Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1543797
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR KURT SANSONE ksansone@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 • 8 MARCH 2026 The 'war Cabinet' film and the unsettling reality around us Editorial WITH a full-on war happening in Iran and the Gulf region, the last thing we expected was a film from Castille featuring key ministers and agency heads acting to the cameras. Seeing the prime minister walk into the board- room at Castille to preside over a 'war Cabinet' meeting, followed by ministers reading out their lines while trying to act natural, was pathetic. Whoever got the bright idea of filming what should have been a sober meeting and creating a video for public consumption out of it, should be fired. At a time of heightened anxiety because of the Iran war, the video was not re-assuring at all and to make matters worse, while the 'war Cabinet' film was airing on social media, somewhere in the seas around Malta a Russian LNG carrier, the Arc- tic Metagaz, was being attacked by marine drones. This ship is part of the shadow fleet operated by Russia to export oil and gas in breach of interna- tional sanctions. There is lack of clarity as to where the incident involving the Arctic Metagaz actually happened. What we know for sure is that it did occur in in- ternational waters. We also know that the ship with a gaping hole in its side was discovered some 150 nautical miles to the southeast of Malta and the crew were picked up from their lifeboat in the same area after being located by an Armed Forces of Malta aircraft. We also know that the last known location of the ship before it switched off its track- ing device was some 25 nautical miles off Malta, on Hurd Bank, almost 24 hours before the 'may day' signal was given. Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said in parliament, the AFM only received the call for help in the afternoon of Tuesday, purportedly hours af- ter the explosion occurred. Mysterious circumstances surround the Arctic Metagaz incident but it brought back memories of last year's drone attack on a vessel operated by pro-Palestinian activists that happened on Hurd Bank. Both incidents go to show how the seas around Malta remain a theatre of conflict. And in an era where drones have changed the nature of warfare and terrorism, the risks are even higher than they ever were of having an incident close to us that could have debilitating consequences. Within this context, Malta needs to have the ca- pacity to identify potential threats, analyse them, and if necessary, neutralise them, even with the help of allies. To do this, the Armed Forces of Malta must have the intelligence—whether gath- ered directly or through information sharing—that gives it situational awareness that extends beyond the 12-mile territorial waters and airspace. The AFM needs to have the physical assets, technological equipment and adequately trained human resources to perform its primary role of defending the Maltese territory, its people and its critical infrastructure. And that also includes the ability to monitor the 25-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) whenever Malta decides to activate it. Malta's investment on defence and security does not make for encouraging reading. The budget is primarily eaten up by salaries, leaving little else for strategic and operational investments. Within this context, it makes little sense for Malta to opt out of EU defence funding programmes and initiatives because of the neutrality clause in the Constitu- tion. Neutrality in and of itself does not preclude the country from investing in its own security and defence capabilities. Former AFM Deputy Com- mander Col David P. Attard, writing in MaltaTo- day, argues that "neutrality without capability risks irrelevance". He is right. Neutrality is not an invisible shield that protects us all from rogue actions. On the con- trary, it needs to be defended in a credible way to serve its purpose. Attard argues that national security in the 21st century, for a small island like Malta, is not defined by acquiring tanks and fighter jets. "It is defined by sensors, intelligence capture and sharing, data integration, infrastructure protection and rapid re- sponse capabilities." Alongside the social and budgetary measures to cushion the country from economic shocks that may result from the ongoing Iran war, we'd expect Malta's 'war Cabinet' to also discuss national secu- rity in a serious way. It beggars belief that around the table in Castille the head of the AFM and other security agencies were not even present. It's not enough to gloat that Malta is one of the safest countries in the world. It only takes a single act of madness to change that statistic to the worse. And while that is not something we would like to entertain; it cannot be ignored or minimised. Maybe it's time for those in the 'war Cabinet' to step out of the film and into the real world. Quote of the Week "Biblical proportions." – The court when describing the criminal record of a man found guilty of aggravated theft, wilful damage, fraud, attempted fraud, breach of bail conditions and recidivism. MaltaToday 10 years ago Panama database shows Fenech firm in Mossack Fonseca company creation 6 March 2026 THE Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca - notorious for doing the bid ding of nefarious oligarchs the world over - has been employed as a choice firm for the creation of offshore com panies by more than one Maltese legal and financial services firm. MaltaToday relied on a database con tain- ing over l million names dumped online by British coder Dannie) O'Huiginn, whose pro- ject helped call attention to offshore money that uses Panama to hide ownership and money trails. The database was procured by O'Huiginn after hacking the publicly availa- ble Panama Online registry of companies. One firm listed as the director of a Panama company whose agent is also listed as Mos- sack Fonseca, is Fenlex Corporate Services Ltd - the legal firm of whose partner is Ann Fenech, the PN's executive committee pres- ident. Fenech yesterday told this newspaper she had no knowledge of the company Timber Trading Capital Inc., which was incorporat- ed in 2003 with Fenlex, Tonio Fenech (not the MP) and Karl Diacono as directors; the agent for the company was Mossack Fon- seca. An other company formed in Panama in 2004 with Fcnlcx, Karl Diacono and John Borg Olivier as directors, was Union Private Ltd Inc. [...]