Word: malta
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...MALTA. The offbeat Mediterranean island is soaked in history from ancient times to its heroic stand in World War II. From the warm yellow limestone buildings of Valletta to its deepwater bays and rocky coves, the 95-sq.-mi. island was filled with baroque buildings by the martial-monastic Knights of St. John, who ruled it for 268 years. The British left no legacy of haute cuisine, but some restaurants serve local dishes and good fish. Seaside hotels charge from $45 to $60 a day, double occupancy; each has its own tennis courts, pool and beach. At family hotels...
During World War II, the rocky little (122 sq. mi.) island became known as "the unsinkable aircraft carrier" of the Mediterranean. After one siege of Axis bombing raids, Britain bestowed the George Cross-its highest civilian award for valor-on the entire island. Last week Malta formally ended its participation in the defense of the West. At Malta's Grand Harbor, British and Maltese officials unveiled a monument symbolically depicting the departure of British forces. Next day Britain's last military commander on the island, Rear Admiral Oswald Cecil, boarded the guided-missile destroyer H.M.S. London...
...Malta, which had been a British colony since 1814, gained its independence in 1964. A ten-year military facilities agreement with London, signed that year, allowed the British to station 7,500 troops and technicians on the island. In return Malta received an estimated $70 million annually in rent and other income. But Malta's emotional and acerbic Prime Minister Dom Mintoff, who once tried to persuade the British to make Malta an integral part of the United Kingdom, decided that he did not want them there at all. The son of a ship's cook, Rhodes scholar...
British and U.S. officials professed to see no danger that Malta would fall under the influence of a competing foreign power like the U.S.S.R. Some Italian strategic experts, however, feared that the island might be a tempting refueling base for Soviet submarines or even a handy Mediterranean flattop for Soviet planes...
Mintoff has been as wary of the Soviets as he has of the British and their NATO allies. He barred the U.S. Sixth Fleet from liberty visits to Malta in 1972. But he has also refused to let Moscow establish an embassy. Mintoff has tried to pursue a course that he calls "positive neutrality." Aside from China, which is helping Malta build a drydock for supertankers, at a cost of $40 million, Mintoffs greatest friend of the moment is Libya. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi last week pledged "total support," but nobody knows exactly what that may mean. Many Maltese nevertheless resent...