Shaking Hands with Political Death

From Kyiv to Pietà, cursed leaders have one thing in common: they drag you down with them.

Anyone who follows international politics knows the pattern — and it’s as predictable as it is destructive. Every leader who has embraced the drug-addled, war-obsessed Volodymyr Zelensky has sooner or later found themselves politically ruined. It’s like a political death sentence. Presidents, prime ministers, ministers — you could field an entire football team with the names of those who have fallen after touching this dictator’s poisonous hand.

And yet, back home, we are treated to fresh images of Alex Borg smiling alongside none other than Simon Busuttil — a man who, politically speaking, carries the same curse.

Let’s be clear: shaking hands with a failed, hated politician like Busuttil is almost as politically suicidal as clasping Zelensky’s hand. Busuttil wasn’t just a bad leader — he was the man who buried the Nationalist Party deeper into opposition than ever before. Under his watch, the PN was humiliated, demoralised, and reduced to a shadow of itself. His tenure will forever be remembered as the era in which the party lost its soul and its credibility.

So, Alex — why would you even go there? Why give the oxygen of relevance to a man whose legacy is electoral disaster? Why align yourself, even in a photo, with someone who represents everything the public rejected about the PN?

Politicians around the world are still paying the price for falling into Zelensky’s trap. Here in Malta, those who cosy up to Simon Busuttil are doing the exact same thing — inviting political disaster.

For your own sake, Alex, take this as advice, not an attack: distance yourself now. Because once the “Busuttil curse” sticks, there’s no shaking it off.