• go whining and sniffling to every TV station and newspaper that’s ready to offer you a tissue of space on its media
• exhibit emotional stigmata
• proclaim love for your country while crucifying colleagues and government

The paralysing influence that the dictatorial North Korean leadership has on its people and country also extends to the  Malta-Korea Friendship Association. For the evidence, just take a look at the “activities” page of its website and you’ll see that the most recent update is way back in June 2007; the one before that is May 2006. Morbidly enough, these two “activities” are in fact obituaries. More of the North Korean joie de vivre rubbing off here?

Today the Tunisian Justice Ministry announced the lifting of the summons warrant issued against her in October. Back then, Ms Arafat thought it opportune to implore divine powers to help her overcome a political threat.

This Madonna of Malta is a new source of divine intervention to be reckoned with!

Click here for related post: Suha Arafat and the Madonna of Malta

Why exactly is Ms Arafat, a Muslim, praying to the Madonna of Malta, who, as per our Constitution, is Roman Catholic?

Click here for follow-up post: An intercession by the Madonna of Malta

A premature greeting, is it not? What with  the summer not having melted away completely and another two months before that December day. However, springing up from the turfed roundabouts are the decorations heralding the Christmas season. Why such an early blossoming of baubles?

Commerce is probably the main factor because, as economists and politicians like to emphasis, spending stimulates the economy. Since childhood, our minds have been trained to equate Christmas with gift giving and consequently these traffic island embellishments are actually a diversion to the shops and malls. Physically we might be driving home or to work but mentally we have been detoured into drawing up our shopping lists.

There could be a religious dimension to the matter of course, especially in view of developments in neighbouring Libya. Last Sunday, National Transitional Council leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil said that Islamic Sharia law would be the main source of legislation in the country. Many on this island shuddered upon hearing the words “Islam” and “sharia”, immediately fearing  that Maltese Catholicism was facing a new threat. The Church, which has recently lost its battle against the introduction of divorce in Malta, may now be girding its loins for another holy war. This early erection of Christmas symbols in public places is  proof of Malta’s preparedness to become Europe’s bulwark against the spread of Islam once again. I ask, is it mere coincidence or prescience that the government has been repairing the formidable bastions which protected us from the infidel  in the past?

A merry Christmas to all.

Or so goes the advertising slogan of Mediterranean Bank, which I’ve been hearing on the radio recently.

From the financial angle, this catchphrase is not the wisest that could have been chosen. Look at Greece, a bankrupt country without even a national consensus on how to pull itself out of the deepening hole. Spain, with unemployment hitting a negative record of 21.3% in the first quarter of this year. In the southern Med we have Libya, an economy shattered by exploding bombs and gunfire, and Egypt, where the cronyism of the Mubarak regime allowed for untold millions of dollars to be siphoned off from the economy. To the east, Syria‘s ruling elite of power-hungry money-mongers is imposing too bloody an exchange rate for the freedom of the inhabitants.

So, is it really that great to be Mediterranean?

The reason I chose to read this book is because it recounts the journey of the members of the Russian imperial family as they fled Russia, travelling by sea from Yalta to Malta. Though there are few references to my country, they are generally positive. Comments such as, “The Romanovs were elated by the beauty of the island” or “Sofka was very taken with Malta”. The Dowager herself wrote in her diary, “…Xenia and I drove in an open motorcar to lovely San Antonio in the loveliest weather and where the air was full of the scent of orange blossoms as we drove into the garden.”
The main part of the book is written in the style of an on-board diary while the concluding pages deal with the “where and  how all the family members and main characters end up over the years”.
In spite of the wealth they had been born into and their kinship to European royalty, I cannot but realize that a refugee is always a refugee, pining for a return to one’s home.

I rate this book a 7/10.

Being tortured mate? I feel for you but I’m from Malta and I don’t take sides.

Oh raped, woman? That’s horrible but I’m from Malta and I don’t take sides.

Shot at by soldiers folks, because you’re protesting for a better life? May God be with you but I’m from Malta and I don’t take sides.

Mr Labour or Nationalist politician, did you say you need my vote? May the best team win but I’m from Malta and I don’t take sides.