Granted that a maxim for democratic life is ‘the majority gets to decide’. You need to finish that sentence. The majority gets to decide who governs the country, but it cannot alter other maxims for democratic life, such as ‘the law is equal for everyone’. If it did, all we’re left with would be a [...]

For the first time ‘sources’ in the investigation of Satabank have actually said something about what they found and why the freezing of the bank’s transaction was justified. The sources say it’s bad. Very, very bad. Satabank handled transactions worth billions of euro that are “suspicious”. That’s bureaucrat-speak for ‘we know it’s criminal money but [...]

Yesterday marked Holocaust Memorial Day. There were many articles worth reading marking the event. I was especially struck by this one on The New York Times. It tells the story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a Portuguese diplomat who defied his government’s orders and issued visas to Jews escaping discriminatory laws and the violence that [...]

Statement by Repubblika: Forty people from all walks of life in Malta yesterday night formally set up ‘Repubblika’, a non-governmental organisation that wants to promote democracy and the rule of law in Malta. At yesterday’s Floriana meeting, Repubblika’s founding members approved the organisation’s statute that is now published on Repubblika’s electronic page at www.facebook.com/Repubblika. Members approved the [...]

This is the concluding part of a series that started two days ago. In recent years, Malta has been basking in an economic growth that rivals many bigger European countries. However accusations of widespread corruption, a murdered journalist and criticism by EU institutions has cast a shadow on Malta’s glow. The European Parliament raised serious concerns about democracy and the rule of law in Malta in 2017 [...]

The report on Times of Malta about the increasing unhappiness of expatriates living in Malta confirms anecdotal evidence and the direct experience of many people. Some would say that speaking to people who have been bitten by Satabank might give you a skewed picture. But that incident — still ongoing — is representative of a [...]

Seen on Facebook It’s not that Recep Erdogan is going to change his ways if Marie Louise Coleiro Preca tells him to. And it’s not like expecting her to tell Recep Erdogan that Malta stands for human rights, free expression and the rule of law is a realistic prospect in this universe. After all she [...]

Several PN Councillors have received in their postal mailbox a letter signed cryptically by someone describing himself as “Chairman, Djalogu għas-Sewwa” calling for support to party leader Adrian Delia and the “disposal” of “insubordinate crocodiles”. The letter is the last in a series that have been dispatched by conventional mail to Party Councillors bearing the [...]

Three Members of the European Parliament have tabled a question to the European Commission asking whether after reading the Venice Commission’s report on Malta they now are willing to “engage in a constructive dialogue under the rule of law framework”. That’s euro-speak for effective pressure on Malta to undergo reforms or face political consequences. The [...]

Part 1 of this series was posted yesterday. In recent years Malta has been rocked with a number of revelations of widespread corruption, erosion of free speech, and degradation of rule of law which tarnished its presidency of the European Union. Malta’s Prime Minister Muscat has brushed of these accusations as ”a coordinated attack on Malta by jealous countries”, but in reality, [...]

Read this report by the Index on Censorship ‘Mapping Media Freedom’ project on the extreme pressure places on European journalists to quit the story. The report identifies under-financing and business models that don’t over proper support for journalism and a “litany of methods” employed as a direct means to censor journalists as the two sides [...]

Now, what explanation could there possibly be for Keith Schembri to refuse to answer questions in court on 17 Black and Macbridge? That sounds a bit facetious, I get it. But consider that the case we’re talking about here is one he instituted himself in his own defence when Simon Busuttil drew his own conclusion [...]

When the story of our time is told, they won’t be talking much about the great architectural feats of the towers on St George’s Bay or the prosperity on the back of sold passports. They will be writing about us going out to dinner while people drown at sea. In 1996 Daniel Goldhagen took a [...]

The author, Annika Palome, is a freelance journalist and a Master in International Law, currently doing a post-graduate degree in International Cooperation and Development Sciences. This is the first in a three-part series. When Western Europeans talk of an authoritarian regime, they would usually refer to communist or fascist states such as North Korea, China or Cuba.  But the road from democracy to authoritarianism is much more conceivable than we would think; it does not require an overthrow of the government, revolution, or coup d’état. All [...]

Joseph Muscat, Karl Izzo and sundry mates The Opposition MPs who voted against the nomination of Karl Izzo for the ambassadorship in Montenegro went to some pains to insist their objections were not because Karl Izzo was a buddy of Joseph Muscat. Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici and Herman Schiavone were right to vote against the nomination [...]

Sent in by May Borg in response to one of the posts post ghost-writing-gate. Thank you, May. Manuel, I appreciate your concern and your hurt. This was one under the belt for you but I refuse to continue to discuss you. So I am going to post other questions which still need an answer. Who really killed Daphne? Where is Yorgen Fenech, is he being investigated? Why are Keith Schembri and [...]

In agreeing to ghost-write for Adrian Delia, for the reasons that I already gave for doing so, I helped in a small, likely irrelevant, way the person who I eventually came to think was not suited to be the leader of the party. I did not form an opinion on him before hearing him speak [...]

Pierre Portelli spoke yesterday about his University days. He graduated with a first degree in Communications in 1998 around the time the TV station he now runs, NET TV, was being created. As a graduating mature student he felt it was appropriate to ask political parties how they felt about owning TV stations and made [...]

I don’t have copies of the articles I drafted for the signature of Adrian Delia during his campaign. But the ‘finished product’, as it were, is online. I don’t overestimate the significance of the articles to the final outcome of that election perhaps because that helps me sleep at night. Somehow all those “issa l-Partit [...]

As a matter of background, for the benefit of the One TV 'journalists' who follow this blog, Sammi Davis is a woman. The rest of her great qualities can be gleaned from her writing. Mario used to live on my street a few doors down. He had two cars; a brand new, enormous black SUV [...]