a rock) and largely keeps out of political harms way, which may reflect aspirations and fears of another wide swath of Maltese electorate.
So the Bundeskanzlerin is in Paris on what must be one of the most embarrassing damage limitation exercises in political history.
I wonder what our Mr Dalli has to say about Gaddafi troops attacking whilst a ceasefire has been declared by their boss.
It’s OK for Canada, tucked away thousands of kilometers away from Libya to say what it pleases.
[Daphne – Clearly, Angus, it is not. When Gaddafi decided to blow up a passenger plane, it was an American passenger plane and it was blown up over Scotland. Similarly, when he wanted to finance terrorism, he financed terrorism in Northern Ireland. And when he wanted to blow up a nightclub, he blew up a nightclub in Berlin where US soldiers went for R & R. Distance means nothing. Nothing.]
It’s total liability had things to go awfully wrong amounts to six F16 fighter jets and some 126 support crew all of whom will be safely on board the ship sent near Libya.
Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan remains a bone of contention with many and especially when soldiers are returned from there in wooden boxes.
The Opposition rattles its sabres every time and by Opposition I mean the Liberals who themselves committed Canada to the ‘War against terrorism’ in Afghanistan in order to appease the next door neighbour – the United States.So politically opportunistic!
Many politically motivated individuals including the author (or purveyor) of ‘Made in Brussels’ and other equally inane programmes on One TV, criticized the NP for going for FULL membership with the EU (as opposed to non-existent Partnership) citing the loss of sovereignty as a prime issue.
Now that Malta has exercised its sovereignty, we criticize the government for doing so. As usual the Maltese mentality kicks in.
The next days and possibly weeks, while Gaddafi delays, distorts and divides keeping the Western and European forces at bay, may reveal and prove right the reason for Malta being restrained and reserved about playing the heroes and then finding too late that it would have bitten more than it can chew.
We are not neutral. We have been neutered.
Read Robert Fisk’s piece today at http://www.independent.co.uk.
‘First it was Saddam. Then Gaddafi. Now there’s a vacancy for the West’s favourite crackpot tyrant. Gaddafi is completely bonkers, a crackpot on the level of Ahmadinejad and Lieberman.’
What the heck is Gonzi doing talking about how to monitor the ceasefire? What ceasefire?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110319/local/monitoring-of-libya-ceasefire-should-be-carried-out-by-the-un-government
Look at the types and amounts of weapons UK sold to Gaddafi.
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AonYZs4MzlZbdGFBN1NWM0hrbFc0OWd1dDR2dUVfbnc&hl=en#gid=0
Par idejn sodi eh?
Mur ara kieku l-par idejn sodi halla l-forzi armati Inglizi u Amerikani juzaw l-ajruport ta’ Malta ghat-tluq u nzul ta’ ajruplani tal-gwerra u ajruplani tal-passiggieri (turisti) jghaqdu fl-ajra sakemm ikun imisshom huma biex jinzlu.
Ara kemm biki u kemm Joseph kien jiftah hongra ghax qed nitilfu l-introjtu mit-turisti!
Malta ghanda ajruport wiehed u l-Italja ghanda bosta ajruporti fuq basi militari fejn jistghu jinzlu u jitilghu ajruplani tal-gwerra bla ma jtellfu titjiriet kommercjali.
Things are moving.
http://www.france24.com/en/20110319-live-fighting-reported-benghazi-libya-united-nations-gaddafi
Breaking news:
The show is on. French Rafale aircraft with Reco-NG pods are overflying Libya. We’re in the reconnaissance phase.
Neutrality was never on the Nationalist Party’s book. The Nationalists were made to swallow this pill in exchange for free elections.
The way our PM is now waving the flag of neutrality at every opportune occasion is disturbing to all Nationalist Party supporters, who associate neutrality with Mintoff and KMB.
Really, Gonzi has lost touch with the feeling of his voters.
Sorry…. error in my earlier message. My observation refers to the blog at 12.31 in same site
Wonder of wonders, most of the contributors are specialists in: psychology, psychiatry, international law, military strategy and what not.
Those countries which side with superpowers or mighty states have every right to murder their own citizens and those of next door neighbours.
Many cases come to my knowledge all over the world.
Jien nahseb lil Dalli jibghatu bhala osservatur. Wara kollox ma tantx jintefqu flus ghall-akkomodazzjoni ghax ghandu fejn joqghod go Tripli.