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Joseph Muscat: a leader as small-minded as his followers | Daphne Caruana Galizia

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Joseph Muscat: a leader as small-minded as his followers

Published: February 1, 2011 at 10:01am

Let Vince Micallef through! He's a lawyer, you know. The foreign minister has described as immature the only statement that the leader of the Opposition has made about the crisis in Egypt and Tunisia, which is that Malta should unleash a massive marketing campaign to get their tourism business. The foreign miinister is too kind. That statement goes beyond mere immaturity and reflects the hamsters cage mentality of so many Maltese. But you would expect a leader to lead, and not to be one of the hamsters who cant see beyond the treadmill. I dont suppose you need telling, but I do know that the Poison Dwarf who takes care of the Labour leaders communications reads this blog because every time I refer to him in this manner I find a couple of obscenities in the comments box so I will explain why that marketing campaign statement was so illadvised. 1. It makes Joseph Muscat look small-minded. 2. It is disturbing evidence that he has no concept of the magnitude of what is actually happening. 3. His first statement should have been about the crisis, and not about how we can profit from the crisis. 4. Despite doing the Alfred Sant thing and telling us that he is an economist when he isnt, he clearly has not understood that the first thing a revolution in Egypt is going to do is have a nuge impact on the price of oil. Worse still, when somebody devised a mock marketing campaign that fully illustrated just how damned stupid and shallow the Labour leaders remarks were, the Poison Dwarfs considered reaction when the Labour
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30/03/2013

Joseph Muscat: a leader as small-minded as his followers | Daphne Caruana Galizia

Party was asked to comment was that they had a good laugh and found the savior faire (spelled badly, of course) amusing. They seem incapable of understanding just how serious this crisis is, and just how stupid and crass Muscat sounded when he said what he did. A bit of fence-mending (ask Ronnie Pellegrini) would have been in order here, but no. This is the Labour Party were talking about, with its grand history of never apologising and never explaining. And bang on cue, The Financial Times reports this morning that oil prices have broken through the $100-abarrel level for the first time in two years. The Suez Canal and a pipeline linking the Red Sea with the Mediterranean have continued to operate so far, but the Egyptian economy has ground to a halt. Unfortunately for Malta, Joseph Muscat will be made prime minister by people who think as he does: small island types unable to put anything into context, with little insight or self-awareness, who think yet that they are terribly impressive. One mustnt despair, though. This country has survived much worse at the hands of its own people. It will do so again.
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7 Comments Comment 1. maryanne says: February 1, 2011 at 10:30 am Do you remember the hofra which Alfred Sant had found? Maybe Joseph Muscat will find broken pipelines now and he will be able to shift all the blame like his predecessor. Reply 2. Kukkudrill says: February 1, 2011 at 10:42 am http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110201/local/muscat-makes-no-apology-for-insensitivetourism-comments Reply Matt B says: February 1, 2011 at 2:25 pm The comments on that site, as usual, are beyond absurd. Reply 3. Fairy Liquid says: February 1, 2011 at 10:50 am http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110201/local/malta-appeals-for-orderly-transition-inegypt
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Joseph Muscat: a leader as small-minded as his followers | Daphne Caruana Galizia

Reply 4. ciccio2011 says: February 1, 2011 at 10:59 am A revolution in Egypt could have other dramatic consequences besides the immediate impact on the price of oil. It can re-open the Middle East territorial disputes and endanger Israel. Reply 5. Luigi says: February 1, 2011 at 5:10 pm To be an economist you have to take an honours degree in economics, the a masters, preferably at one of the worlds top universities, like the LSE. Then, if you are accepted into the doctoral rsearch programme, also at a top university, youve got to research and write an original thesis not something produced for you by an East-Berling-Before-The Fall-Of-The-Wall political mentor. Joseph Muscat has a BA in public policy, an MA in European Studies and a PhD in management research. That does not make him an economist, by any stretch of the imagination. Reply 6. La Redoute says: February 3, 2011 at 10:53 am The country survived much worse, but in different times. Expectations are different and the worlds context is different. Therell be little tolerance for bungling incompetence and the failure to address real problems. Muscat is in for a nasty shock. Its a shame that it wont affect him one bit, while his sheep-like followers are the ones who wil suffer most. Reply Leave a Comment Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website

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Joseph Muscat: a leader as small-minded as his followers | Daphne Caruana Galizia

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