Word: mintoff
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...sulking in the tent" theory. The other is that he is desperately ill and has actually been thrust aside-the "vegetable God" theory. Mao at 81 has appeared drawn and fragile in recent photographs, but during the Central Committee plenum, he was well enough to receive Prime Minister Dom Mintoff of Malta in Changsha, capital of his native Hunan province; while the People's Congress was in session, he met with West German Political Leader Franz Josef Strauss. It is one thing, however, for Mao to chat for short periods with visiting dignitaries, but quite another to sit through...
...certain aura of predictability surrounded events last week on the tiny (122 sq. mi.) Mediterranean island of Malta. Britain's quarterly payment of $8,325,000 to cover the cost of garrisoning 2,800 troops on the island had been refused by Maltese Prime Minister Dom Mintoff. The fiery Mintoff, in rebuffing the routine payment from the Bank of England, 1) demanded higher rent from Britain; 2) intimated that he would evict the troops unless he received it; 3) flew to Tripoli seeking support from Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi; and 4) tried to con other NATO nations that share...
...that time Mintoff was trying to renegotiate a seven-year contract covering support payments for the modest British air and naval force that has remained on Malta since the island was granted sovereignty in 1964. Whitehall was paying $12 million a year; Mintoff demanded $72 million and delivered so many eviction ultimatums that he earned the nickname "Deadline Dom." Britain refused to give in to Mintoff's demands. Instead, Whitehall flew special demolition teams into Malta to dismantle the British bases, and it bundled up wives and children and deserted a post where Englishmen have served since Napoleonic days...
Latest Ploy. Mintoff has a delicate problem in deciding how far to proceed with his threats. He needs the British on Malta, because the island's economy is staggering. Unemployment is up to 7%, tourism has fallen off and emigration is on the rise. Mintoff's Labor Party holds only a one-seat majority over Dr. George Borg Olivier's Nationalists and would likely lose any election held now. The Prime Minister has not exactly increased his popularity with the 330,000 Maltese by threatening to make them repatriate investments kept abroad, including an estimated $500 million...
NATO would like to retain the Malta lease as cheaply as possible. Last week, as a result, Britain's NATO partners offered Mintoff an additional $2,000,000 one-time increase. At week's end, the Prime Minister had not made up his mind whether to accept the offer. His latest ploy was a rather dramatic attempt to shame NATO into upping the ante. He said that Malta would refuse all payments under the present contract but would magnanimously let the British remain, free of charge. That, at least, was a new scene in an all too familiar...