I found this interesting after spending a few weeks there this Summer on a whim. Everything about it is just so improbable. Tiny ancient place, Arabic-descended language, Mediterranean climate, built environment like some cross of Crete and Jerusalem, Catholic culture and social mores, English food-and-drink, and now also ugly sprawl and car-culture, receding nature, people everywhere.
All that and crawling with the families of minor Russian oligarchs and unashamedly advertising all sorts of tax-haven services. Just... weird.
I wonder if corruption is to some degree inevitable in any country this small. How do you deal with international companies and billionaires who are richer than your entire nation?
Iceland's population is about 300’000 and it's probably amongst the least corrupt (held the bankers to account) and most approachable (ministers’ direct phone numbers in phone books) I know of. Do not confuse corruption and integration into the community.
I'll never understand the portion of the population that reads a relative ranking and then declares that its not true because x still exists there...
"amongst the least corrupt" != "free of corruption"
It's like saying X is among the best schools in the region and sends the most children to university and someone rebutting the statement with "yeah, but billy went there and didn't graduate and didn't go to university."
It's as if their brain is a computer program that's designed to purposely misinterpret information and then argue against the information for the sake of it.
Sorry for the rant. This type of nonsense has been building, or least becoming more obvious, lately in the public and political spheres and I needed to flag it for my sanity.
No I'm not. I'm hybrid British/Italian, suffering thirtyfive-plus years as a resident of the latter has taught me what real corruption and inefficiency look like. I've visited Iceland and found it to be quite amazing both in terms of landscape and society. Hence my reference. I don't think having some instances of corruption actually negates the core import of my statement.
The "tax haven" business model only works for small countries: Malta, but also Luxembourg, the Caymans, Panama, and Ireland.
If you can attract a significant slice of the world's wealth and somehow funnel just 1% into the local economy, that can be enough to provide generous services for a 6-digit population. But it obviously doesn't work for anything larger. My example of Ireland, above, is probably just on the threshold. And the model only worked for them because they also have a well-educated and english-speaking population, making it attractive for actual operations to be located in Dublin.
The problem is, obviously, that this is an international zero-sum game. The US, Russia, and most EU countries provide all the infrastructure that allowed their citizen to earn the money, but the money leaves those countries as soon as the tax-man rings.
Which is why the last decade has seen an assault on tax havens: Switzerland's bank secrecy laws have already been neutered, Panama has lost most trust with the recent leaks, and Ireland is forced to play nice by the EU.
It's highly likely that oligarchs will soon run out of such locales, because it's becoming increasingly difficult to maintain both ingredients necessary for a tax haven: you need not only low taxation, but also robust rule-of-law. Those two goals come into conflict once the first is used to brand you an international pariah.
>>The problem is, obviously, that this is an international zero-sum game. The US, Russia, and most EU countries provide all the infrastructure that allowed their citizen to earn the money, but the money leaves those countries as soon as the tax-man rings.
This is a pretty baseless assumption. Most of the wealth is obviously produced in large countries with very significant natural and human resources, but we have no way to know if they would be producing more or less wealth if their tax burdens and governments were smaller.
What evidence that exists suggests government significantly smaller than the norm in the developed world is better for economic development.
If it is indeed the case that low taxes contribute to more global economic growth, then these tax havens are bolstering the world's economy rather than exploiting it in a zero sum way.
>>Those two goals come into conflict once the first is used to brand you an international pariah.
By the sounds of it, there is a concerted push by a large and powerful political faction to make it illegal for any country in the world to have low taxes, on the basis that a country exercising its sovereignty in this way is somehow victimizing and exploiting other countries.
> How do you deal with international companies and billionaires who are richer than your entire nation?
I think drawing correlations between country size/population/gdp/wealth and corruption is going to be difficult. However, arguably, looking at smaller countries we should see this trend at a similar rate. I'd suggest comparing with extremes: two, much smaller European countries.
- Andorra; pop: ~90k, GDP per capita (2016, est.) ~36k USD
- San Marino; pop: ~35k, GDP per capita (2017, est.) ~45k USD
I spent a while looking in to them, but then started thinking "how do you measure corruption"? I came across a 'corruption perception index (2017)'[1], which aggregates different measures of corruption across various sources, but sadly they have no data for either countries. Comparing them with neighbouring countries however, would put them right in the ball park of Malta.
Hah, that's a fascinating point to me because I always thought small countries made corruption harder because everyone will know what's going on. I wonder if for the reasons you describe the is more corruption but it has less negative impact because everyone is watching and eventually gets paid off.
Small countries have small elites that are far more likely to have gone through the same educational institutions and run in the same social circles. A corruption of back-scratching at the top, where consequences and laws are for the little people, rather than a culture of pervasive bribery.
Ireland is corrupt like this - not for major crimes, just lots of little things, like planning permission and speeding points on driving licenses.
Nobody wants to make a big stink because everybody swims in the same small pond, and what goes around comes around.
Here's a case study on the topic of speeding points: https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2013/oct/03/iri... ; speeding points corruption is an ongoing political issue that has brought down multiple justice ministers, primarily due to the attempted coverups (trying to silence Maurice McCabe).
Because they're fundamentally about maximizing personal gain regardless of the cost to society. This is in direct violation of the covenant upon which societies are founded. Most people take this violation as an immoral act.
Shame and phrases like “violation of the covenant upon which societies are founded” are tools used by people to try to convince you to do things that are in their best interest.
Part of our travels took us to Malta. My family spent a few months there and got to be embedded in Maltese culture. Hard to do as a tourist because while the Maltese are nice they are not inviting to strangers. Since the Crusades they've been a softball between Eastern and Western empires, coming in and telling them what's what.
I was just a fly on the wall but what I learned is Malta is a mix of old world families and familiarity and new world, EU, business rules. Where even billionaire megayachts get duty-free fuel smuggled in from Libya through a series of handlers. It's also something I really enjoyed about that island. The big box stores were on equal footing or disadvantaged to local, small shops. Everyone had a friend or family member who dealt in one speciality or another. The rock bottom price wasn't reserved for friends or family. Little haggling was even necessary. The price you paid was the best price you were going to find. Whether that be sailboat parts, limes, or rabbit.
There's also a heavy mafia presence, and organized crime in general. When Italy cracked down on organized crime, some maafia elements moved their operations to Malta. The recent killing of a Maltese journalist was almost certainly related to organized crime [1] [2]. It's amazing how much violence they've had for such a small country [3].
That said, Malta is awesome, and this is not really something you see as a tourist. The scuba diving is some of the best in the Mediterranean.
Oh you have no idea how rooted the mafia is in Malta then.. I've experienced it first hand, and i'm not even a Maltese citizen. Everything you see in Malta is more or less under the mafia's influence, its really just like in the movies, and thats partly because, as another user pointed out, the mafia moved from Italy to Malta.
I lived on the island(Sliema) for a few months a few years ago. Let's just say i know someone who knows someone... The maltese are completely unaware of whats really going down on their island.
"There are clearly risks in probing too deep into modern Malta: insanity, I’d say, as well as death. Lies are routine currency. The bus company recently announced that its punctuality rate had reached 94 per cent: I think there may be a decimal point missing. "
I think when dealing with anything that sounds too good to be true or is somewhat related to the government or a governmental tender a healthy amount of scepticism is warranted. We do like to shit all over some government provided things (even the tax-paid healthcare), but most complainers don't realise how good we have it.
My biggest complaint with recent times around here is how fast the Panama paper's debate was first politicised then was swept under the rug and the murder of Daphne. Daphne was the cattle prod Maltese politics needed to better itself, instead she got the short end of the stick and whoever decided killing her was the best option also decided to kill any good reputation we had on an international scale.
I was super pissed and distraught about it, still slightly am.
I won't summarize that article, since it's all quite clear as long as you read to the end. The upshot is, that anyone diving in Malta is subject to bizarre legal risk if something goes wrong. It's a bit like stopping to help at an accident, and then being charged with causing it!
The whole thing raised a massive stink amongst BSAC divers, since it seemed (at one point) that BSAC insurance wouldn't support him. I think he's still 6 figures out of pocket.
Fortunately, the charges were dropped [1], and the reaction from Britain probably made the Maltese authorities think twice about pulling such a stunt in the future. It's a deeply unfortunate incident, but I'm not sure it warrants such an extreme reaction. Most people have no issues diving in Malta.
I'd say they only dropped it because of high-level pressure and adverse publicity. I wouldn't assume the same outcome with, for example, a random ozzie instructor on a diving holiday. The concerning issue, IMHO, is that such serious charges were bought at all, particularly given the absurd allegations contained therein (improper diving profile etc.). Also the fact that they didn't even inform him of their investigation or give him a chance to appear!
My view is, who's to say they won't do it again?
> Most people have no issues diving in Malta
Until they do! :-)
PS. Not trying to start an argument, just stating my view from this side of the pond :-)
Most people do not have car accidents. But seeing one might reasonably cause you to wonder how that happened, whether it might happen to you, and if so, how you might reduce your risk.
Seeing what happend to Stephen Martin, I ask myself, could that happen to me (if I was diving there), and if so, how could I reduce my risk? The answers (for me) are Yes It Could, and Don't Dive There!
Personally, Malta is a great country but the political part is complicated and makes it hard to expect good but controversial change, ex: attempts to lower the number of cars on the road. If someone tries that, they might do some good but it's very likely to make a lot people unhappy and everyone knows everyone, voting for political parties goes for generations (15-16 year olds chanting for Labour party because their parents and grandparents did that -- even though they can't even vote yet). Hard and drastic changes are needed but you won't get reelected if you do that...
Apart from that, the occasional xenophobia and selfishness is visible.
From a dev perspective, iGaming (online gambling) is booming and raising the prices of rent making it more difficult for locals. Poor get poorer, eh..?
Source: Living in Malta for almost 2 years now.
P.S. The trick is not to read too many news, not having interest in politics, enjoying the weather and ignoring crappy people.
> The trick is not to read too many news, not having interest in politics, enjoying the weather and ignoring crappy people.
That only works for so long until the crappy things and people you've been ignoring have festered long enough that they start inserting themselves into your life and it's too late to stop them.
I'd say most places becomes a lot better if you stop engaging the mainstream news and politics, even Sweden seems quite sane after doing so. I've found it gives you time and energy to focus on your actual life surroundings.
I have no doubt that it would greatly improve your quality of life in the short term. The thing is, somebody's got to pay attention and stand vigil. If everyone ignores what's going on, it won't be long before some thugs are knocking on your door asking for papers or some other nonsense they already know you don't have.
There is plenty of bullshit to safely ignore. That doesn't mean it's a good idea to completely bury your head in the sand.
It is quite nice. Not the best country but can't complain :)
The internet services are not so great, compared to mainland EU. Mostly because it's an island, I guess. I pay ~30 euros for 100down/5up. There are not a lot of options, look up Melita or Go for more in-depth info on that.
I work for a Maltese company as a developer. Can't complain. If you work in a Maltese company, it is fairly more relaxed than working in an iGaming company :)
> voting for political parties goes for generations (15-16 year olds chanting for Labour party because their parents and grandparents did that
That's true also in the US, and generally true for anything that is complex requiring dedicated time to 'understand'. The default route is to mimic parents. Some people never grow out of that behavior.
Can't really compare the two. while the US struggles on voter turn out. In Malta during elections there is a rabid and more than 90%+ of eligible voters vote. But its all tribal and pointless..
I worked for different sports book, casinos and poker companies there. Gaming licenses there are regulated and the environment is toxic. My work experience was very bad. Despite the regulations for that industry, mafia still drives the entire sector and is not something hidden.
Its a bizarre place for so many reasons. Us swedes are everywhere because of igaming. No one in Sweden ever thinks or talks about Malta, but we are enough Swedes here to be counted as a small city.
Malta wasn't founded (or ever ruled by) the Knights Templar, though it was for a period ruled by Knights Hospitaller, the other of the two best-known crusading orders (and the one that still exists, known now as “the Sovereign Military Order of Malta”.
I think this is different. Malta the EU country doesn’t seem to have much in common with that Rome-based sovereign order of Malta organisation, other than the name of course.
The now-Rome-based order used to actually rule over Malta, before being forced out by Napoleon Bonaparte and relocating to Italy. It's unlikely they will ever regain ownership of the island, but they are still considered almost a sovereign state, despite not actually holding any territory. They do have a sizeable presence on Malta, including a free lease on their historic fort, which is used for their activities and considered extra-territorial like an embassy.
The independent government has traditionally been friendly towards them, as they were towards the Catholic Church in general. During the Cold War, it is alleged the order used the island as a safe base for espionage activities directed towards Italy, usually in concert with other NATO organisations. A number of shady Italian personalities had links to the order and owned properties on the island; this is why Maltese corruption is hardly a surprise to most Italian researchers.
>The Parliament of the Republic of Malta has ratified today the agreement set out in 1998 between the Maltese Government and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, pursuant to which Fort St. Angelo, the oldest fort in Malta, shall be granted in concession to the Order for a period of 99 years.
Please do not construe this rebuttal as an agreement with the GP that the SMOM is some kind of Illuminati organization. From what I can gather, it looks like the group is a quasi-sovereign Red Cross type entity today.
Since 1798, Knights of Malta have been based in Rome (where they have their tiny extraterritorial palaces). They have nothing to do with the island of Malta anymore.
Do you have any citation for this? It sounds, well, made up.
Also as mentioned The Knights of Malta haven't had anything to do with the island for over 200 years.
I went about my day and just got back. I had no idea this would strike such a nerve. Yes, here is my citation, though it's unlikely to be seen now that I've been massively flagged for pointing out something relevant. I think anyone who is genuinely curious would find some very interesting things in this treaty between the government of Malta and the SMOM.
Beyond that there is a rich history of the relationship between SMOM and the government of Malta, the SMOM and other orders that reside on Malta, and how they connect to the Vatican/Rome.
Really it was something I noticed when researching the history of the OSS and CIA, that so many CIA people were also SMOM. That's what led me down the path of reading up on them.
All that and crawling with the families of minor Russian oligarchs and unashamedly advertising all sorts of tax-haven services. Just... weird.