Shh! I’ll tell you tomorrow

In words from James Blunt’s song 1973, I say here we go again. At the slightest provocation our Italian neighbours try to blacken Malta’s name. I wonder why! A couple of weeks ago some intrepid TV presenter decided, in his infinite wisdom, we Maltese were shooting the illegal immigrants out of the water, this being his nonsensical explanation as to why all the Tunisians were crossing over to Lampedusa and not Malta, forgetting that the distance between Tunisia and Lampedusa is less than half that between Tunisia and Malta.

Now we have that nasty incident when, because of some diplomatic pussyfooting between Malta and Italy, over 150 immigrants drowned and we have Roberto Maroni moaning about Malta’s vast search and rescue area yet again. The man really must understand that Malta is not going to give up its hard-earned colonial heritage. The Malta SAR, which is the equivalent of our territorial waters is, yes, disproportionately large and nobody, but nobody, is going to wrest it away from us. In it we could one day drill for oil should it hit $130 a barrel, which makes it worthwhile extracting and that, sooner rather than later, could be our salvation. Mr Maroni must understand that surely?

When I wrote about this last, the boatloads of immigrants were being launched from the long and snaky Libyan shoreline in fearsome flotillas and there was indeed panic in both Italy and Malta. Mr Maroni, playing to some imaginary gallery, had decided that Malta’s share of the immigrant intake that time was to be 40,000, a tenth of our population! Then came the great deal between the cavaliere and the colonel: signed and sealed with the return of the marble torso of Venus the colonial Italians had originally nicked from Sabratha and an indemnity of several millions of euros for having colonised Libya. The flotillas stopped at once and Muammar Gaddafi, for the past couple of years, has been trying to milk the EU in the same way as he was bought by Silvio Berlusconi!

Mercifully, the EU did not lose its integrity. What actually happened to the hordes of immigrants that tried to reach Europe during this period does not bear thinking of and should I have to ask you readers whether you really want to know I am convinced nine out of 10 of you would rather not. There is enough horrific video reportage on the net, however, like the Levite in the story of the Good Samaritan, we would rather pretend it does not exist.

The 1848-like revolutions spreading like wildfire all across the Muslim world have turned the Gaddafi and Berlusconi agreement on its head as the Libyans themselves are now trying to flee along with their ex-ministers to both Malta and Lampedusa. France has refused to take in any Tunisian refugees and Europe is girding her loins to resist an onslaught, which will only stop if and when true democracy is established in the entire Arab world which, at present, is as remote a possibility as having afternoon tea with a Martian.

We in Malta too must be prepared for a humanitarian crisis of immense proportions. With Nato making a Horlicks out of its lackadaisical leadership of the coalition air strikes, it will not be long before the Libyan pro-democracy fighters, which have been to date recognised officially by four countries including France and Italy, will be besieged in Benghazi by Col Gaddafi’s forces. And then what? Either the world sits back to enjoy the unbearably revolting spectacle of brave men, women and children being routed and massacred for their insubordination against a regime that has been condemned for crimes against humanity by every single world leader of any repute, starting with our own Prime Minister, or else the coalition has to perforce sack Nato and either France or the US take the lead to intensify the air strikes and arm the rebels if the proviso of “no boots on the ground” is to stand. In both instances there will be a mass exodus from Libya and I am sure many refugees will find their way here, so we must be prepared, at least I hope we are.

It is not going to be easy and it is not going to be any fun. The moral dilemmas regarding intervention are in fact no joyride either. I had fully concurred with the coalition’s decision in as far as allowing Nato to lead it. It would be ideal were the Libyans to achieve democracy by themselves, however, as time passes and all the weaponry bought by the Colonel from the once fawning West are put into effect then there is very little chance democracy will ever happen. The air strikes almost clinched it a couple of weeks ago but because of Nato’s unenthusiastic and rather slapdash attitude Col Gaddafi has again defied the rebels and is, as I write, well on the way to defeating them. Is this what we want?

By the time this article appears anything might happen. Benghazi could capitulate, or, should the rebels be suitably armed, Tripoli may be under siege. There is no way of predicting it. The world, minus the four countries that have officially recognised Benghazi, at present reminds me of Talleyrand who was overheard murmuring “we are winning” by one of his aides who had the temerity to ask this famous political chameleon who precisely was winning while they watched the skirmishes at the barricades of 1830 from the windows of the Tuileries, whereupon this survivor of ancien regimes, revolutions, directorates, empires, republics, restorations and monarchies, replied, “Shh! I’ll tell you tomorrow”.

kzt@onvol.net