Top comment of the week
Posted by Nik:
I’ve often thought that Joseph Muscat must be an admirer of Vladimir Putin and now I am convinced that he subscribes fully to the Russian President’s philosophy of elected autocracy.
Its disciples would claim that it is a democratic process, but it is not, simply because it is not based on the principle of pluralism.
It does involve winning elections, often convincingly, and it also requires that there is an organised opposition, since this gives a semblance of legitimacy to the political contest. In reality, however, it is all a sham.
Its main ingredients are a ruthless coterie of decision-makers, many of whom may not actually be in the limelight at all, with the addition of a gullible and/or mercenary population. Unfortunately we have many of both in Malta.
The gullible tend to have the attention span of a goldfish and they approach politics the way they approach the garbage reality TV to which they are addicted. There is no analysis, just absorption of meaningless sound bites.
Policy is just a word to describe the fad of the moment. This is the vast multitude of people (including a number who vote PN) who do not think that there is anything wrong with sweeping away a cadre of capable people simply because there is a change in government.
It does not occur to them that many of those getting senior jobs under Labour did not get those jobs in the past not because they are Labour supporters, but simply because they were not capable.
The Putin method is to counter every word of criticism with the accusation of negativity. This slowly, but surely, squeezes the space within which debate can be healthily engaged in. It isolates the Opposition and plays on the weariness of a population that only wants money in its pocket and doesn’t want to have to think about how it got there.
That’s why many would consider the citizenship scheme a stroke of genius; that’s why they would reason that the PN is against it just because they didn’t think of it themselves.
There is, of course, the fear that the gullible cannot necessarily be counted on all of the time, primarily because they tend to be fickle in their loyalties and will switch allegiance if they perceive a slight, especially if they consider it to be directed at them personally.
This means that this group needs to be bolstered by a few soldiers of fortune whose commitment can be bought or co-opted. Generally these would be interest groups whose focus is sufficiently narrow as to be able to appease them with a few token measures.
It may be individuals who may be able to influence others and who are softened by the allure of sinecures or treasure, in the form of lucrative salaries.
This approach creates a critical mass which is very difficult to dislodge, because its own fate becomes intertwined with that of the “movement” to an extent that its members have too much at stake to be overly critical of the hand that feeds them.
This, in brief, is how Mr. Putin is guaranteed to win any election in which he runs; he doesn’t even need to rig the polls, because enough people will always vote for him. Mr. Muscat seems to be taking more than just a leaf out of this book: we will continue to see the Opposition edged into a corner, out-witted by a cunning (not necessarily clever) and ruthless adversary.
As I’ve commented before, I do fear that the only path available to the Nationalist Party will be to out-Labour Labour. I also know that many believe that it’s got to be an eye for an eye when so much is at stake, but I still cling desperately to the hope that, as in the past, the Nationalist Party can come up with a new rallying cry with which to win over enough of the electorate.
That though, may take too long: even when it was advocating Independence, freedom from Mintoff’s brand of radical socialism and then EU membership, the PN could not command a huge majority, mainly because it does not pander to the baser instincts of the electorate.
Make no mistake: the Nationalist Party has had its fair share of nepotism and white elephants, but it has a far less dependable core of diehard voters. This plays into the Putin scenario, one that his disciple Muscat is clearly putting into practice.
11 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
Been reading The Economist, or watching BBC World News have we?
Putin has no philosophy at all. It’s just that Russia came out of eighty years of Communism, historical tragedies, civil war and massive territorial changes and the West expected it to turn Jeffersonian liberal overnight. It wasn’t equipped for the task: that cadre didn’t exist, and its citizens had to undertake a giant paradigm shift.
That is why many of them found comfort in the idea of a strong, rather autocratic leader who defends the national interest.
But I don’t think you’re familiar at all with Russia. Many of those things which we identify as democratic and Western – press freedom, the freedom to criticise and mock your leaders, public debate, the think tanks, political and ideological factions, an intellectual class, critical analysis – do exist.
In Malta, they do not.
And that, Nik, is the difference.
Of course here in the West we only hear about Russia when some Femen activist takes off her top in a church, performs mock coitus with an icon, and is arrested, so we might be forgiven for thinking that Russia is down there with Malta in the Europeanness stakes. But it isn’t.
Want to know why the PN doesn’t win? Because at the end of the day, it is as Maltese as the rest of them. It has known corruption, cronyism, lack of transparency and the inability to turn inspiring visions into policy and then into reality – to a lesser degree than Labour, to be sure, but people want results, and when you promise them Prosperity, Justice and Freedom, they expect you to be squeaky clean. Labour promises nothing but revenge and malice (‘Taghna Lkoll’ i.e. it’s our turn at the trough now), and it delivers.
I don’t think the Nationalist Party can ever win another election. It reached the high-water mark in 2003, and it will keep receding.
I’m afraid you miss the point: I make no claim to know Russia, but I can recognise opportunism.
The parallel is the manner in which the tools of democracy are being exploited to create an elected autocracy.
Of course the history is different, but the Maltese, like the Russian masses, respect a strongman more than they do an intellectual.
They prefer brute force and cunning, rather than reason and debate. There lies the comparison.
Perhaps the greatest sin of the Soviet Union was that it abolished sophistication: the Russians of good taste fled or were choked.
We’re not quite there yet, but there is potential.
The point on which I disagree is your parallel. Consider this: Putin came to power after Boris Yeltsin, possibly the worst leader that Russia has ever had, if we include Soviet Russia. It’s like anyone in Malta coming to power after Mintoff.
And you’re absolutely wrong about the sophistication. If there’s one thing that distinguishes Soviet Communism from its Chinese or Southeast Asian counterparts it’s precisely that it kept the sophistication alive.
Which Malta didn’t. We destroyed all traces of sophistication even when the Communists weren’t in power. Xarabank was first aired in 1992.
Muscat has no philosophy at all. That makes him a sort of mini-Putin, but without the trophy wife and poncy shows of manliness.
Xarabank started in 1997.
No it didn’t. That’s when you first watched it.
I’ve often thought Muscat and Kasco hired out the boxed collection of the West Wing and watched one too many.
And because Joseph Muscat has been following Vladimir PUTIN too closely, Muscat has brought us in a situation best described in the Italian proverbial “andiamo a PUTtane” – we have been whored.
Malta Tana Lkoll has been prostituted for one thousand million Euros to 1800 billionaires – from China, Azerbaijan, the Middle East – and to their friends.
We shall overcome, H.P. It was over in no time with Sant at helm. It will take a little bit longer this time, but I’m not despairing.
If you have contacts among the Resistance, activate them. The weakest link is Manuel Mallia, specifically his leadership ambitions.
The PN could learn a lot from his marketing team.
http://www.businessinsider.com/39-photos-of-vladimir-putin-2013-3?op=1
He doesn’t need to rig to polls, because despite all you said, he is a likable person and a lot of Russians admire and like him. The men want to be like him and the women want to you-know.