MBR_Issue_27 -January 2017 low res

Malta Business Review
FOCUS
TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS
Malta Business Review
Vladimir Putin in Berlin on Oct. 19. 2016
Cont. from pg 36
opinions on everything all the time sums to
a helpless sense that it’s all broken and no
one can be trusted. We retreat further into
our echo chambers where dissenting views
become unknown unknowns. For Putin, this
stuff is pure gold. The loss of civility and trust,
and the radical flattening of political space,
which the Kremlin so feared, turn out to be
perfect for turning democracy against itself.
It can be insidious. The recent statesponsored
attempts on the Gmail accounts
of well-known U.S. progressives likely isn’t
aimed at finding out who they know and
what they think—just reading the New
York Times tells you that. It signals that
our private talking and thinking spaces
are no longer secure. Writers who believe
they are listened to by even a “friendly”
government will self-censor. When you can’t
think, talk, and listen freely, you don’t act
independently. Civil and political rights aren’t
just nice to have; they’re the basis of a stable
and scalable global order. (There are good
historical reasons we codified all this stuff
after World War II.)
What to do? Understand first that this is
something we are largely doing to ourselves,
and second that Russia’s profound cynicism
is, paradoxically, utterly sincere. Yes, the
Kremlin has remade the Russian internet
in its own paranoid, hierarchical, and
slightly shambolic image. Yes, the Russian
government is aggressively spreading its
nationalist and nihilist world view around
the world. But ask yourself why, in little
more than a decade, Russia switched from
being an enthusiastic joiner of international
institutions to a wrecker, why Russia become
the ultimate online and offline troll.
It signals that our private
talking and thinking spaces
are no longer secure
We in the West ideologically and materially
helped to wreck Russia’s post-Communist
economy and make it a kleptocracy. People
died. When Russia finally emerged from
internal chaos, it was eager to take its place
in the international order. But the credibility
to Russians of that order was damaged
by several events, including the bombing
of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, the
invasion of Iraq, and the U.K. and France’s
2011 adventure in Libya. As the West
punishes Russia for invading its neighbors
and slaughtering Syrian innocents, Russia
might observe that we believe in rule-bound
self-restraint only when it suits us. I am just
EDITOR’S
Note
as frightened and angry as anyone else
that Russia is using the best things about
democracy—openness and freedom of
speech—to undermine it. But I can partly
see why it acts as it does.
The tactic I saw being used by the “official
NGO” woman was just a Kremlin technique,
sure. But the anger and fear motivating
her comment seemed genuine. Powerful
Russians were terrified by the internet in
2011. Now they have made sure we are, too.
For people like me who work in internet
governance, the biggest challenge of the
next decade is no longer how to get the
next billion online, or even how to curb the
global monopolies taking over the traditional
roles of government. It’s how to protect the
most important part of our global critical
infrastructure: democracy.
This article is part of Future Tense, a
collaboration among Arizona State
University, New America, and Slate.
Future Tense explores the ways emerging
technologies affect society, policy, and
culture. MBR
Sources: SLATE, NEW AMERICA, AND ASU
Maria Farrell is an Irish writer and consultant on internet governance and policy,
based in London. She blogs at Crookedtimber.org.
Looking
into the
Future
By David Abela
2016 was a turbulent year for the shipping
industry. Personally, the following three
issues were the main topics discussed in
our own forums. First, we had the new
form of terrorism where the aggressors
hijacked freight trucks to conceive their
attacks. The Nice and Berlin attacks
immediately spring to mind. We also
had to make do with weekly problems in
the French port of Calais where irregular
immigrants where constantly trying to get
into the UK illegally by climbing into moving
freight trucks. This resulted in increased
security, which in turn resulted in several
delays, which also affected Maltese
imports from the UK. Finally, the Hanjin
Shipping Line (one of the world’s largest
shipping lines) bankruptcy brought about
a global stock market meltdown especially
in the Far East, great discomfort to the
thousands of families directly concerned
and huge delays for the shipments that
were being handled by Hanjin at the time
of its financial collapse. Tens of Maltese
importers were directly affected by this.
If we look at the local market, one has to
say that imports and exports continued to
increase steadily. It is no secret that the
Maltese economy is faring magnificently
in spite of the uncertain economic
environment still felt throughout the
world and one can feel the good factor
in almost all the sectors of the
local economy. Over here
at EuroBridge,
we have truly
enjoyed 2016
which resulted
in us breaking
all the records
established just
the previous year.
Towards the end
of the year, we
got the ‘cherry on
the cake’ when we were awarded Malta’s
Best in Business ‘Outstanding Industry
Contributor’ Award.
As we look to 2017 and beyond, us
at EuroBridge know there are many
challenges ahead. We will embrace such
challenges and make sure that we continue
towards our aim to offer complete
customer satisfaction. In fact, there are
3 main projects we are already working
on with the customer in mind. First is to
move into our new state-of-the art office in
Qormi, which will occur over the next few
months and secondly, to make as many as
our procedures as paperless as possible
increasing our efficiency throughout.
Finally, we have also started the process to
digitalize the local delivery process, which
will give our customers the opportunity to
know in real time when their next delivery
will take place.
In the meantime, we will continue
searching for better deals and improve our
foreign networks as much as possible. We
are already renowned for our efficiency
when dealing with our customers and
their shipments but we know there is
always room for improvement. This can
only be achieved by staying on your toes,
listening and discussing issues with all
your partners, them being colleagues,
customers or suppliers.
If you would like to know more about
EuroBridge and its services, we invite you
to visit our website www.eurobridge.com.
mt. We would also be thrilled if you could
communicate directly with us by calling
our office on 22487000 or send us an
email on sales@eurobridge.com.mt. We
always sign with our motto ‘Yours to count
on’ and it is our intention that you feel you
can always count on us for your shipping
needs. MBR
38 39
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