That’s the difference between the powerless beggar at the gate and the powerful dispenser of the favour of collaboration
Angela Merkel has visited China with a view to talks on RECIPROCAL investment (German companies have many factories in China and employ hundreds of thousands of Chinese) and the first thing she did was raise the thorny matter of human rights in that country.
She can do that because she’s powerful, because she goes to the table as an equal.
Muscat has cast himself in the role of the powerless beggar at China’s gate. Even if he gave a damn about human rights (he doesn’t, at least not where they don’t come attached to votes for him) he would be too afraid to do what Merkel has done lest it upsets his communist dictator benefactors.
Being overcome with awe hasn’t helped keep his brain in gear. If he were operating at his usual level of cunning insight into how far he can push the envelope and manipulate situations, he would have been keenly aware at all points of this negotiation that China needs to swallow a titchy EU member state whole more than the titchy EU member state needs China’s money.
Joseph Muscat, like Merkel, could have gone to the table as an equal, knowing he’s got what China wants. Instead, he went as a supplicant, like Mintoff before him.
Of course, I object to being swallowed whole by China under whatever circumstances, but watching Muscat let it happen while he stands there with his begging-bowl is even more offensive.
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http://www.business-standard.com/article/international/merkel-raises-issue-of-human-rights-on-china-trip-114070800598_1.html
And here’s why.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3eeeXcrd98
The system is unsustainable when it refuses to acknowledge the inextricable link between democratic liberty and bubbling internal demand.
Demand for knowledge as much as some branded T-shirt.
Every bank’s pulling out given the absolute lack of predicted results, every state sanctioned project bogged down, corruption poisoning everything, from feasibility studies to political decisions.
‘Managing public opinion’ won’t suffice.
Ah, but China’s got EXIM bank. And see who’s their intermediary:
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=145562659&privcapId=145526058
I bet he drives an X5.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0bNf-jcVU0
Love it when they go all bombastic with the names, Brilliance, CEO.
Poverty in spirit, just like the Gzira Taparsi. It’s also significant how China made most inroads into Zimbabwe and Uganda, not exactly a history of illuminated societies there either.
Merkel went to see what Germany can sell to China in China i.e exports.
Muscat went to China to see what Malta can sell to China in Malta i.e. selling ourselves to a Communist dictatorship.
Angela Merkel went to China to protect Germany’s Eur 90 billion (Eur 90 “elf miljun”) of exports to China. Meanwhile China sells an approximately similar amount of goods and services to Germany, leading to a roughly balanced trade between the two exporting giants.
Joseph Muscat went to China to get a few goodies and feasibility studies worth Eur 20 to 30 million at best, while handing over Malta’s sovereignty and dignity – which are priceless – to China.
Muscat thinks he’s done better than Merkel because “we’ve achieved an agreement that is unique in Europe.”
He can say that again. No other EU country is so easily bought or has sold itself to China wholesale.
See his video interview here: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140709/local/update-4-malta-china-mou-features-cooperation-in-aviation-energy-new-breakwater-and-monorail-projects.526998
This should be a main news item.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140709/local/q1-government-deficit-rises-to-1324-million.527000
Malta: China’s bitch in Europe.
Following the prime minister’s signing of an MOU with the Communist Party of China, China’s penetration into the Maltese investment market is getting deeper.
Muscat : from Alfred Sant’s poodle to China’s poodle
Dogs in China are food, not pets.