Is Malta making a BIG mistake?

Think the thread has lost direction however the topic was .. is Malta making a mistake and effectively are they a target for Isis. Well I guess Iran smashing Isis troops is one thing a section of Royal Marines can smash isis however they will pop up seconds later in the next neighbour hood.. its not a killing win we cannot kill everyone associated to Isis and anyhowb who are isis and yes money is the game .. bit who is making the money study it follow the money.. you will see and if you think there are only 7000k Isis troops well rest assured from personal knowledge they have most likely around 10,000 British passport holders fighting for them .. I can only  say that as they tried to buy vehicles and bullet proof vests from me in Dubai .. of course with due diligence. They had paperwork for Libyan Governmemt.

Does anyone on this forum actually think that the United States of America would allow ISIS to even launch a rubber raft in the Mediterranean without taking immediate action against them??? Really now. ISIS is on the hit list of almost every nation in the western world. Malta has nothing to worry about. Seems everyone here is grossly overestimating the strategic importance of Malta and underestimating the power of the USA who defends the entire Middle East virtually singlehandedly.

James wrote:

Does anyone on this forum actually think that the United States of America would allow ISIS to even launch a rubber raft in the Mediterranean without taking immediate action against them??? Really now. ISIS is on the hit list of almost every nation in the western world. Malta has nothing to worry about. Seems everyone here is grossly overestimating the strategic importance of Malta and underestimating the power of the USA who defends the entire Middle East virtually singlehandedly.

"underestimating the power of the USA who defends the entire Middle East virtually singlehandedly".

And what a splendid job they have done so far!!!   

PS.  remind me again who they are defending it against?

Some people are missing the point of this post and not reading the original post and what was posted subsequently,  properly.
I wrote that:
One cannot ignore what is happening in Libya………….
……should there be any cause for concern?  (Note the question mark)
Worst case scenario is…………….
And in my second post I wrote:
‘I acknowledge that my scenario may appear to be ‘extreme’’

Consider this a ‘mind game’.

I would also argue that one has to live here to understand the Maltese psyche, how the Maltese view things (generalisation, I know) and read the Maltese press and comments. Or at least have had some experience of Maltese culture.

So, applying some logic here; if my original post brings about a majority view that there is no potential threat then that will be reassuring to others and not 'scaremongering'. (Which it is not as I am not spreading alarming news or making false or exaggerated claims.)
Conversely, if there are realistic concerns then people need to know that.

Of course, for any conclusions drawn to be valid they have to be derived from those who understand and not from those who view from afar and who do not understand.
One would naturally think that they would stick to their own areas of expertise.

tearnet wrote:

And what a splendid job they have done so far!!!

Like it or not, if you depended on the British Armed Forces to protect you on your little dot in the Mediterranean you'd have all been speaking Arabic long ago. Even journalists in your beloved homeland deride the UK's near total lack of involvement in fighting ISIS. I'm sure, that in your unbridled arrogance, it galls you all to think that your once powerful "Empire" has lost its luster, but if it weren't for the Americans you'd all be in sad shape.

Note: I'm not an American, but I'm not so blind that I can't see that they're about the only ones who give a rat's ass about what's going on over there.

Get off your high horses and be thankful that they don't just abandon you to your own fate!!! Pack of ingrates.

From the Guardian:  http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/f … e-iraq-mps

That is an insult to my Uncle, The Maltese, The Australians and all others who fought here during WW2.
Where were the Americans then?
Know your history; ingrate.
Such ignorance and such anti British bigotry. (Heard all this from him before.)

I know my history quite well Mick, and while they didn't enter WWII until 41 if you think the war would have been won without their participation you're sadly mistaken. If it depended on the British, Canadians, Australians alone your uncle would have had to learn to goosestep. Give it up you're living in the past, the golden era of the Empire is long gone!!! Hell, even Brazil is a more important world economy nowadays. That must be a real kick in the head for you.

OK James, I'm going to call you out here.
Show me on here any examples of British arrogance?
If anything our posts are about the Maltese, and their culture.
But then perhaps we should do as you say and stick to the subject!!!
You also presume too much.
As you are a team member I would have thought that you would know that insults and writing such stereotypical racist rubbish would get you a ban.
You have also beautifully exampled why your presence here is not welcome.
You know nothing.

Oh Mr. C, in case it might come as a surprise to you, my father and uncle were in the Royal Canadian Navy and all my other uncles served in the Canadian Armed Forces during WWII. I thank God every day of my life that the USA got involved, because I have no idea if any of them would have survived to come home following the war. Maybe it's you who should dig out the history books. The war was on the verge of being lost completely until Dec. 8, 1941 and your British pride isn't ever going to change that no matter how hard you try.

I think you have lost the plot here.
Show me any negative comment I have made against America or Canada.
Show me anywhere that I have expressed anything that could be construed as British colonialist comments.
This is NOT about WW2, stick to the issue!!
My British pride!!! I have told you before; I am mixed race and do not describe myself as British.
Are you drunk?

Mr. C,

I think it's time for you to get new specs. If you go back and look at reply #45 my comment was directed toward your dear friend Terry, you chimed in on it of your own volition. Since that's the case I see no need whatsoever to justify myself to you. You're the one who got your Fruit of the Looms in a knot and went off on a tangent about WWII. Anyway, I'm done with this forum, won't be back so you can all rest assured. It would be a great waste of time anyway since you guys over there seem not only to be the owners of that little rock, but also the owners of the TRUTH itself.

Go celebrate, break out the bubbly...... tchau!!!!

Hello All

Hope no one minds me just expressing my opinion about this. Firstly I mean no offence to anyone so if any is taken please accept my apologies.

I think in relation to ISIS, I think it may be naive to think that in some way Malta wouldn't be a target. Others have said that Malta has no strategic benefit, to be fair I think the importance of Malta is being over looked. It is worth bearing in mind that a number of country/civilisations have over the years seen Malta as a piece of land with significance strategic importance and I can see ISIS being no different.

Also as has been said Malta is constitutional neutral, this holds up in the common understanding of war, but the battle with ISIS and those who are liked minded isn't a war based on land, oil or any other physical commodity, this is a battle of ideology at that point unfortunately it is almost impossible to be neutral as again unfortunately the mindset is that you are either with them or against them.

In answer to the post, do I think Malta is in danger of being attacked personally I don't but obviously I do say this currently from afar but can say categorically that the possibility of this isn't putting me off to Malta. In the modern uncertain world you can never be 100% safe 100% of the time, all you can do is be cautious but carry on with life.

Again hope no one minds my view.

10,000 British passport holders fighting for them

Most estimate 500, but one man said it was 2,000, so that's the new number everyone used - until yesterday when it jumped to 10,000.
I'll bet the cross channel ferry services share prices have jumped up because of all the new ticket sales in the off season.
I'm amazed the British authorities totally failed to notice 8,000 heavily armed people in black masks getting on the ferry to Calais.
I demand an enquiry, and I'm going to write a stiff letter to the Times about it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne … State.html

Oh, yes - and I'm hardly happy at the idea of British mercenaries fighting all over the area.
I'm a little unsure what the difference is between a paid foreign fighter for ISIS and a paid foreign fighter attacking ISIS.
It's quite clear, ISIS are nasty, but what about an almost totally unregulated bunch of mercenaries, all able to kill with hardly a mention from anyone, there to replace troops in Iraq so the British government can claim withdrawal of forces.
Operation Apollo.

OK, moving on and ignoring irrelevant posts....................and remembering this is a mind game'.

I read that last weekend Italy was sent a threat by ISIS which prompted a response (subsequently withdrawn) of Italy sending forces to combat ISIS.

But what was also interesting was the reference to using illegal immigrants to swamp Italy.

Now, those of us who know, know that illegal immigration here is a real issue and many who come here are from failed attempts to get to Italy. Now, to an article:

What is disturbing is that something is drastically changing in the migrant shuttling business, which has lead defense analysts to warn that Italy has never been so exposed to an attack.  For the first time since Italy started officially rescuing migrants in 2013—first through its now defunct Mare Nostrum program and later through the European Union’s border control Frontex Triton mission—the smugglers, who usually melt in with the migrants, are armed and dangerous.  Last weekend, smugglers wielding Kalashnikovs fought the Italian coast guard rescue boat to wrestle back a smuggler ship after the human cargo had been rescued and the boat seized.  They hauled the boat back towards Libya, presumably to fill it up again.  The Office of Migration in Rome says there could be as many as half a million people in camps waiting to come to Italy and the unrest will push them out faster.


Now the interesting bit:.......

  Along with the possibility of direct terrorist attacks, ISIS has threatened to send “500 thousand immigrants into Italy from the Libyan coast” in the case of a military intervention in Libya. According to reports, the news comes from intercepted phone calls between jihadists, who would use immigration as a psychological weapon. One objective would reportedly be to provoke mass deaths at sea and thus destabilize the country.

I think that a variation of this strategy could, perhaps be, a danger to Malta.
Malta cannot cope alone.

It should be noted, the above total crap was from an ultra right right website.

http://www.breitbart.com/national-secur … o-exposed/

This is getting really silly, with made up numbers of British ISIS fighters, right through to rubbish from right wing hatesites.

You still here? Not 'total crap'

Links:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world … 50186.htmlhttp://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/eu … -1.2105832http://rt.com/news/232595-italy-embassy-libya-migrants/

Now if you don't believe me? Given that so many end up on Malta and Malta hosts Libyan State Businesses, coupled with the direct threats made to Italy I still believe that there is a potential risk. That potential risk needs to be addressed by Europe & the UN without delay.

Islamic State militants are planning a takeover of Libya as a "gateway" to wage war across the whole of southern Europe, letters written by the group's supporters have revealed.
The jihadists hope to flood the north African state with militiamen from Syria and Iraq, who will then sail across the Mediterranean posing as migrants on people trafficking vessels, according to plans seen by Quilliam, the British anti-extremist group.
The fighters would then run amok in southern European cities and also try to attack maritime shipping.
The document is written by an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) propagandist who is believed to be an important online recruiter for the terror in Libya, where security has collapsed in the wake of the revolution that unseated Colonel Gaddafi in 2011.
The group has already established Libyan-based cells, who on Sunday released a video showing a mass beheading of 21 Egyptian Christian guest workers.

Good enough source?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne … urope.html

Interesting. A newspaper, quoting a man with an agenda, makes claims - but provides absolutely no evidence.
By the way, Jonathan Russell, Quilliam’s Political Liaison dude, contributes to Tony Blair's rubbish.

http://tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/rel … an-russell

I believe their credibility has just come into question, more so when you find out Quilliam’s founders are both Blair's pals.

Perhaps a source that doesn't involve a US government paid traitor to the UK might be slightly better.

By the way, quotes from silly racist sites tend to suggest something about the people that put them forward as evidence.
Believing Blair is clearly silly.

Now I know that you are irrational.
And btw if you are insinuating that I am racist then anyone who knows me would laugh (at the least) in your face; as I would.

redmik wrote:

Now I know that you are irrational.
And btw if you are insinuating that I am racist then anyone who knows me would laugh (at the least) in your face; as I would.

I did not do so, I said, quite correctly, that you were quoting a right wing hate site (neglecting to mention where you got that clap trap from), and suggested it says a lot about you.
You assumed I was suggesting racism, but I was not - I was suggesting your argument is weak if you have to resort to cobblers of that nature in a bootless attempt to prove your point.

So, why did you quite a right wing site, and why did you forget to mention where the quote was from?
Why do you read and believe rubbish like that?
and, while I'm asking questions, why do you believe Blair and his pals, using them to make you point?

The whole suggestion in the OP is daft.
Apart from the fact ISIS don't have even close to the forces to mount an invasion, or the transpor/supply linest to try, they are sticking to high revenue sites where they make fat piles of cash.
Quite why a bunch of businesses is going to bring that invasion is foggy.
If you'd suggested terrorist attacks, possibly, but the very thought of an ISIS takeover of Malta is very silly.
Of course, if the extra 9,500 British ISIS members (that seem to have appeared as magically as the fancy dress shop dude in Mr Benn) were to suddenly parachuted into Malta, I'd get worried, but as any man who supplies paid killers to fight for the highest bidder would tell you, sales are likely to go up if the threat can be sold as greater than it really is.

ISIS came to me last week, trying to buy buttonhole flowers for 10,000 French ISIS members, all intent on a date with Edith Piaf, saying they would regrette rien if they blow themselves up.
The singing was terrifying, but the cooking was very good.
Two, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, were intent on making a bombe surprise.
Very dangerous, so I ate my blanquette de veau as quickly as possible, trying not to add a B onto the end of my compliment, "tres bon", just in case they got any ideas.
As ISIS are extremist Muslims, there was no wine.

-closed until I find the time to read everything here-

sorry this, you're getting into politics, which aren't really welcome here