Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1446843
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 JANUARY 2022 Raphael Vassallo OPINION Whose side is Robert Abela on, anyway? I'VE seen some weird stuff in my day, you know. Like, for instance, when Napoleon Bonaparte de- cided to invade Russia in 1812. It just so happens I was in the room at that very moment: and I noticed that his eyes were straying too far, and too greedily, into the North-Eastern section of the Eu- ropean map. And I even said to him: "Boney? If you're thinking what I'm thinking you're thinking… it's kind of a bad idea, you know. Russian winters are slightly on the cold side; and let's face it… your armies may be very disciplined, and battle-hard- ened, and all the rest of it… but… they weren't exactly 'dipped in anti-freeze at birth', were they? (Even for the simple reason that anti-freeze hadn't been invent- ed yet; and in any case, it doesn't work very well on people anyway). So how about we forget Russia for the time being; and concentrate instead on slightly warmer, more temperate places to invade; like, say, Egypt…. or Malta…" But, well, we all know how old Boney was. Every bit as hard-head- ed, as his nickname implies… And in any case: that's also his- tory for you, I suppose. For had Napoleon Bonaparte heeded my advice, and abandoned his Rus- sian ambitions… he wouldn't have lost at Waterloo in 1815, would he? And Abba wouldn't have won the Eurovision Song Contest In 1974… So who knows? Maybe it all worked out for the best, in the end… But Robert Abela? And the sort of 'weird stuff' he gets up to, as a political leader? Honestly, it makes even Napoleon's invasion of Russia look like a minor, harm- less, little historical 'blooper'… Tell you what: let's take a quick look back over Robert Abela's first two years as Prime Minister. I won't waste too much time on that notorious 'Waves Are Only In The Sea' remark… uttered lit- erally minutes before Malta was engulfed by the first major COV- ID tsunami, in June 2020… For while it still stands out as the single, most thunderingly crass case of 'Famous Last Words' in European political history… there is, at the end of the day, a limit to how often we can be reminded about it. But how about that selfie he had posted, on Facebook, at roughly the same time… the one with a grinning Robert Abela at the helm of a mega-luxury super-yacht, sailing off to 'buy ice-creams in Sicily'… at a time when people were literally DYING (DYING, I tell you!) in Mater Dei's Intensive Care Unit…? Seriously, though. In anoth- er century, something like that would have triggered the French Frigging Revolution… Because even if we remove COVID-19 from the equation al- together – though it's kind of diffi- cult, isn't it? Let's face it: the Prime Minister was basically 'abandon- ing the country', at the height of a major national health emergen- cy… But even closing an eye at all that… what the heck was he even thinking? Was there no one at all, in his entire party, to tap him gently on the shoulder, and tell him that… It JUST… DOESN'T… LOOK… GOOD?? Leaving aside minor little details, like…. he's supposed to be the 'leader of the Socialist Party', you know; NOT 'The Wolf of Bloody Wall Street'. And that the me- ga-super-luxury cruiser he was so gleefully showing off in, was prob- ably worth more than half his own party's electorate (and everything they could ever dream of one day possessing…) Now: I'm not saying that Socialist leaders aren't entitled to also be… erm… 'filthy rich', or anything like that. As long as they buy their su- per mega-yachts with their own money, and pay everything they owe in taxes, and all the rest… I'm perfectly fine with it, myself. But… let's just say that 'flaunt- ing your own personal wealth' (and with such a cheeky grin, too!), at a time when your own voters are complaining about the rising cost of living… or worried about whether they can meet their children's school expenses next year… Sorry, that's a bit like Mother Theresa of Calcutta, gatecrashing one of Silvio Berlusconi's 'Bun- ga-Bunga' parties. It sort of defeats the purpose of the entire image you are supposed to be project- ing… But the much more glaring problem was that… the photo it- self was almost a carbon-copy of the one published in the press just a few months before. Remember? The one of Yorgen Fenech, no less, doing more or less exactly the same thing: fleeing the country, on board a multi-million-euro yacht! So once again, I ask: is it Rob- ert Abela's idea of 'good political strategy', to invite people out there to make subliminal connections between himself, and… a man ac- cused of orchestrating a mafia hit- job, for crying out loud…? I don't know. Maybe I should have learnt my lesson from the Napoleonic wars, and become a political strategy adviser myself… But of course, I still haven't got to all Abela's more recent antics. And that's partly because – truth be told – I don't even know where to begin! So I guess I'll take one example at random. That classic 'Last Tan- go In Strasbourg' moment, when Abela was seen running excited- ly towards Roberta Metsola on a red carpet, for a gushing embrace that could have easily been lifted straight from 'Gone With The Wind'… OK, I know I wrote about it just last week… but that article only looked at the Roberta Metsola side of the equation. If, on the oth- er hand, you turn your gaze from Roberta, to Robert… what, exact- ly, do you see? And how, pray tell, would the same sight have ap- peared, to the eyes of that sizeable chunk of Labour Party supporters who – sorry, Roberta, but you know I'm telling the truth here – simply HATE HER GUTS??!! (I mean… they have, after all, only been calling her a 'traitor' – and much, much worse – for around the past eight years, you know…) My own guess, for what it's worth, is that… a lot of oth- er things were 'Gone With the Wind' that day: including all the television sets owned by roughly half the supporters of the Labour Party… which all went smashing through the window, in unison, at approximately 8pm on Tuesday, January 18, 2022… The real problem, however, is that this astonishing display of 'courtship' – I mean, 'national reconciliation' – took place lit- erally the day before that police raid on Joseph Muscat's home… in a country where – in spite of everything – huge chunks of the electorate still think that 'police raids' are somehow orchestrated (if not executed) by none other than the Prime Minister himself. And I know what you're think- ing: 'Ah, but those people are wrong!' (And it's true: they are.) Nonetheless, even I find it hard to believe that Robert Abela would have had no foreknowledge of that raid whatsoever. And viewed from that angle: that 'Last Tango in Strasbourg' takes on a whole new level of political significance. For Robert Abela did not mere- ly promise 'continuity' from the Joseph Muscat; he campaigned on that very premise to become