V2nd, C3

[Ian Livingston]

The Maltese cross has more relevance to this chapter than is apparent.
Here is a bit of explanation:

http://www.guidetomalta.net/malta-history/maltese-cross/

Note especially paragraph three and the discussion of the eight points
of the cross, keeping in mind Stencil's eight skins in this chapter.
Also, Malta, as Michael notes, is in the center of the Mediterranean.
That alone made it strategically desirable to the lords of
intercontinental warfare in times past.

On Sun, Jul 18, 2010 at 8:19 AM, Monte Davis <montedavis at verizon.net> wrote:
> Michael Bailey sez:
>
>> I have no feel for this place [Malta].  It never makes the news... you
> would think a nice small country without a bunch of armies and stuff would
> be all peaceful...
>
> Not when the Knights Hospitaller (aka of St. John) held it as a naval
> stronghold against the Ottoman Turks, nor when the French and then British
> seized it during the Napoleonic wars, nor (of course) when the Germans and
> Italians bombed the hell out of it in WWII. Valletta harbor has long been a
> good place from which to mess with (or support) Mediterranean commerce and
> naval activity.
>
>



-- 
"liber enim librum aperit."