Word: mintoff
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Ever since he became Malta's Prime Minister last June, scrappy, erratic Socialist Dom Mintoff has made a specialty of issuing nonnegotiable demands. In one of his first official acts, for example, he told the British Governor General to resign and to clear out of the tiny Commonwealth island nation within four days. Last week "Deadline Dom," as he has become known in some corners of Malta's diplomatic community, came up with what could be his ultimate ultimatum. Unless Britain agreed to come across with an immediate $11 million increase in the rent that it pays...
...demand was a sharp escalation in a bizarre campaign that Mintoff has been waging to gouge more money from Britain and other NATO countries that use Malta's superb naval and air facilities. With government indebtedness expected to reach a staggering $104 million by next spring, Malta is undeniably short of cash. Prime Minister Edward Heath offered to increase Britain's annual payments from $14 million to a generous $24 million, but Mintoff is holding out for $47 million...
...Mintoff is using the shock treatment," said a Western diplomat after a visit to Malta last week. "He believes his people have to be kicked out of their dreamy complacency and lethargy. He also believes the British must be shocked into yielding to his demands...
...Maltese Knights, or during World War II. Today U.S. warships use Naples as their main headquarters in the area, and Russia has no great need for a new base. For another, despite last week's visit to Malta by the Soviet Ambassador to Britain, Mikhail Smirnovsky, Mintoff insists that whatever trade concessions he may give the Soviets, they will never get a military toehold on Malta. "We will offer our services to the one who pays the most," he says, "except for three countries which we fear: Italy, the U.S. and Russia...
...case, Mintoff is not likely to go so far as to kick the British out, since 3,000 Maltese employed at the base would immediately lose their jobs. That is a blow the poor and crowded (pop. 320,000) country could hardly sustain. Last week, when Mintoff canceled the Sixth Fleet visit, there was sorrow among the island's shopkeepers and the girls of "The Gut," the red-light district. According to one estimate, Malta lost $360,000 by keeping the sailors away...