YET ANOTHER BACKROOM DEAL CONCLUDED TO MAKE MALTA A DE FACTO MEMBER OF NATO

 

We are advised that the reversal of the longtime position of Malta's Labour Party, which is against becoming a Member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), has changed to a degree. PL has apparently agreed to allow Malta to join NATO's Partnership for Peace (PFP) program, an associate relationship, but which falls short of Membership. Malta's Constitutional neutrality provision, which has been cited for decades by NATO opponents on country's political left, apparently is not considered to be in violation by the country's legal experts. In truth and in fact, Maltese neutrality, which was based upon an East-West polarity, may be obsolete and unenforceable, because the Soviet Union no longer exists, there is no Iron Curtain, and no WARSAW Pact to threaten  the Western democracies, Malta included. 

Reliable sources have confirmed that a private, backroom meeting, between senior leaders from the ruling Labour Party (PL) officials, and their counterparts in the Opposition Nationalist Party (PN), have resulted in a mutual agreement to sign on for PFP. We do not know what the details of the arrangement are, but intend to publish them as soon as we can obtain the same from our whistleblowers. We do know that there will be NATO liaison officers stationed in Malta, to coordinate joint operations, including some assigned to counterterrorism duties. Some observers in Malta believe that the PFP program will, in essence, make the country a de facto Member of NATO. Whether it will become an admitted Member in the future is not known, but given the war between the Ukraine and Russia, circumstances may  accelerate its membership.

Full membership, whether of official or associated status, will certainly bring with it increased US and UK presence, especially that of a maritime nature, and possibly, for the first time, targeted activities under the American Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the UK Bribery Act, as military personnel will require force protection, and monitoring of relevant commercial activities.