Corridors of Power

Corridors of Power is written by veteran foreign affairs correspondent Roland Flamini and appears in World Politics Review every Sunday. Click here for the Corridors of Power archives.

FLAG OF CONVENIENCE -- This week, the foreign minister of Malta, Michael Frendo, was in Washington to sign the Bush administration's Proliferation Security Initiative. The tiny Mediterranean island is the smallest member of the European Union (pop: 410,000, acreage: 90 square miles), but the signing is not as marginal as it seems at first glance.

Malta has the world's eighth largest ship registry, so the agreement will enable U.S. inspectors to board and search over 1,200 vessels flying the Maltese flag if there is any suspicion they are carrying nuclear-related cargo to a terrorist group or a rogue state.

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