Neutrality must not be compromised

Where, I wonder, is the middle ground between Lino Spiteri's lucid prose and I.M. Beck's bathos when considering Malta's neutrality clause in the Constitution? Reference by IMB to the hindquarters of rattus-rattus and unwashed people may perhaps be an attempt to amuse or entertain but it does little to enlighten the unaware.

In 2001, after the 9/11 attack on America (which I witnessed on television while on holiday here in Gozo), and Tony Blair's subsequent "poodle stance" in joining arms with George W. Bush, it was precisely Malta's neutrality which influenced my decision to leave non-neutral England and take permanent refuge here.

I had hoped, and still hope that Malta resists any attempt to make "Facebook friends" with any nation bent on using weapons of mass destruction or invasion, or might and force instead of dialogue. Malta (known during World War II as the largest aircraft carrier in the Med.) sits at the gateway between West and East, both physically and spiritually, and must continue as arbiter, listener and filter between all nations at odds with each other.

For I.M. Beck, the simmering tension between the US/Israel and Iran seem not worth a mention unless he is referring to it obliquely as a "power struggle between terror and stability".

The fact that Iran could become the target for Israel's nuclear battlefield weapons and lead to an uncontrolled response and escalation seems of no concern to him either.

He writes, "...this neutrality thing is so silly nowadays..." What absolute rubbish! Never, since the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has the world listened to such serious threats of unilateral so-called nuclear "defensive" action.

Malta must tread extremely carefully since it is likely to suffer from the fallout, in both senses, and the fragile economy suffer even more, should our neutrality be compromised and the conflict take place.

If Malta, following Christian doctrine, becomes an instrument of peace, and uses its unique ties to the Middle East to broker any dialogue, it will be to their credit; otherwise it must adhere to absolute neutrality, and refuse to ever again be used as an "aircraft carrier", give support to either side, or act as a communications base or a command centre in times of war, for the sake of the people of this tiny, extremely vulnerable nation.

Finally, for I.M. Beck's sake, he must understand that I am a starry-eyed, peace loving realist with ideals and principles who realises only too well just exactly how far the world has moved on, and how dangerously and precipitously we stand on the lip of catastrophe.