Hm, but doesn't the argument that Malta presumes to ignore the rules inRP because they're economically too powerful to lose as an ally contradict the fact that there still are Rogue players who toss out OC ships inRP because of the treaty (like diamond1 said)? Because if the former would be true it wouldn't make any rp-wise sense for LH/Rogues etc. to toss OC out, since they would risk to lose their most powerful ally. I mean, this kind of dependency would be the reason Malta can safely ignore those rules, knowing there is nothing their "allies" can do.
Have to admit, this whole thing seems very arbitrary to me.