The Real Third Siege

Blog post by Fr. David Muscat

It was a hot June of 1565. The pride of the Turks reached astronomical heights when Fort St. Elmo fell. None of the defending knights survived, and nine Maltese souls escaped by swimming to Fort St. Angelo on the other side of the Grand Harbour. The Muslims decapitated the Christian prisoners of war to demoralise the knights on the feast day of their patron saint.

It is a hot June of 2021. A different kind of siege is garnering ferocity in the same month when a gentleman with a nobility of soul rather than blood, opened his batteries in Malta’s direction in order that truth may prevail. I am referring to Marcus Pleyer. 

Now we have witnessed a reversal of roles: four centuries after De Valette’s victory, a group of charlatans are feeling besieged and will fight tooth and nail to defend an economic model which, with God’s help – and through the FATF’s actions – will be dismantled, for in truth, nobody is above God.

Pleyer’s battery of cannons is impressive and he may change radically the direction of so-called “Modern Malta”. In simple terms, we have been warned that unless we act decisively, then the FATF may take even more severe measures against Malta.

I’m using this imagery of the Great Siege because, the self-proclaimed liberal and anti-populist media pundit Manuel Delia authored a work entitled The Third Siege of Malta. It verges on the incredulous that such a book is launched, carrying articles that have already appeared online, shamefully exploiting the memory of the Great Siege.

Manuel Delia has no love for the Order of St. John, which he describes as a fanatical sect, due to what he considers its continuation of the crusading mentality. Festa-loving Maltese enthusiasts who fly flags of the Order on religious commemorations come in for the same abuse from Delia and are denigrated as being xenophobic. Hence the irony of the title of Delia’s magnum opus. Has Delia possibly realised that the memory of the Great Siege and the commemoration of Our Lady’s victory are no longer expressions of vile populism which threatens so-called diversity?

Back to the FATF. Pleyer was clear:

“The FATF expects effective sanctions commensurate with the money laundering/terrorism financing risks, are applied to legal persons if information provided is found to be inaccurate.”

He also demanded that Malta’s financial services enforcement agencies investigate cases related to tax evasion and publish real names of companies owners

It is thus clear that the over-extended honeymoon (L-Aqwa Żmien) created by “Muscat economics” built on Gonzi’s “sound finances” is finally over. We are now living Christ’s parable (Matthew 7, 24-27) where he described the foolish man who built his house on the sand instead of the rock. 

“And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was its fall.” 

As we have refused to heed Christ’s teachings, this is precisely what has befallen Malta’s Gonzi-Muscat economic house of cards. 

Some among the Nationalist-leaning professionals who support Delia’s Repubblika mob do so not because they seek justice or wish to mourn Daphne’s loss, but rather because Joseph Muscat’s imbecility has destroyed the goose that laid their golden eggs. This is the real third siege that will send shockwaves to certain Labour and Nationalist lawyers and financial practitioners. 

Some did see this storm brewing since the publication of the Panama Papers and the Malta Files – but were helpless because these were dismissed as lies at the time. Yet, contrary to what Simon Busuttil and Joseph Muscat had alleged when these documents came online, these “lies” were truthful. Displaying a real vulgar populism, it was Simon Busuttil who stated openly that the journalists comprising the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists were attacking Malta. He was quickly joined by Joseph Muscat’s denunciation of this media group, saying that they were jealous of Malta’s success. This is something the liberal Nazzjonalisti and Laburisti sal-Mewt very conveniently forget. 

Today’s newspaper editorials – with predictable monotony – are again calling for the rare political unity that existed at the time when the original scandal was made public. Marcus Pleyer ought to take note. Naturally, the 2 big parties could unite in a national solidarity government on such an issue in the same way the devils do when tempting humans to sin for Satan is not divided against himself. (Luke 11,18). Despite loathing each other in Hell, demons are united on earth by a common loathing for authentic truth and justice. 

Both sides wish to defend that golden piece of our financial infrastructure which Lawrence Gonzi ushered in, and which effectively rendered Malta a tax haven. Joseph Muscat, for his part, built on these foundations and perfected this infamous fiscal regime. The tunnel vision of our newspaper editors (unsurprisingly, given the personalities involved) makes it impossible for them not to miss the wood for the trees.

When the FATF will have its way, the greatest losers will be those Nationalist legal and financial practitioners who garnered millions of Euros via money laundering, passport selling, and other barely legal activities during Joseph Muscat’s golden 7 years. The list is impressive: former party international secretaries, former Maltese ambassadors, former party officials, and current party officials, former judges and current judges, sons of former prime ministers etc, etc.

In a sense, I feel sorry for Joseph Muscat. Instead of thanking him for the economic opportunities which enabled them to line their pockets, these holier-than-thou fake Christian Democrats are all lambasting him for the current situation. I’m sure Marcus Pleyer is not interested in looking at faces.

Thus, Repubblika’s call for national solidarity lacks any seriousness simply because they have hurled so many insults at the Partit Laburista and the conservative faction of the PN, that any PL-PN alliance will appear as a tragic farce to any objective observer.

This masonic call for a united front has the credibility of a musical repartee by Mossad Officers and Hamas fighters singing Barney’s song: “We love you; you love me, we are happy family” in front of Al Aqsa mosque.

Moreover, how can a National Solidarity Government come about when the current PN is an effective hostage of Delia’s Repubblika mob?

Every cloud has a silver lining. Manuel Delia’s rantings have certainly made the FATF’s work easier, not however in the direction Delia intended. His journalistic work will undermine the Nationalist scoundrels who lined their pockets during the Muscat era, and who simultaneously are supporters and donors of Repubblika!!

Many thanks indeed Manuel!! 

Te Deum Laudamus!