When Britain and the USA, during the second world war allied themselves with Stalinist Communist Russia against the Axis, they were using “the enemy of my enemy” philosophy of convenience. When the war was over, Eastern Europe reaped the fruit of that philosophy; the Berlin airlift, the “liberation” (read occupation) by the Red Army of Poland and the Baltic states and the creation of East Germany, and the creation of the “Iron Curtain”.

Charles J. Buttigieg (TMID, 29 February) embraces this kind of reasoning which sometimes can prove disastrous.

Real friends are very hard to find, as Diogenes implied when he walked with his lit lamp during the day.

I do not consider CJ Buttigieg as my enemy, I really hate that word. I consider him as my neighbour (proxxmu). I don’t mind him calling me “good friend”. My religious beliefs are highly in conflict with the Machiavellian theories thought in Harvard University. To compliment CJ Buttigieg, I can find a lot in common between him and Dr Sant.

Being brought up in a working class diehard Labour family made me admire Mintoff a lot, especially for the good he did in the 1971-1976 legislature. If anything, he made us feel proud to be Maltese. But when censuring and socialist propaganda became the order of the day and things started to get out of his hands, I felt I could not associate myself anymore with his way of doing things.

Regarding Dr Sant’s premiership (1996-1998), I feel that Dr Sant used the “crowd pulling” Mintoff to help him win that election (the end justifies the means), and when Mintoff found out that he was used, he spilled the beans and appealed to Dr Sant to change direction regarding the hefty electricity bills and the drainage tax on each household. For us people with real moderate leftist sentiments, Mintoff saved Malta from further damage. To be precise, Mintoff voted against some detail on the Cottonera Waterfront Project; it was Dr Sant who “called his bluff”, and made the pre-condition that if that vote would not pass he would resign. This is very recent history.

I thank CJ Buttigieg for answering to my letters. I have to say that sometimes I was amused with his writings, at least this time round he avoided the word “gutter”.

I hope he will keep writing after the election. In the meantime may I encourage him to keep up to the good work within his party, keeping in mind our common motto Malta l-ewwel u qabel kollox (Malta first and foremost).

John Schembri

Zurrieq