Il-Majjistral Nature Park and Anchor Bay in Malta

Posted on 2011-12-12 by Andreas Moser

Last week, I spent a sunny December day on Malta‘s west coast, hiking through Il-Majjistral Nature and History Park and along Anchor Bay. I set out at Għajn Tuffieħa / Golden Bay and made my way north through this barren landscape:

There is more vegetation than first meets the eye, and even some dwellings where you could seek shelter if you got lost and had to spend a night.

All the colours found in this nature reserve are represented in this photo:

I was drawn to the rugged coastline which I walked along dangerously close to the edge of the cliffs.

This is me, only a few feet away from falling down into the Mediterranean Sea:

By the way, just because this area is a nature reserve apparently doesn’t mean that there is no hunting, as these bullet casings demonstrate:

Towards the northern end of Il-Majjistral Nature and History Park, I made my way down to Anchor Bay where I wanted to get as close as possible to the powerful waves.

Both the wind and the waves were ferocious and I enjoyed watching and feeling these forces of nature, before I stumbled – on the other side of Anchor Bay – upon the cute village of Sweethaven, also known as Popeye Village. (A separate blog post about this will follow soon.)

(C) for all photos: Andreas Moser

Posted in Malta, Photography, Travel | Tagged , | 17 Comments

Valletta at Night

Posted on 2011-12-04 by Andreas Moser

I hope you have enjoyed my previous photos of Valletta. I stayed in Malta’s capital city for the evening, to take more photos of this beautiful and romantic city for you:

As you see, the city seemed to be empty at night. I was the only person walking through the narrow streets.

Only this spooky shadow followed me around on my tour:

(c) for all photos: Andreas Moser

Posted in Malta, Photography, Travel | Tagged | 14 Comments

Valletta, capital of Malta

Posted on 2011-12-04 by Andreas Moser

 

Yesterday, I visited Valletta, Malta’s capital city. Old-Valletta-mapValletta is the smallest capital city of any EU member state, measuring just 600m by 1000m and with a population of around 6,000.

My arrival in Valletta coincided with a Scout music band marching along Triq ir-Repubblika (Republic Street) which already put me in a good mood because I love the sound of bagpipes.

Valletta was only built in 1566 to protect Malta against a Turkish invasion (this was after the Great Siege of 1565). It was the first planned city in Europe with a grid system of streets (see map above). The long straight streets allow the cooling sea breeze to circulate, serving like an air conditioning system for the whole city.

It’s easy to walk through the whole city in a few hours. You will come across everything from grandiose sights

to shops (and a cinema) that throw you back in time by 50 years:

Even the residential buildings are beautiful, with their countless bay windows and balconies.

Despite its small size, there are several parks to have a rest underneath trees and next to water fountains, primarily the Lower and Upper Barrakka Gardens and Hastings Gardens.

Overall, I found Valletta a relaxed and slow city which is maybe best summed up by the following picture:

I stayed in Valletta for the evening after sunset and I will share these photos in a separate post “Valletta at Night“.

(This article was featured on Hopper.)

Posted in Malta, Photography, Travel | Tagged | 20 Comments

The Afghan Economy in Numbers

Posted on 2011-11-26 by Andreas Moser
  • Time since the West has been present and active in Afghanistan: 10 years

And what have we achieved?

  • GDP per capita (2010): 900 $
  • Unemployment: 35 %
  • Average hourly wage for graduates (2010): 0.56 $
  • proportion of the economy that is due to the opium trade: about a third

    “My business is blooming.”

The government finances aren’t in any better state:

  • budget deficit without international aid: 70 %
  • taxes and other revenues: 6.2 % of GDP

And now the most dangerous numbers of all:

  • part of the GDP that is due to international aid or the military of foreign nations: 97 %
  • year in which NATO military will leave Afghanistan: 2014

While the withdrawal of Western forces will not automatically mean the withdrawal of developmental aid, I predict that most foreign aid agencies will leave soon thereafter as their staff will get kidnapped, attacked and killed in larger numbers. We can of course still transfer money to the Afghan government, but the record of the past 10 years doesn’t make me optimistic about the sensible use of this money by President Karzai’s government or whoever will be in power after ISAF will leave.

The current massive spending by international aid agencies and foreign military certainly crowds out some local spending and investment that might otherwise happen, but the hypothetical GDP per capita without foreign aid is nonetheless a shocking number to keep in mind: 27 $ per year.

Sorry Afghanistan, but I really can’t be optimistic about your future; try as I might.

Posted in Afghanistan, Economics, Politics | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Malta and Germany swap refugees

Posted on 2011-11-25 by Andreas Moser

The Times of Malta reports:

“All of us or Andreas Moser. Choose!”

A group o 152 sub-saharan Africans will be leaving Malta to embark on a new life in Germany on Tuesday.

All had arrived in Malta after the outbreak of the crisis in Libya. They are 43 men, 73 women and 36 children from Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan.

Most of them already have family ties in Germany.

In recent months the refugees participated in “cultural orientation courses” and received information about life in Germany.

Basic German language courses were offered and the German community in Malta donated warm winter clothing.

The refugees will be flown to Nuremberg on a charter flight and from there they will be allocated to different areas in Germany.

Their first targets will be to learn German, take part in integration courses and find an appropriate job. During this transitional period they will be accommodated and financially supported.

In the last two years some 81,000 asylum seekers arrived in Germany. Some 300 refugees were relocated to Germany from Malta in recent years.

In return, Malta has agreed to accept one immigrant from Germany and I have volunteered to make this move to Malta.

Between all parties involved, the Republic of Malta, the Federal Republic of Germany, the African refugees and myself, I can’t help but think that I got the best deal out of this whole affair.

Posted in Europe, Germany, Immigration Law, Malta, Travel | 10 Comments

A bombastic welcome to Malta

Posted on 2011-11-16 by Andreas Moser

Can this timing be coincidence?

Only two days after I announced my plan to move to Malta, a car bomb detonated this morning in the town of Hamrun in otherwise very peaceful Malta.

The timing of the explosion seems suspicious. Are Maltese terrorists trying to prevent me from coming to the island? Is it a warning? – They won’t be able to dissuade me from coming to beautiful Malta!

If I continue to attract bombs and other mayhem like thus far in my life, I might be able to negotiate a ransom from countries by promising not to move there.

Posted in Malta, Travel | Tagged , | 114 Comments

Leaving London, Moving to Malta

Posted on 2011-11-13 by Andreas Moser

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford,

said Samuel Johnson in 1777.

I have been living in London for two years now and it is a remarkable city. The most international, cosmopolitan city in Europe with a myriad of cultural and intellectual offers every day. This August, it even got exciting enough for me for a few days thanks to the London riots.

The almost limitless range of possibilities that London offers is a trap into which many Londoners fall: They stay in London year after year because there is always something going on, a new museum to visit, a new show to watch, some new building or park to admire, a constant influx of new people of course, now the Olympics are next, and so on. Because of this constant array of attractions and events, many Londoners think this city is the centre of the world. Too often I have heard “I would never want to live anywhere else” from people who have actually never even been anywhere else.

But there is a big world out there, and it’s time to get travelling again. Because as Confucius said:

They must often change who want to be constant in happiness or wisdom.

In line with my life plan to move to a different country every two years at the latest, it’s now time for me to move again.

After two years in a metropolis with 8 million inhabitants on a rainy island in Northern Europe, I thought a good next stop would be a small, sunny, sparsely populated island in the Mediterranean: I will move to Malta in December 2011.

Malta is the smallest member state of the European Union, both in size (316 km²) and population (416,000).

It is located south of Sicily and is the sunniest and warmest European country. It is actually further south than Tunis, Algiers, Tangier, Aleppo or Mosul. It has the perfect climate to spend the upcoming winter months.

It will be perfect to relax, concentrate on my studies, but also to explore the history, the culture and the nature of this island. And thanks to its central location in the Mediterranean, it’s a good base for exploring Sicily and North Africa.

So, enjoy your winter! I’ll be sitting here, reading a book and smoking a cigar:

Why don’t you come for a visit?

Posted in Europe, Life, London, Malta, Travel, UK | 86 Comments

“Be nice to people on your way up, because you might meet them on your way down.”

Posted on 2011-11-09 by Andreas Moser

If you always thought that “Be nice to people on your way up, because you might meet them on your way down” is a silly saying, you might want to consider the following case in point, brought to us by Muammar Gaddafi of Libya:

You won’t forget this rule ever again, will you?

Posted in Libya, Politics | Tagged | 3 Comments

Progress in the United Kingdom

Posted on 2011-10-30 by Andreas Moser

After a mere 300 years, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has found the time to modernise the laws on royal succession:

  1. Girls born into the royal family will no longer need to cede the throne to their younger brothers. Until now, it was always the eldest son that ascended the throne; even older sisters missed out as long as there was one male, regardless of his age. The current Queen Elizabeth II could only become queen because she didn’t have any brother(s).
  2. The king or the queen may even marry a Catholic in future. Until now, such a marriage would have disqualified that particular royal from the succession.

If you are now overwhelmed in the light of so much modernisation, equality and progress, I will have to dampen the joy a bit:

“With these sons, you HAVE to stick to the throne as long as possible.”

  • The new rules won’t be relevant for the foreseeable future because Queen ElizabethII’s first child is a son, Prince Charles, who again had only sons, Princes William and Harry. For the next two generations (which based on the reign of the current queen could be 100 years) no woman will become head of state. Only if Prince William and his wife will have a girl as their first child will these rules become relevant.
  • Similarly, nobody in the current line of succession has dared to marry a Catholic.
  • Furthermore, the lifting of the ban of Catholics only pertains to the spouse of the king or queen. The monarch himself still must not be Catholic. He or she also must not be a Jew, a Muslim, a Mormon or in fact anything else than an Anglican Christian, because the British monarch is also the head of the Anglican church. Having a state religion already sounds far less modern.
  • These cosmetic changes cannot hide the fact that we still have an unelected head of state, who reaches this positionexclusively by virtue of his birth, irrespective of any (lacking) qualifications.

“That’s not what I had in mind.”

Princesses being able to become rulers without democratic legitimation, is no reason to celebrate. Especially not in 2011 and in a country that still doesn’t have a codified constitution.

(Es gibt eine deutsche Version dieses Artikels.)

Posted in Law, Politics, UK | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Fortschritt in Großbritannien

Posted on 2011-10-30 by Andreas Moser

Nach schlappen 300 Jahren macht man sich hier in Großbritannien – bzw. wie der offizielle Titel des Landes lautet: im Vereinigten Königreich von Großbritannien und Nordirland – mal wieder daran, die Regeln über die Thronfolge zu modernisieren:

  1. In Zukunft soll das erstgeborene Kind des Monarchen unabhängig von seinem Geschlecht Thronfolger werden. Bis jetzt war jeweils der älteste Sohn an der Reihe; selbst ihm vorgeborene Schwestern gingen leer aus, solange nur ein männlicher Sproß vorhanden war. Die jetzige Königin Elizabeth II wurde nur deshalb Königin weil sie keine Brüder hat(te).
  2. Der König oder die Königin dürfen in Zukunft sogar mit einem Katholiken verheiratet sein. Bis jetzt führte eine solche Heirat zur Disqualifikation des Staatsoberhauptes.

    "Bei solchen Nachkommen MUSS man ja so lange wie möglich im Amt bleiben."

Falls nun jemand überwältigt ist von so viel Modernisierung, Gleichberechtigung und Fortschritt, muß ich die Freude leider dämpfen:
  • Auf absehbare Zeit sind die Neuregelungen nicht relevant, denn Königin Elizabeth II hat einen erstgeboren Sohn, Prinz Charles, der wiederum den erstgeborenen Sohn Prinz William hat. Für die nächsten zwei Generationen (also nach bisherigen Maßstäben ca. 100 Jahre) wird keine Frau Staatsoberhaupt. Erst wenn Prinz William und seine Frau ein Kind bekommen und dies ein Mädchen wird, wird diese Regelung relevant.
  • Ebenso hat es niemand aus der aktuellen Thronfolgerriege gewagt, eine Katholikin zu heiraten.
  • Zudem gilt die Aufhebung des Katholikenverbots nur für die Ehepartner des Königs oder der Königin. Der Regent selbst darf weiterhin kein Katholik sein. Er darf auch kein Jude, Muslim, Mormone oder überhaupt irgendetwas anderes als ein Angehöriger der Anglikanischen Kirche sein. Der Grund hierfür ist, daß der britische König auch das Oberhaupt der Anglikanischen Kirche ist. Insofern gibt es hier eine Staatsreligion, was sich schon weit weniger modern anhört.
  • Diese ganze Kosmetik ändert nichts daran, daß wir noch immer ein nicht gewähltes Staatsoberhaupt haben, das diese Position allein aufgrund seiner Geburt, unbeachtet jeglicher (fehlender) Qualifikationen innehat.

"So habe ich mir das nicht vorgestellt."

Daß nun auch Prinzessinnen zu demokratisch nicht legitimierten Herrscherinnen werden können, finde ich keinen Grund zum Feiern. Erst recht nicht im Jahr 2011 und in einem Land, das weiterhin keine kodifizierte Verfassung hat.

(There is an English version of this article.)

Posted in Politics, UK | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment