According to the Italian Defence Supreme Council, which is chaired by President Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Italy is not in a position to defend itself alone in the face of global jihad. They have also concluded that Libya might become another Iraq in the not-too-distant future.
Italy boasts of modern land, sea and air armed forces. If Italy fears it would be impossible to defend its territorial integrity against the global jihad on its own, then what about us?
Italy forms part of Nato and it could, in an emergency, call upon its allies for assistance. Nato has already offered Turkey its total support if that country, a member of the alliance, is attacked by the Islamic State (or, as it is commonly known, ISIS). But Malta is a neutral and non-aligned country and, therefore, we cannot rely on outside help if attacked.
There are those who argue that being part of the European Union puts us in a better position when it comes to our defence. Not much. Following the growing tensions in Ukraine and Russia’s meddling in the affairs of a neighbouring country, Sweden and Finland, both avowedly neutral before joining the EU in 1995, are today openly discussing Nato membership.
Times of Malta reported on October 21 that “Sweden’s own military questioned its ability to defend itself for more than a week against Russian attack after Nato warplanes scrambled last year to meet Russian bombers rehearsing a bomb run on Sweden.”
So being part of the EU is not a guarantee of our country’s defence.
We should think and act responsibly about our defence before it is too late
Neutrality does not guarantee anything. Ask the many European neutral countries that were overrun by Adolf Hitler’s armed forces in the last world war. Ask the people of Kuwait, whose country was overrun by Saddam Hussein’s forces from Iraq.
Neutrality must be backed by a country’s armed forces, which should be better equipped and trained than those of the aggressor.
In Malta, we are in a very strategic position. With jihadist forces in Libya, who form part of a larger global jihad bent on raising their black flag on the Vatican, what can we do if they choose to use our country as a stepping stone to Rome?
When the Constitution was amended in 1987, Article 1 (3) was inserted, proclaiming, among other things, that “Malta is a neutral State actively pursuing peace, security and social progress among all nations by adhering to a policy of non-alignment and refusing to participate in any military alliance”.
Fine words! This article was introduced in the Constitution at a time when there were two superpowers: the USA and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union does not exist anymore. It is thus anachronistic.
If we want our country to be defended against aggression of any sort, the neutrality clause should be removed from the Constitution. And unless we do not want to join Nato we should start to think of some form of military alliance that really works in times of need.
Following the attack on the Canadian Parliament by a lone terrorist gunman on October 22, who, before entering, shot dead a young soldier standing guard at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper interpreted the shooting as being part of a broader bid by terrorist groups to bring their savagery to Canadian shores. In a tweet to John Kerry, the USA Secretary of State, he said: “This is why we’re with you.”
When Dom Mintoff changed Malta’s defence agreement with Britain from one of mutual defence to one based solely on renting our military bases, he stated that our defence was to be guaranteed by Italy and France to our north and Libya and Algeria to our south. But when the Libyan authorities – who, according to Mintoff, were our blood brothers – sent a battleship to stop us from drilling for oil in the sea to the south of our island, nobody came to our assistance. Because nothing was official.
Today, with the enemy in our backyard, we should think and act responsibly about our defence before it is too late. We are not immune to a terrorist attack, be it a lone terrorist or an organised terrorist group.
Joe Zahra is a former newspaper editor