Better the dictator you know…

I listened to the Maltese parliamentary debate on Libya on Friday evening.  And I have to say I was not impressed, Libya has been burning and the pandemonium started as soon as the West thought it was a great idea to help out with removing the dictator and to discard any idea of a plan B. The world is full of dictators but in the West we have a habit of choosing which are the baddies and which the good ones.

I believe you all remember how one fine day the queen of bile suddenly appeared with a placard in Valletta hitting out at Gaddafi, some time before or after she had been seen on a flight to Tel Aviv. Just a coincidence I guess. And only weeks before Gaddafi had been hugged and kissed by many Western leaders, including Lawrence Gonzi. 

Whatever we say or do in Malta has little or no bearing on whether or not the Islamists take over Libya and turn it into an Islamic State. 

What I do know (and it may be grossly politically incorrect) is that the dictatorship of Muammar Gaddafi was infinitely better for the Libyan people and Libya than the anarchy and killings that have overtaken today’s Libya.

I was never an admirer of Gaddafi, and this paper stood out in its news reports about the atrocities committed under the Gaddafi regime, when no one was saying absolutely anything. One of our former journalists, Karl Schembri was taken to task at the time for being too inquisitive in his investigative reportage of Libya.

Suffice it to say that the Maltese foreign ministry several times in the past rapped this newspaper and asked it to refrain from being so critical of Libya – because it was not in the national interest. 

The Libyan embassy at the time thought that MaltaToday was some extension of the Gonzi administration.  Well, enough said on this slight error of judgment.

But the actions of the West in Libya, and notably by Sarkozy and Cameron, led to the downfall of a tyrant and the commencement of chaos and despair.

More people have died since the fall of Gaddafi than in his last years of dictatorship. Immeasurably more people have died in Syria than in the last years of Assad, and more people have been massacred in Iraq when compared to Saddam Hussein’s reign of folly and terror.

As Libya turned to Western democracy it was abundantly clear that Libya lacked the culture and institutional infrastructure to make this leap. Many other countries share the same predicament.

Removing dictators is not a difficult task, most especially if you control airspace.  But the real problem is that across the Middle East, dictators are being replaced by movements, groupings which are headed by megalomaniacs, zealots or amateurs.

In Iraq the situation is tragic, and one need only read the English broadsheets to see how they judge Tony Blair’s policy on Iraq. The new Caliphate State that has taken over a lame administration in the region is not only a threat to democracy but to thousands who do not share the same religious denomination or zeal.  That threat is extreme, it comes in the form of a death sentence.

In Syria, the heinous rule of Assad is being threatened with a far wickeder form of control. And no matter what anyone says or wishes to assert, Islamic rule offers little in the way of human rights and democracy. Usually it is very much the opposite.

Most of the dictatorships have embraced capitalism and though corruption is rife and freedom of speech non-existent, the quality of life is still more acceptable than the misery that many Libyans, Iraqis, Egyptians and Syrians suffer today. Democracy does not always guarantee freedom, Israel operates an apartheid and fascist system that distinguishes between an Israeli and a Palestinian.

The same of course applies to so many of our neighbouring Arab states who treat their minorities or their opponents in a similar way.

Needless to say the disarray in many Arab States and the internal conflicts within, allows Israel to retaliate without fear against the Palestinians.

And this brings us closer to home.

There is little or nothing we can do to change the international situation. We are if anything insignificant and without influence and to believe that we are not, is to take it too far.

But we are not irrelevant when we come to voting for members in the security council at the UN. And the latest news, which of course should please the pro-Israeli lobby, is that Joseph Muscat is planning to support Israel in its quest to have a seat on the UN council.

Apart from his contradictory position, this Blairite approach to Israel also contrasts with Muscat’s interest in taking advantage of commerce and investment with the Gulf states.  And with his interest in not offending the Arab states.

Unless that is he is seeing more of a commercial advantage with Israeli contacts.

But this is where money and principles should not mix.

The last thing we should do is to look the other way and embrace Israel because of a monetary consideration.

Muscat of all people should take the traditional Maltese stand of supporting the Palestinian cause. In no way am I suggesting that he should cuddle up to violence but the cruelty of the Israeli government, which can only be described as fascistic, must be questioned and confronted.

So it was heartening and a true breath of fresh air to see university academics stand up to be counted and publicly ask Muscat to take a stand in favour of Palestine.

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Last week, I raised my concern about the Prime Minister’s intention to postpone the local council elections due in 2015. Talking to people within government it is clear that they simply do not give a flying hoot what journalists think or what an NGO has to say.

The only word to describe this mindset is arrogance. Just because Muscat has a nine-seat majority and a 35,000 vote lead does not mean that he can do as he pleases.

This is one such instance of cockiness.