Malta first and foremost!

The prime minister declared this week in parliament that Malta was evaluating whether to accept an “informal” invitation to join Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.

Abela announced this when responding to questions after giving a ministerial statement following his attendance at the European Council last week.

Abela did not mince his words: “If it is in the national interest Malta would join the board regardless of whether the EU disagrees with the move or not.”

The prime minister added that he was taking legal advice on the matter.

It was clear at this stage that given the choice Abela would gladly join Trump’s board.

Hungary and Bulgaria are the only EU member states so far that agreed to sit on the board.

Abela told parliament that his position at the summit was that the decision whether individual European countries should join the Board of Peace or not should remain one of national competence. He insisted the Maltese Government is open to any initiative that is in favour of peace.

Trump claims the Board of Peace is part of the solution to all global conflicts. That its initial remit was to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza is by now a footnote.

But apart from the fact that the board is composed of the most unsavoury and authoritarian characters in the world, western leaders have voiced concerns that the board could replace the United Nations, which Trump has repeatedly blasted and disowned.

Considering Donald Trump is one of the most erratic and self-indulgent politicians the world has ever known; and since he does not embrace the two-state solution for Palestine and Israel, it is hard to believe why Abela would want to depart from the position we have always had as a ‘nation’ on the Palestinian solution.

What I also found difficult to understand in the heated replies Abela gave to Opposition questions, was why the prime minister took issue with what he called “dangerous” language in a PN statement regarding the US.

He accused PN leader Alex Borg of being “a catalyst for trouble”, quoting what he claimed was “inflammatory” language in the Opposition’s statement. One sentence Abela described as “inflammatory” was this: “Any pressure, threats or interference by any other country constitute an unacceptable abuse.”

Abela accused Borg of not understanding the repercussions of a 10% tariff that Trump threatened to slam on those who opposed his plans to acquire Greenland.

I revisited that part of the speech to be 100% sure if I had heard right.

Abela further hit out at a protest organised by NGO Repubblika  in front of the US embassy in Ta’ Qali over the killing of US citizens by federal immigration agents.

The NGO’s protest was after the fatal shooting of 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minneapolis. It was the second recent ICE-related fatal shooting in the city. It also followed reports that a five-year-old boy was detained while returning home from school.

Abela clarified that this was not the Maltese government’s position, as he accused Repubblika of acting in a populist manner. He insisted that Malta “worked endlessly to restore diplomatic relations” with the US, as he mocked the Opposition with the words: “Go and do your vigils.”

Did he need to say such a thing?

Do we have to explain to the US ambassador that this a free country and everyone has the right to express their opinion and protest freely.

Now, I am the last person on earth to embrace or speak for Repubblika but I found the reasons for their protest admirable. What I cannot understand on the other hand is the prime minister’s reasons for speaking as he did.

If people protest in the street in Malta, and they have every right to do so, the last thing we should be worried about is repercussions from the US because individuals might offend Uncle Sam.

And since when is condemning the intentions of a narcissist by the name of Donald Trump to take over a country such as Greenland, a no go? Is this for real?

After Abela’s outburst many people assured me that the prime minister did not say what was reported. For my sanity I listened to his parliamentary speech.  Unfortunately for me he was very clear in his message. And it was also clear to many Labourites who heard the same message, and in the same tone, that I had heard it.

The New York Times reported that the US State Department was planning to send Israel more than $6.5 billion of weapons aid that included Apache attack helicopters and combat land vehicles and would do so by bypassing a congressional review process.

Donald Trump’s quest for peace comes in many forms, it seems, including breaking international law and kidnapping people or even killing unarmed fishermen. Unlike Ukraine, which must grovel to receive military arms from the US and also give up minerals worth billions, Israel continues to receive arms, which it uses at will against Palestinian women, children, elderly and the innocent.

Trump is not a man a peace. He is man who is identified for his grandiosity, entitlement, attention-seeking, manipulation, and lack of empathy. The five pillars that perfectly describe a narcissist.

But if narcissism was the only problem we could sit back and breathe a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, today the US is a nation that believes that all other countries must be subservient to it and accept its Trumpism and dominance.  Trumpism is the new face of fascism and not to fight it would mean reneging on what unites us as Maltese; a nation built on the values of democracy and human rights.

And though it sounds cliché and very old fashioned, it would not be a bad idea if the slogan Malta l-ewwel u qabel kollox (Malta first and foremost) started to echo once again in the corridors of Mile End in Hamrun.

It is the least we can expect.