Those who believe Britain was magnanimous in defending Malta against Italian and German aggression during World War II are tragically naive about history and politics.
Britain defended Malta because it deemed the island to be a vital military asset, otherwise the Maltese would have been abandoned.
Remember Poland and the brave Polish partisans who fought side by side with British forces on land, air and sea and how Britain treated them after the war at the behest of Stalin and British interests?
If you don’t, then find out and discover the brutality of big power politics.
Malta was the target of Fascist and Nazi bombs because it was a British naval base. The Italian and German interests in Malta were identical to those of the British. These three ‘elephants’ fought for their own territorial pursuits, uninvited, over Maltese airspace and, in the process, crushed the Maltese, their buildings and monuments.
Malta was destroyed because it was the possession of one imperial power and coveted by two others. The popular notion that Britain sacrificed itself to save Malta and the Maltese panders to the interest and ego of Britain but assaults the truth and offends the intelligence of the Maltese.
The same is true behind the granting of the George Cross to Malta. It nourishes the Maltese ego to accept the official British line that it granted Malta the George Cross to honour the gallantry and bravery of the Maltese. But it does not take much nous to connect the military importance of Malta to the British war effort with the need to boost Maltese morale to avert their imminent capitulation.
No doubt, the British people genuinely admired the Maltese for sustaining the punishing aerial onslaught and the lengthy periods of starvation. But it was the British War Cabinet that determined the granting of the George Cross to Malta and their principal motivation was to keep Malta in the fight rather than demonstrate their admiration for the Maltese, as they so cynically and deceptively projected.
It goes without saying that Maltese support of Britain was correct because the Fascists and the Nazis were, without doubt, the bad guys in this conflict. It also goes without saying that Malta deserved the George Cross for its gallantry and bravery.
But Britain does not deserve to be honoured by having its military decoration placed on the Maltese flag because this ignores its total self-interest in defending Malta and the deception and self-interest behind the award of the George Cross.
The Maltese flag promotes the view the Maltese were taken in by the British ploy to avert a Maltese surrender. This view will be perpetuated as long as the George Cross remains on the Maltese flag.