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2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 SEPTEMBER 2021 Twenty years after 9-11: a world turned upside down Editorial SURELY the last 20 years since 9-11 have seen a world turned upside down by events that upset an entire world order. It is not just the added security inside airports, which seem to be the least inconvenient of neces- sary changes. The mood of world politics has been marked by the rise in Islamophobic, the effects of marginalisation on immigrant populations, the in- equalities in global development, and the effects of American military expansionism. Today we witness a sea-change: it is the U.S. that appears in retreat, while regional powers like Turkey and Russia jostle for greater influence in and around the Middle East, and China extends its soft power and economic might with its Silk Road diplomacy in Central Asia. The so-called "war on terror" became a flimsy excuse for war and reconstruction economics inside Iraq, but the effects of the American and British invasions are felt today. Gone are Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, but the hell unleashed in Iraq created ISIS and the effects of the new Islamic wave of terrorism were felt inside the Syrian civil war; and also on European soil and even in Libya and other parts of Africa. Under George W. Bush, war on terror allowed the United States to use its laws to make it easier to use surveillance against its own citizens, as well as to extend mass surveillance among Five Eyes allies, as well as using its NSA to spy on foreign governments and their citizens. Torture was disguised as 'en- hanced interrogation techniques' and secretive 'ren- dition flights' implicated many European countries. The human rights breaches of the war and the illegal data interceptions revealed by Chelsea Man- ning, Julian Assange and Edward Snowden forced them into exile or jail. The latter two still face ex- tradition to the United States for what they did. But it was their work that revealed the illegalities of the war on terror. And it was ironically, the revelations of Wikileaks that contributed to the Arab Spring's deposition of nasty dictators, of which only Tunisia today seems to be managing to hold together a frag- ile democracy. Even Muammar Gaddafi, who dismantled his more real WMD programme to save his skin for his rehabilitation as a guardian of the EU's external frontier, was finally ousted by the Arab Spring (and the so-called 'humanitarian intervention' by French, US, and UK-backed forces which left the country in chaos). Indeed, Libya and Iraq remain destabilised, and Afghanistan is now back in the hands of the Taliban. In Egypt, a counter-revolution set in with the military taking back power in Egypt under Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, whose security services are notorious for torturing and butchering their victims. In Syr- ia, Bashar al-Assad is backed by Russia. Palestine's problems are just a sideshow to the chaos unfurling elsewhere. The Taliban resurgence puts a difficult question to the anti-war movement: should the west withdraw after unleashing hell to see Afghanistan relapse into the dark ages? The absence of a multilateral alter- native, and a durable system of global governance bound by respect of human rights, has left a vacu- um, now increasingly being filled by an assortment of tyrants. For Europe, unfortunately, the bloc struggles to build its own common foreign and defence policy, and is further destabilised by Vladimir Putin's sup- port for the European far-right through social media manipulation. Even Malta experiences its fair share of post 9-11 effects. The international framework of anti-terror- ist financing rules means Malta's economy has come under greater scrutiny; so has its sale of citizenship to the global elite. The spillage of the monsters un- leashed by Iraq into neighbouring Syria and chaos in Libya, contributed to a greater influx of migrants across the Mediterranean. All these factors require policy-makers to con- sider wisely their actions on subjects that affect the Maltese, such as migration, where the movements of asylum seekers cannot be treated in a vacuum without the context of the wars and events that are pushing them out. Simplistic solutions that favour strongmen dictators to tend to Europe's external borders are hypocritical perspectives on which countries should enjoy the freedom of democracy, and those which should not. The return of the Taliban and the 20-year anni- versary of the 9-11 attacks remind us of the dangers of careless war, our domination by the military-sur- veillance complex, and the importance of humani- tarianism and diplomacy. 10 September 2011 No solution to ecological havoc in Ħofra ż-Żgħira NO solution has so far been identified for the impending ecological threat posed by the hourly flow of 43,000 cubic metres of warmer water into the Ħofra ż-Żgħira outflow from the new power station at Delimara. A proposal to reverse the direction of the intake and discharge of cooling water at Delimara has been shot down in a report presented by Enemal- ta, as the works required would disable the power station for 12 to 16 weeks. Presently, cold water from Marsaxlokk Bay, which is used to cool the power station's turbines, is being discharged in the environmentally sensi- tive Ħofra ż-Żgħira cove. The Malta Environment and Planning Author- ity's integrated pollution prevention control (IP- PC) committee had asked Enemalta to consider reversing the flow, so that the water is discharged in an area in Marsaxlokk bay where the adverse effects will be limited. The Ħofra ż-Żgħira cove presently receives 29,500m3 of cooling water every hour, which is 8ºC above the average water temperature in the area. With the proposed power station extension, the amount of warmer water will increase to 43,000m3 every hour. The water from Marsaxlokk is treated with a bi- ocide agent to maintain the plant's operational ef- ficiency. But the new 144MW extension requires an additional 450 litres every week of sulphuric acid and 450 litres per week of Biocaf (a brand of biocide), which will ultimately end into the sea. The discharge from this increased flow of warm water and biocides is expected to have a negative impact on sea grasses and corals. Increased sea temperature is expected to re- sult in reduced oxygen in the water, which could affect fish physiology, including spawning, egg hatching and development, feeding, digestion and growth. The latest report by engineer Anthony Barto- lo from consultants AIS says that reversing the flow back from the Ħofra ż-Żgħira outflow to Marsaxlook would entail repositioning of pumps, screens, filtering devices and their associated foundations and other civil works. ... Quote of the Week "In my interview with Times of Malta I did not 'nearly apologise' but I apologised, as is my duty as prime minister during whose tenure this heinous crime took place. I did not put any conditions to this statement," Joseph Muscat replying to Peter Caruana Galizia, who claimed the former Labour leader had only "nearly apologised" over the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia MaltaToday 10 years ago