I am not sure if I am alone in thinking this; I believe the Secretary-General of the United Nations should explain what went wrong; that the European Union first, China, Russia and other lesser powers should hang their head in shame, and the United States examine its immediate on-the-ground effectiveness once its mighty rescue operation got underway; and that this planet, which devotes so much time and billions of dollars to global warming, ought to get its priorities right.
Hour after hour for 10 days after a powerful earthquake brought Haiti to its knees, we were shown appalling pictures of the dead, the dying, the mutilated, the half-buried, the survivors and, too long after disaster struck, still live bodies being rescued from their lapidary coffins. We saw babies being born in an environment of hell, looters looting and violent gangs going about their business as if nature's violence were not enough.
We saw Medecins sans Frontiers (MSF) and other charities, we saw Israel, which I believe was the first to set up a field hospital, going about their work as best they could. We heard complaints from MSF that aircraft bringing in medicine supplies were being turned away, more than once. Slowly, too slowly, we saw aircraft from the US bringing in troops (16,000 at the last count) and supplies. What we did not see for close to 10 days were those supplies reaching the trapped, the dying, the hungry and the thirsty. And the evil side of human nature being what it is, we witnessed black market transactions in hastily structured free market areas.
We heard that Hillary Clinton said there would be no airdrops when it was obvious that airdrops and airlifts to vulnerable areas were at least part of the answer. She was eventually contradicted. There would be airdrops, after all.
In 2010, a technologically advanced civilisation capable of transmitting pictures of a pothole in Mars from Mars could not overcome the logistics, difficult as these undoubtedly were, presented by the larger potholes, debris and rubble thrown up by a malevolent earthquake. In 2010, it did not dawn on those responsible for Operation Haiti that what was most urgently needed were 1,600 helicopters to drop supplies and security forces as near to the chaos as possible, if not nearer. In 2010, the combined effort of the international community - for the first 10 days - was like a damp squib in a bath-tub.
Surely in 2010 that community, through the United Nations, should be in a position to pool resources in such a way that these can be flown or shipped at a moment's notice to any disaster area in the world, be this the foothills of the Himalayas, the parched sands of the Gobi desert - or Haiti across the water. That it is not, that it does not seem to have contingency plans flexible enough and capable, in terms of resources and material, is an indictment as appalling in terms of governance as the Haitian tragedy.
On course
Occasionally worth making a few comparisons to establish just how generous we can be when it comes to aid-to-charity. Take a quick look at a couple of funds - the Malta Community Chest Fund (MCCF) and Dar tal-Providenza. Between them they attracted a shave less than €3 million - €2,947,377 to be exact; €2,329,792 (MCCF), €617,585 (Dar tal-Providenza). Assuming a population of 400,000 souls, that works out at just under €7.50 from every man, woman and child on the island; during a recession when whiners were out in force saying that woe is them and how were they going to cope in 2010 what with one thing and another?
A similar exercise in the UK (population estimate 60 million) would have had to rake in €450 million; in Germany (population 80 million) €600 million; the United States (population 300 million) €2,250 million; China and India - try the stratosphere. So, to thunderous applause, we should take a bow. It was a great note on which to end 2009. How goes 2010?
There is the cloud of energy prices to take into consideration, but even after doing that there are good reasons for optimism and In-Nazzjon's columnist Joe Zahra listed a few that deserve wider recognition.
We kicked off the year with an additional 25 British fund management companies, ongoing evidence of the strength of our financial services sector. We will see Smart City moving forward after fears that Dubai world could come a cropper. Abu Dhabi saw to it that that would not happen, after all, but there were anxious weeks before the rescue operation calmed minds in both hemispheres, north-south, east-west. As this government banked a great deal on Smart City as a flagship investment one could hear the sigh of relief coming from Castille and a second sigh when the company's board of directors announced this year's budget of €48 million.
SRTeckniks's project to maintain Easyjet's entire fleet will provide the island with another massive investment; as will Malta International Airport's now approved €16 million investment in a commercial complex spread over 55,000 square metres; and we also have that dynamic Island Hotels Group chipping in with €45 million to turn Ħal Ferħ into a tourist complex. We are talking employment here and in these recessionary times a boost to GDP.
In the public sector, employment will be boosted by the Piano Valletta-entrance-new Parliament-theatre (roof this, please) creation and, one hopes by initial work on Fort St Elmo. All this is good news for - and from - a government that has often been written off by denigrators as a tired, unimaginative administration on its way to the knackers' yard.
Mistakes, inanities even, there will continue to be but the course selected is indubitably the correct one. Having said which, Lawrence Gonzi should beware a hubristic approach; nemesis has this ugly habit of being one step behind.
Great Scott!
If Joseph Muscat wants to know what a political earthquake is, let him absorb what happened in Massachusets last week. A State that has returned a Democrat to the Senate - the late Ted Kennedy - for nearly 47 years; a State with a 3-1 Democratic voter registration advantage returned a relatively unknown Republican, Scott Brown - "I am a pick-up driver" - who rolled back a 30-point Oakley lead in December to a 52 per cent to 47 per cent victory, last Wednesday.
Attorney General Martha Oakley's defeat is in a very real sense Barack Obama's defeat; the shine is starting to disappear from his sheen. It is now all but certain that the healthcare reform bill that the Democrats were trying to force at such unseemly speed through the Senate and the House will have to be revisited.
Brown's achievement was, by any standard, a victory in the only sense that matters. Massachusetts - and do not forget that this electoral loss comes in the wake of Virginia and New Jersey - was regarded as a mini-national referendum on the President's performance. He now denies Obama the filibuster-free, legislative dominance the Democrats enjoyed up to last week. And it is not only his controversial healthcare bill as it stands that is fatally threatened; cap and trade and climate change will come under scrutiny. Worse than anything is the awareness hanging over Democrat incumbents and the entire Democrat machine like the sword of Damocles, that if Massachusets can turn against, what other State is safe?
Truth is, or at least truth in great part is, the attempt to push through the President's flagship healthcare reform lost mainstream America because voters saw that it was being rushed through without taking their fears into consideration and at an unwholesome speed, as if it were vital to bring about closure for the President to include its passage in his State of the Union message. Did anybody see Hillary Clinton nursing and hiding what was supposed to be a secret smile? She has been here before.
The reform is one that every decent American person would like to see in place as long as it was decently formulated, honestly debated, which it was not; as long as the Democrats did not resort "to bypass a formal House and Senate conference committee in order to reconcile those two healthcare bills" which they attempted to do. CNN's Jack Cafferty, an Obama man, criticised the President for not making even "a token effort to keep his campaign promises of more openness and transparency in government. It was all just another lie..." And he slammed Nancy Pelosi for claiming that "there's never been a more open process for legislation".
In 2006 she promised "the most honest, most open, and most ethical Congress in history". He retaliated with, "Here's hoping the voters remember some of this crap when the midterm elections roll around later this year." This from a commentator on record as saying that Obama is "terrific".
It looks like the White House and the Democrats will have to revisit their drawing boards.