less human, more primitively animal, more Lords of the Flies

 

The above is a quote from a true gem of an opinon piece by Dr. Mario Tabone Vassallo, published in today's Sunday Times. It initially caught my attention due to its rather intriguing title, 'Scrap the UN?', but it turned out not to be about that at all. It is in fact a rather run of the mill, if factually inaccurate and logically unsound, critique of the West's relations with the rest of the world. What is interesting about it, apart from the atrocious prose, is the fact that it provides a glimpse of how a Maltese professional with a superficial knowledge of international relations, international law, history etc. might view the world.

In one memorable paragraph, Tabone Vassallo asks:

How can we reminisce with pride on the Churchillian boast that we shall fight on the beaches and everywhere else to reclaim our country and forget that the recruits of Hezbollah are dispossessed and exiled Palestinians that are doing just that? How can we ignore that ever since it was democratically elected, Hamas offered a truce of sixty years if Israel withdrew to the 1967 boundaries (exactly in line with UN resolution 242) and held hope of a permanent Israel-Palestinian peace agreement in the long term?

I think that the best answer to ignorance is education and, if this is so, then we are fortunate that Vince Caruana of Kopin is about to take our political education in hand (see previous post). For that, at least, we have reason to be thankful!