This philantropic effort presents itself agressively as noble on the Public Relations front of things! The MOAS have tactfully done the rounds of Maltese instituitions, from the Presidents Office right down through the Ministries, and even with the AFMs operations top brass at Luqa Barracks. They have done their homework well, hats off for that. Capping it off superbly with having head-hunted the former Maltese Chief of Defense Staff himself to lead it locally, and another veteran AFM Maritime Squadron officer to handle operations out at sea. That this irks several in key positions of responsibility in Government and the Maltese military is no secret amongst those in the know, and private social media chat rooms or forums have been buzzing with chatter that these two former AFM Officers have conveniently forgotten that they are still listed on the AFMs Reserve Troops books, despite having retired from Active Duty with the Treasurys pension with its nice bells and whistles! As prompted and suggested by many blog comments on the timesofmalta website, there isnt any big rocket-science required to simply pose the logical question: where to shall any rescued and recovered migrants be taken and SAFELY landed, once located on the high seas of the Mediterranean? Brigadier Martin Xuereb, has the privvy of knowing well the inner workings and legal obligations or limiting restrictions the AFM/Maltese Government have in rendering assistance to migrants in distress, and this seems to be the trump card being played cards down by the MOAS intent! Many Maltese may rightfully assimilate or associate their efforts to the Italians failed MARE NOSTRUM operation, which is vacuum-cleaning the central Mediterranean of any migrant afloat between the Libyan shoreline and south Sicily. Other do-gooders may be bolder in comparing them to the Gaza blockade busting boats too, but who are we to grumble?!! I simply ask myself, why hadnt these American philantropists stayed at home, to tackle what other mischief is pouring over the US/Mexican border, rather than butting their nose into Southern European border-control affairs, when and where there is an absent FRONTEX (as an EU border-management agency sucking outright, and which is plagued with internal infighting, corruption and what not . . . ) ??? The MOAS effort brings back to my memory incidents like the tussle between Maltese and Italian governments of the MV Pinar, which loaded rescued-migrants it couldnt land anywhere. It reminds me of when the French F70 type anti-submarine frigate La Motte-Picquet recovered migrants corpses in the Libyan Search-and-rescue region of responsibility, and was denied access into Maltese waters to land the bodies. What will happen when MOAS and its ex-AFM leadership get some hot potatoe they cant handle? Is Pope Francis expected to help from the Vatican? I wish them the best of luck, but still believe that it is the wrong way to tackle the illegal migration phenomenon. Am of the type that believes in boots-on-the-ground in Libya, to eliminate the criminal cartels that are raking in millions of dollars off these poor sub-Saharan folks, trying to escape corruption-inflicted misery in their home territories . . . timesofmalta/articles/view/20140713/local/benefactor-couple-fund-first-ever-private-migrant-rescue-at-sea-mission.527413
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 09:12:18 +0000
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